My sisters and brothers, do not reduce the celebration of Christmas to just one day. It is a season that extends from Dec. 25, the Nativity of the Lord, through Jan. 9, the Baptism of the Lord.
There are many days to celebrate and remember the tremendous mystery, “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) The Incarnation and Birth of the Son of God require lots of time in order to reflect on its effects in and for us. The Christmas season provides that time.
May your experience of this holy exchange, the divine exchanged for human that enabled the human to become divine, touch and speak to your life and renew you in the love of God for you. At the Birth of Jesus, God chose to live on the earth in a human body. The divine nature of God, through the action of the Holy Spirit and with the cooperation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, assumed human form in her womb. At his Birth according to the flesh he was named Jesus. In him, the human and the divine came together. This was accomplished by God for us and for our salvation.
Out of love for us, at the Birth of Jesus, God embraced our human condition in all things but sin. “For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, your all-powerful word leapt down from heaven from her royal throne as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction.” (Wisdom 18:14-16) God among us, not from a distance, but from within us; God not far from us, but in our flesh; the nearness of God. Divinity in humanity in the infant child of Bethlehem. God’s love for you.
The joy of Christmas is that with the Birth of Jesus, we are born into salvation. Jesus experienced what we experience, the anxieties of the human heart, pleasures and pleasantries, trials and tribulations, joys and happinesses, the limitations of time and space, sufferings and poverty, love and acceptance, family and community, sickness and health, war and disease, and yes, even death. Into our humanity the Christ of God has come.
I will pray for you at the altar. Celebrate and remember that Christ was born for you. A blessed Christmas season to you.
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden