Christmas and the Three Births of Jesus
Year A – Christmas of the Lord
Luke 2:1–14: “I bring you good news of great joy”;
Luke 2:15–20: “Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart”;
John 1:1–18: “We have contemplated his glory.”
During the four weeks of Advent we have desired, invoked and prayed: “Marana tha”, “Come, our Lord!” Today the Lord answers the prayer of his people: “Today you will know that the Lord is coming to save you; tomorrow you will see his glory” (antiphon of the evening Mass, cf. Ex 16:6–7).
Which coming are we speaking of, since the season of Advent evokes three comings: one in the past (Christ came), a second in the future (Christ will come), and a third in the present (Christ comes)? In truth, Christ fills all time: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Heb 13:8). It is comforting to know that he is present in our past, our present and our future. Our entire existence is lived in his eternal present.
So – I repeat – which coming, which birth are we speaking of? In reality, at Christmas we celebrate the three comings of Jesus. The monk Enzo Bianchi says: the great tradition of the Church, from the ancient Fathers of East and West, has meditated on these three births or comings of the Lord, and for this very reason the three Christmas Masses were introduced: night, dawn and day.
The Mass of the Night presents his first birth, in Bethlehem, in the past, his birth in the flesh: “Today, in the city of David, a Saviour has been born to you, who is Christ the Lord.” It is the celebration of the Incarnation of the Son of God, which we commemorate in FAITH.
The Mass at Dawn alludes to his spiritual birth in the heart of the believer: “Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” This is his coming and spiritual birth in the present, which forms a bridge between the first coming in the past and the second coming in the future. This birth is the fruit of meditating on the Word that has been heard and conceived in the heart with LOVE. It is the decisive birth because, as Pope Francis says, the only way to encounter Christ is to let him be reborn “in the manger of the heart”. The seventeenth-century mystic Angelus Silesius affirms: “Even if Jesus were born a thousand times in Bethlehem, if he is not born in you, all is in vain.”
The Mass of the Day, while speaking of the Incarnation of the Word (the Logos), calls to the Christian’s memory the return of Christ in glory: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we have contemplated his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This coming in the futur is the object of our HOPE. We profess it every Sunday in the Creed: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” Enzo Bianchi comments again: sadly, this coming is mentioned less and less in the Church, and preaching is often silent on this theme… That is why we so often remain in the torpor of those who are spiritually sleepwalking and no longer expect anything.
The day of the “great light” and the “great joy”
At Christmas all our attention is focused on Bethlehem, on the past, which is often lived, alas, as a repetition, almost like a little play (the Nativity scene?), of that unique moment in history. It is not superfluous to recall that Christmas is instead a memorial. Not only in the sense of “remembering”, but above all as a liturgical action that carries an actualising grace, that is, one which makes the Christmas of Jesus present for us today. We are brought to Bethlehem, becoming companions of the shepherds, and like them invited to GO and SEE the child lying in the manger. With this spirit we look at the Nativity scene.
Christmas is therefore the day of the GREAT LIGHT: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” The Light that comes to dispel the darkness of our lives, of the world and of history. It is a Light that the darkness, like cosmic black holes, tries to suffocate, without succeeding. All history is an unceasing struggle between Light and darkness. Christmas is a renewed invitation to walk towards the Light that makes us luminous!
Christmas is also the day of the GREAT JOY: “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people.” It is the joy of life, the joy of the saved, the joy of freedom. It is the joy of the visit from Heaven, of knowing that it is a friend of humankind. It is the joy of God’s visit, of God who comes to dwell among us, who is no longer the distant God, but the God of smallness and tenderness, a child who smiles at us, whom we can take in our arms and kiss. It is a joy to be welcomed in order to ease our sadness.
Christmas, a feast for adults
Christmas, however, is above all a profession of faith. Christmas is not “a children’s feast”, as is sometimes said. It is a demanding feast, for mature Christians. Indeed, it is not at all obvious that God is Emmanuel, God-with-us. On the contrary, events seem to prove the opposite; they cry out the distance of the world from God and of God from the world. What is needed is a profession of faith, on our knees before the Mystery: “By the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man.”
The whole life of the believer is a struggle between faith and unbelief. Faith is constantly threatened by doubt. It is challenged and mocked by non-believers. The typical cry of the believer today, in our post-Christian Western society, is that of the psalmist: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually: Where is your God?” (Ps 42). Where is your God? It is the sarcastic question we hear every day, through the media, at work, at school, among friends and even in our own homes. How helpful it would be to pray this Psalm more often, to pour out our lament before the Lord!
A proposal for living the mystery of Christmas every day
I find it helpful and meaningful to begin our morning prayer with the recitation of the Angelus. It is a way of grafting the day into the Today of the Incarnation in time and giving it a dimension of eternity.
The Angel of the Lord brought the announcement to Mary
– And she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary…
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
– Let it be done to me according to your word. Hail Mary…
And the Word was made flesh.
– And dwelt among us. Hail Mary…
Fr Manuel João Pereira Correia, mccj
Fr. Manuel João, comboni missionary
Sunday Reflection
from the womb of my whale, ALS
Our cross is the pulpit of the Word
