“God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son , so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.” (Jn 3, 16)

We have been hearing those words this whole year. The real depth of God’s love for the human race was shown when he sent his Only Son as a gift. For “this very day in David’s town your Saviour was born – Christ the Lord” (Lk 2, 11) 

 And the gift was small according to our standards. And it was too weak for what we call the insurmountable problems in our lives and in the world. And now it was too localized to be available to all peoples. And now it seems too far away in time to be a gift for us. And so we continue to cry: “Lord, save us! Come to our aid!”

 At Christmas, the Lord says: “Here I am I pitch my tent among you. I come as ‘Emmanuel’, always with you!” – Does that sound convincing? It does! That is a statement. It asks us to accept it as it is. It asks us to go and see. This is what the Shepherds did. They went. They saw. They came back full of joy, wonder and praise.

 The joy of Christmas is that God has loved us so much. The wonder of Christmas is that God should love us at all. The praise in Christmas is that God – the great almighty God, - does what our great men and women are usually unable to do lo love the poor, to live with them and to share their fully. Instead, God does all this for each and every human being. The praise of Christmas is that this great almighty God embraces the human condition. Instead of avoiding it with its weakness, sinfulness and poverty, he rather embraces it with the determination to rid it of those evils. The joy, wonder and praise of Christmas shine brighter in that the human being can once more look at himself or herself and say: “I am worth more than I consider myself or the others consider me to be. God loves e. I am lovable. And because of that, I am previous, very precious to him” – It is no more question of measuring up to God’s love. For his love is guaranteed for us especially when we doubt it nor need it most.

 Inspired by what God has done continues to do for us every moment of our lives, we can adopt more creative ways of living, not only with ourselves, but also with every other human being. It is a question of living our dignity and allowing every God believes in our potential, and he is with us in order to give the needed support over and above our expectations. For God acts always in his almighty power. He never falls short. With God-with us (Emmanuel), our capacity to live up to our capability is raised to God’s own dimensions. Did Jesus not say: “Everything is possible for the person who has faith” (Mk, 9, 23); and, “I am telling you the truth: those who believe in me will do what I do- yes they will do even greater things, because I am going to the Father.” (Jn 14, 12)?

 The Incarnation of the Son of God cannot be referred to simply as “God Humbling himself”, as if to be a human being were a humiliation. God actually became flesh principally to stop human beings from making a humiliation of themselves and the others. He comes to share with them his divine life. They are to become truly children of God. The child born in Bethlehem is the Son of God, and so are you because of Him.

Let us rejoice, wonder, and praise!

Happy Christmas to you all !