Sunday, December 24, 2023

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

(II Samuel 7:1-5.8-12.16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38)

Most Christians have heard the word “Incarnation.” However, not everyone knows what it means. The Incarnation is the mystery in which the Second Person of the Holy Trinity became man. Although this concept may not sound strange to us, some would say that it is a contradiction. “How can it be,” they would ask, “that God, the author of the millions upon millions of stars in the universe, can become as limited as a human person? It's like putting a mountain in a shoe box.”

It is not worth trying to explain the possibility now. But we have to address the issue somehow because it has to do with the gospel of the mass today and the great feast tomorrow. The Incarnation gave rise to Christmas as surely as the sun begins the new day. Some think of the Incarnation taking place with the conception of Jesus at the Annunciation as indicated in the Gospel passage today. Others reserve the word for when Mary gives birth to her child. Anyway, it has to do with the coming of God as a human person.

Instead of reflecting on how God became man or exactly when he did it, we would do better to consider the reason for his doing so. What moved the infinite, eternal, and almighty Spirit to limit Himself as a human person? The reason can be discovered in the description of God in the First Letter of John: “God is love.” Divine love – not the passion we feel to unite with another but the willingness to see the good in another – impelled God to save humanity in its precarious condition.

By "precarious condition," we mean sin. We can perceive the effects of sin by opening our eyes to what is happening around us. Millions of innocent lives are at risk in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip due to war. The sexual revolution has produced millions more children without mother and father at home to guide them to maturity. An entire generation is experiencing loneliness, doubt, and inferiority due to the intensive fascination with social media. Finally, our culture is about to experience an immense upheaval due to the rejection of God's first commandment remembered in the Bible: “Be fruitful and multiply…” (Genesis 1:28).

God became man to teach us how to overcome sin in order to live as righteous people. Furthermore, by his death on the cross he has freed us from attachment to pride, greed, and lust. We now live supported by the community of faith with our hopes fixed on eternal life.

Today we celebrate the beginning of this liberation. However, there are forces that want to rob us of its meaning. Instead of remembering Christ, the liberator, these forces would impose gifts as the center of the holiday. Instead of worshiping God, they would substitute partying and playing. It's not that gifts and parties have no place in our Christmas celebration. They do. The joy of having our liberator in our midst brings with it the desire to share the joy with others by giving presents and dancing. But these activities must leave room for the adoration of the divine child.

As a counterexample to our deviant times we have Mary as portrayed in the gospel today. She does not think about her own fame or other benefit from being the mother of the Savior.  Her concern is the service that she will render to God. To Gabriel's proposition, she responds decisively: “'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; Let it be to me according to your word'".

We are sinners but redeemed. We celebrate, but always aware of who and why we celebrate. Yes, let's have a merry Christmas. But also let us thank God for becoming human like us.

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