The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ 

Collect 

O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature and still more wonderfully restored it, grant, we pray, that we may share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Reflection 

The readings for each Sunday in this Advent season were taken from the Gospel according to Matthew. But on Christmas day, the Liturgy gives special prominence to the opening of the Gospel according to John. The poetic manner by which John begins this account—referred to as the Prologue—is unique to the Gospel literary genre. The Prologue does not take us back to Jesus’ origins in this world, that is, his birth in Bethlehem. It goes back even further and actually takes us to ‘the beginning’. 

Almost instinctively, the First Book in Sacred Scripture comes to mind (Genesis), because it also begins with the precise words “In the beginning …” What is this ‘beginning’? What does it refer to? This is when we start to savour the richness of John’s account. While the sacred author uses the same word ‘in the beginning,’ John gives it a new and powerful meaning. The beginning mentioned in the Book of Genesis refers to the beginning of creation. The beginning we find in John’s Prologue goes beyond that … it is not bound by time; it is not temporal. In fact, this beginning takes us to another dimension, even before creation itself, because it takes us to God’s dimension. Before anything was created, the Word (Logos – The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity) from the beginning … was always present. 

In this brief reflection, we will focus only on the first verse: 

In the beginning was the Word, 

And the Word was with God, 

And the Word was God. 

If one observes closely, this verse is divided into three parts, and, in each part, we find the Word was (einai). Yet, it has a different meaning every time.

- In the first part (In the beginning was the Word), it means that the Word (Jesus) already existed from all eternity, before creation, before the very beginning of anything.
- In the second part (and the Word was with God), the word ‘was’ describes the relationship between the Word (Jesus) and God. The Word (Jesus) was in the presence of God, showing that the Word (Jesus) and God are distinct from each other but are in each other’s presence. 
- In the third part (And the Word was God), the word ‘was’ is used to declare that the nature of the Word (Jesus) is the same as that of God Himself. 

To put it simply, we could say that Jesus, who has the nature of God and is in relationship with the Father, has always existed. |

What does all this have to do with the Incarnation? When one ‘understands’ God’s greatness, then we can better appreciate the mystery of the Incarnation! 

He who has always existed, became temporal … bound to time. 

He who is in relationship with the Father desired to have a relationship with us, to the extent of becoming one of us. 

He who is God took on human flesh like us. 

The Psalmist is correct in saying: “He is clothed” (Psalm 93:1). St Paul also rightly says to the Philippians: “Though he was in the form of God, 
he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” (Phil 2: 6-7). 

This is the Incarnation! This is the very heart of Christmas! 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, although I do not know how, and I am not as poetic as John, I too wish to sing to you my praise for the abysmal descent you made from your greatness to our smallness. Thank you, Jesus, because in this way you have also drawn us into the same relationship that has existed between you and the Father from all eternity. Amen.