Dec 25 Mon
We learn today that Christ according to His human nature is born at Bethlehem, of the Virgin Mary. And that according to His divine nature He is conceived of the Holy Spirit; he is the Son of God and the Second Person of the Trinity.
We need Him. Since our first parents were cast forth from the earthly paradise the gate has been closed, and a cherub stands guard with flaming sword. The Redeemer alone is able to open this door and enter in. On Christmas Eve we stand before the gate of paradise, and plead: “Lift up your gates, O princes; Open wide, eternal gates; That the King of Glory may enter in…”
God is pleased with his Son. We, through baptism, by welcoming the Lord, can also become children of God, and feel the voice of the Father addressed to us, to you: "You are my son, this day have I begotten you... in you I am well pleased".
Some say that Love is a lack of freedom, since love implies that I need the other. Does God “need” my love?
It is a mutual dependence of God, and of me. Lord, may I learn to accept you, and to be accepted by you. May I transform my dependence into love and thus become free. To be born again, to lay aside pride, to become a child: that is Christmas.
Ratzinger wrote: "The true tree of life is not far from us, somewhere in a lost world. It has been erected in our midst, not only as image and sign, but in reality. Jesus, who is the fruit of the tree of life, is Life itself. He has become so small that our hands can contain him. He makes himself dependent on us to set us free, to recover us from our chronic ‘sickness of falling’. Let us not disappoint his trust. Let us place ourselves in his hands, as he has placed himself in ours".
Even if Christ were born a thousand times in Bethlehem, as long as he is not born in your heart, you will be lost forever: you would have been born in vain.
Now we know that, with the grace of the Lord, we can and must sanctify all the clean realities of our life. There is no earthly situation, no matter how small and ordinary it may seem, that cannot be an occasion for an amazing encounter with Christ, and a stage on our journey towards happiness, the Kingdom of Heaven.
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