The Word

The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas): Mass During the Day

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Is 9: 5 A child is born for us, and a son is given to us; his scepter of power rests upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Messenger of great counsel.

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.

Scripture for Mass during the day: Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 97; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not grasped it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has been set above me because he was before me.' From the fulness of his grace we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No-one has ever seen God, but the Only-begotten Son, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. (John 1:1-18)

The Word John Henry Newman once wrote that those who, of his own time, were considered to be rationalist and liberal did not fear making mistakes in religion. They were confident in the power of their own reason to determine the truth or otherwise of the claims of revealed religion, and were not overly concerned that they might be wrong. He once insisted that the men of Cambridge whom he and his friends were discussing did not have enough fear. I suspect this is a feature of the attitude of secular man in our own day to the claims of revealed religion. He readily disputes the position of Christ, while not caring much about the issue anyway. He lives as if God does not matter, and as if — whatever be the claims — Christ were just another figure of some influence in history. But consider the claims and ask, what if they are true? This question alone ought make a person straighten from his very relaxed position and begin to listen. Prescinding from the question of whether or not they are true, ask this: what if they were to be true? Our problem is that we do not listen or consider, because we do not think it matters much whether religion is true or not. Truth is not the fundamental issue. What matters is, does it work for me? Is it useful for my purposes? Modern man ought ask himself why it is that he has little interest in revealed religion, because if revealed religion were true, it clearly would be of tremendous significance. Serious sin leads to eternal death, and the only way out of this upshot is union with Jesus Christ and the acceptance of his teaching. The only name by which we can be saved is that of Jesus Christ. If this is true, then the one who languidly dismisses it, has all his future prospects under threat. Let us, then, consider the claims of Christ, for on Christmas Day we think of his coming with claims no one else would ever dream of making. No one can dispute that he was a man of history, and truly man. The claim is that he was truly God. Nothing in all of history competes with the significance of this. Let us on this day consider the remarkable introduction to his Gospel which St John provides, an introduction to the person and history of Jesus Christ.

We read in the book of Genesis that in the beginning there was God. God uttered his word, and by that word the heavens and the earth were created (1:1). In the world of the time, many gods were understood to have done this. Moreover, they did not create, they only arranged — whereas in the book of Genesis, God simply said, let there be light, and there was light (1:3). Whence came this information about the one and only Creator? It was revealed. But in his Gospel John gives an extraordinary clarification which is, indeed, yet another mystery. This word of God uttered at the beginning was the Word who all along had been with God. Whenever the beginning is taken as being, there was God, and the Word was with him. That is to say, just as God had no beginning, nor did the Word. Indeed — mystery most high! — the Word was God. John is saying that there has been a further and most sublime revelation since Genesis was written, and that is that the word, through whom God created the heavens and the earth, is the Word — a person distinct from God, and yet himself God. It will be further revealed in the course of John’s Gospel, that the spirit of God that hovered over the abyss in Genesis (1:2) was also God. He too is distinct as a person — just as God and his Word are distinct as persons. He is the Spirit of God and of the Word. Three distinct persons, Father, Son and Spirit, each of whom is the one God, were already present in the beginning. But — wonder of wonders! — the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Can anything in all of creation, can anything in all of human history compare with this point, that there walked the earth a man, a true man, who was God himself? This is the fundamental claim, and how can we be indifferent to it? But so it is. “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:1‑18). So many did not care to look, to consider, to open their hearts to the revelation being made in their midst. The assumption of a secular age is that all this does not matter much.

On Christmas Day we celebrate the birth of God made man. It happened at a certain point, in a certain place. God the Son took to himself a human nature, with a human body and a human soul. He came to enable us to share in the divine life that was his from all eternity, and he would make this possible by his death on the cross. To all who receive him, he gives the power to become children of God. Among all the things to wonder at in the world, this is beyond compare. Let us renew our stand with Christ, knowing that he is the only name by which men can be saved.

(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.456-463 (The Word became flesh)

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