2nd Sunday of Christmas

From the beginning St John’s Gospel goes immediately to the heart of the Christmas mystery. The eternal Word, the Son of God, “became flesh”. It is the great Divine plan. Not only does God come to dwell among the people, but makes himself one of the people, one of us. We no longer live by a law or by belonging to a certain group. We have a person, a divine person to follow, to know, to love and to be united with.

Saint Paul blesses God for his great act of love realised in Jesus Christ. In this love each of us find our fundamental vocation. We are predestined to be God’s children through the salvation worked by Jesus Christ. The Son of God became man for this, Jesus became flesh for this: to make us part of his relationship with the Father.

This is the meaning of Christmas. If the Lord continues to come among us, if he continues to offer us the gift of his Word, it is so that each of us may answer this call: to become holy in love. Holiness is belonging to God. It means communion with him, to be part of the loving gift between Father and Son. Holiness is to safeguard the gift that God has given to us. It is to become the gift of love. The sign of holiness is practical action in daily life, in the encounter with God and the encounter with others. In prayer and charity.

In prayer and in charity we give back to God and to others the gift God has given us - divine love. The Christmas present.

May the Virgin Mary help us to receive with joy and gratitude the divine gift of God, fully given in Jesus Christ.