One such as He, became INCARNATE and was BORN to DIE for love of one such as me…
I do not know what Christmas is like in your home, but in mine it is – and has always been – a very busy day. Ever since I was a little girl there was cooking and cleaning and preparation for this day to celebrate the birth of Our Blessed Lord.
Amidst the hustle-and-bustle of this day – between celebrating the Holy Mass, seeing family and friends and opening gifts and packing away and celebrating Mass and cooking lunch and feeding people and cleaning up afterwards – I remember my Lord and God. For with all the chatter of the day it can be easy to lose sight of the silence of Our Blessed Mother and her chaste spouse, Saint Joseph and they gave witness to the miracle of God made Man.
On this day – almost two thousand years ago – Christ, who was God the Son was born. Now, technically it was not actually on this very day that Christ was born – rather this was the day chosen to be used to celebrate the birth of Our Blessed Lord. But in celebrating this profound and almost unspeakable miracle, I have been reflecting on this day – amidst all the hustle-and-bustle of the Christmas rush – on the glorious wonder of my Beloved...
You see, there was hustle-and-bustle on the day of Our Lord’s birth… When His Majesty, King of the Universe, allowed Himself – the Creator of the Universe – to be born of a Virgin, He assumed a mere human nature. What this really means is that God through His perfect and gracious humility allowed Himself to become a mere and imperfect created thing when He took on a human body. He did not even allow Himself the slightly greater dignity of being an angel who would never die. And for this, there was much hustle-and-bustle both in Heaven and on Earth.
The earthly hustle-and-bustle was obvious and apparent back then in some ways that are similar to my hustle and bustle today. Saint Joseph had to manage to get his new wife and the Son of God to Bethlehem at what must have seemed the worst possible time because that is what was expected of him.
And I often reflect on their conversations on that journey – for the journey would have been long...
Did Saint Joseph complain about the discomfort and inconvenience and stress of that trip? Did Our Blessed Mother complain about the discomfort and inconvenience and stress of that pregnancy? I mean – it is obvious that both would have FELT that discomfort and inconvenience and stress, but my question is whether they spoke about it?
I do not think that they did…
You see Saint Luke tells us that Our Blessed Mother was FILLED with Grace (Luke 1:26-28). Saint Joseph’s spouse was literally FULL of the Holy Spirit, and Saint Joseph was living with her… That means something. There is an old cliché that says, “birds of a feather flock together” and it applies quite well here. After all, how could Saint Joseph complain while on that journey, if his magnificent spouse stayed silent. Surely he would have felt churlish to complain when her burden was the greater? And it is of course in this way that Our Blessed Mother helped her spouse to achieve greater heights of sanctity. It is in this way that she helps me – and you – too…
That FULLNESS OF GRACE means that Our Blessed Mother had a profound and unimaginable understanding of her mission and of the discomfort and inconvenience and stress that would be demanded of her on that mission because she had a profound and unimaginable connection to God.
And that connection – through her deliberate and definite surrender of her will to the Holy Will of God shows me how beautifully – how perfectly – Our Blessed Mother walked on in silence and without complaint…
For Our Blessed Mother understood that her precious and beloved Son was born to die. And still she uttered not one single complaint because she understood the mission of Her Perfect Son…
“You say that I am a King. For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” (John 18:37).
Pope Benedict XVI spoke about this truth when he asked… “But what is the ‘truth’ that Christ came into the world to witness to? The whole of His life reveals that God is love – so this is the truth to which He witnessed to the full, with the sacrifice of His own life on Calvary.”
And it was for this that there is also a hustle-and-bustle in Heaven on this day… For all of Heaven knew that on this day the countdown was on. The countdown was on to prepare for the DEATH of Christ. For God Himself was born to die…
In this way, through His PERFECT and UNIMAGINABLE HUMILITY, God Himself – who MADE us in HIS IMAGE – allowed Himself to be born into our inferior one.
Obviously, this does not mean that God allowed Himself to be born to sin – but rather that He allowed Himself to be born into the CONSEQUENCE of SIN…
This means that on this day that we celebrate from two thousand years ago, God allowed Himself to be born to die, and through His death to redeem the world, by DESTROYING sin with the death of the created Human Body that was His to lay down for LOVE of me.
And now – and for all eternity – there is a hustle-and-bustle in Heaven and on Earth – for this is the day that the Lord made so that we could rejoice and be glad.
And on this day – amidst the hustle-and-bustle of the Christmas rush, how could I fail to appreciate the true magnificence of God?
For One such as He, became INCARNATE and was BORN to DIE for love of one such as me…
And just the thought of this great unfathomable miracle causes me to stop – right here in the midst of the hustle-and-bustle.
It just causes me to stop!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.