YES, Christ wants to be born in us.
That, in a nutshell,
is the meaning of Christmas. All the festivities and merrymaking
associated with this day should point us to this truth. We have to
correspond to it and act on it as best as we can.
Let’s hope that the beautiful decorations we have
everywhere, especially the Christmas crèche, Christmas tree, lanterns,
the Santa Clauses, etc., lead us to this realization, instead of being
distractions or, worse, a sweet poison to our soul.
Let’s hope that when we look at the Child Jesus in the
belen, we get moved to thank him for wanting to be born in us, and to
promise him that we will do our part to welcome and receive him in the
best way we can.
Christ wants to be born in us because he is our savior who
comes to re-make us after we have fallen into sin. Let’s remember that
we are children of God, made in his image and likeness.
Christ is the Son of God, the second person of the Blessed
Trinity, who is the very pattern of our humanity. What we are supposed
to be can only be known if we closely look at him and follow him. It’s
no exaggeration to say that how he is, is also how we ought to be.
Since we fell into sin, leaving our nature deformed and
wounded, this Son of God had to “re-do” us. For this, the Son of God
had to become man to identify himself with each one of us, assuming
all our sinfulness and dying to them only to win over sin and death
with his resurrection.
Christ wants to be born in us so he can start and continue
with his work of redemption which takes place in the whole span of our
earthly life. He wants to grow and live with us, experience what we
experience so he can guide us.
But do we welcome him? Are we willing to have Christ in
us, to work in us and with us? Do we actively cooperate in his
redemptive work in us? Are we willing to be another Christ, “alter
Christus,” as we ought to be, so we can recover and enrich the dignity
God intended for us?
We should consider these questions very seriously and
deploy all our resources to come up with the appropriate answers,
roadmaps, and action plans.
We have to convince ourselves that it is very doable for
us to allow Christ to be born in us. This is no fantasy. On the part
of God, he is already giving us everything that we need for this
wonderful divine will for us to be carried out.
On our part, it is also very doable, because all we have
to do is to be open to this divine will and act on it as best as we
can. Christ can be born in us by allowing him to enter first into our
mind and heart which are the proper places for him to be with us.
Let us get our mind and heart to be engaged with him,
knowing him more, increasingly developing the ability to know his will
and ways, being docile to his promptings that we can discern in our
consciences.
When we acquire a certain intimacy with him, we can start
to feel his love, his goodness and affections, his mercy and
compassion that will always fill us with joy and a deep sense of
confidence proper of the conviction that we are truly children of God.
When we see Christ as a child, let us also feel loved by
God as the infant Jesus is loved by the Father, and by Mary and
Joseph, and the hosts of angels, the shepherds, the magi, etc.
We need to feel loved by God and by others because only
then can we be able to love God and others in return, especially when
we will be experiencing different trials, difficulties, crises, etc.
in the later part of our life.
We cannot give what we do not have. And we cannot have
anything that we have not received from the ultimate source and giver
of all good things—God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
And so we just have to receive Christ, allowing him no
less than to be born in us, because that is what he wants. And let’s
follow him, without fear, all the way to his death and resurrection.
Yes, there’s suffering, but there’s also victory.
Merry Christmas to one and all!
is the meaning of Christmas. All the festivities and merrymaking
associated with this day should point us to this truth. We have to
correspond to it and act on it as best as we can.
Let’s hope that the beautiful decorations we have
everywhere, especially the Christmas crèche, Christmas tree, lanterns,
the Santa Clauses, etc., lead us to this realization, instead of being
distractions or, worse, a sweet poison to our soul.
Let’s hope that when we look at the Child Jesus in the
belen, we get moved to thank him for wanting to be born in us, and to
promise him that we will do our part to welcome and receive him in the
best way we can.
Christ wants to be born in us because he is our savior who
comes to re-make us after we have fallen into sin. Let’s remember that
we are children of God, made in his image and likeness.
Christ is the Son of God, the second person of the Blessed
Trinity, who is the very pattern of our humanity. What we are supposed
to be can only be known if we closely look at him and follow him. It’s
no exaggeration to say that how he is, is also how we ought to be.
Since we fell into sin, leaving our nature deformed and
wounded, this Son of God had to “re-do” us. For this, the Son of God
had to become man to identify himself with each one of us, assuming
all our sinfulness and dying to them only to win over sin and death
with his resurrection.
Christ wants to be born in us so he can start and continue
with his work of redemption which takes place in the whole span of our
earthly life. He wants to grow and live with us, experience what we
experience so he can guide us.
But do we welcome him? Are we willing to have Christ in
us, to work in us and with us? Do we actively cooperate in his
redemptive work in us? Are we willing to be another Christ, “alter
Christus,” as we ought to be, so we can recover and enrich the dignity
God intended for us?
We should consider these questions very seriously and
deploy all our resources to come up with the appropriate answers,
roadmaps, and action plans.
We have to convince ourselves that it is very doable for
us to allow Christ to be born in us. This is no fantasy. On the part
of God, he is already giving us everything that we need for this
wonderful divine will for us to be carried out.
On our part, it is also very doable, because all we have
to do is to be open to this divine will and act on it as best as we
can. Christ can be born in us by allowing him to enter first into our
mind and heart which are the proper places for him to be with us.
Let us get our mind and heart to be engaged with him,
knowing him more, increasingly developing the ability to know his will
and ways, being docile to his promptings that we can discern in our
consciences.
When we acquire a certain intimacy with him, we can start
to feel his love, his goodness and affections, his mercy and
compassion that will always fill us with joy and a deep sense of
confidence proper of the conviction that we are truly children of God.
When we see Christ as a child, let us also feel loved by
God as the infant Jesus is loved by the Father, and by Mary and
Joseph, and the hosts of angels, the shepherds, the magi, etc.
We need to feel loved by God and by others because only
then can we be able to love God and others in return, especially when
we will be experiencing different trials, difficulties, crises, etc.
in the later part of our life.
We cannot give what we do not have. And we cannot have
anything that we have not received from the ultimate source and giver
of all good things—God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
And so we just have to receive Christ, allowing him no
less than to be born in us, because that is what he wants. And let’s
follow him, without fear, all the way to his death and resurrection.
Yes, there’s suffering, but there’s also victory.
Merry Christmas to one and all!
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