“The word became flesh.” —Gospel of John 1:14

Imagine the Son of God coming down to earth from Heaven to be our friend in the flesh! This is the great mystery of faith we celebrate every Christmas.

This miraculous event is called the Incarnation: God wrapping Himself in human flesh with all the possibilities and limitations that implies. He who was eternal became bound by time. He who was power itself became a powerless, little child. He who was truth itself had to learn the language of men to teach us the wisdom of God.

Who among us cannot be humbled by the love of God incarnate (made flesh) in a helpless child who could fit into the palm of your hand. Without fanfare, without the glitter of a radiant king, this tiny bundle of helplessness lying in a manger has brought us to our senses. His banner is the banner of the three superstar virtues that unite us with Him: faith, hope, and love.

Jesus knew human joy and friendship, sickness and pain, and all that it means to be human. Yes, His feelings were like our own and He was even subject to temptation. He was, as St. Paul said, like us in all things except sin. This is what we celebrate this time of year.

Christmas is a time of wonder. It is the most down-to-earth of our religious holidays. It actualizes the love of God in the loving ways people let Christ into their real lives by reaching out to each other with gifts, with prayers, with reconciliation, with acts of human kindness towards everyone, but especially the needy.

Christmas reminds us to put God back in our lives, to see Christ in each other. The Son of God became human at Christmas and transformed our way of thinking through our faith in Him, our way of hoping by our trust in His promises, our way of loving by loving one another the way He has loved us. We see the effects of all this more clearly, feel it more deeply at Christmas.

Christmas is not a transient feast. It lives on as long as people of good will walk the same walk of Christ, as long as they show kindness towards one another, as long as they reject the false gods of society, as long as they reach out to the poor and the destitute, as long as they remember that whatever they do to the least of His people they do unto Him (Matthew 25:40).

Let us take hold of this good news of Christmas and live it all the time, every day and in every circumstance of our lives with whomever we meet along the way.

Have a happy and blessed Christmas!

—Fr. Hugh Duffy