Isaiah 52:7-10, Hebrews 1:1-6, Psalm 98:1-6, John 1:1-18

THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

DAILY LECTIONARY

Isaiah 52:7-10, Hebrews 1:1-6, Psalm 98:1-6, John 1:1-18

Isaiah 52:7-10

My Beloved, throughout the course of salvation history God sent messengers to herald the Good News of Your coming.  When our first parents sinned and the gates of heaven were closed to us, the tender, compassionate and loving heart of our Father God wanted us to be saved and so He sent You, His only Son into the world as a Man.  But how could we have hope if we did not know this marvel that the Father intended to do for us unless He sent messengers and prophets to tell us?  Hope is the light that gives courage no matter how dim that light.  From the very first pages of Sacred Scripture we are promised salvation and deliverance.  We are a people of hope and our hope is You who are our joy and peace.  "Love came down at Christmas,"  Love became incarnate and Love saved and redeemed us.

Hebrews 1:1-6

In the Old Testament, God sent messeners and prophets who had a dim awareness of what was in the mind and heart of God.  God permitted this hint of promises to be faintly perceptible to different people and situations which was a foreshadow of what was to come.  The old and the barren bringing forth life where it was humanly impossible to call forth new life.  The son of David, King Solomon, wiser than any rules was hinted at this perfect King and Ruler who was to come.  And when You did come,y Beloved, the whole world was awestruck and dumbfounded at the length which the Father was prepared to go to reveal His passionate love for His sinful children who are the work of His hands.

You are Alpha and the Omega, You are the 'Yes' and 'Amen' of God.  In the beginning God spoke a Word, the Eternal Word and this same Word came into the world taking on flesh in the womb of a Virgin Mother.  He took centre stage in the human drama and crushed sin and destroyed death.  More radiant than a thousand suns and all powerful whose mighty word sustains all that is, was and ever shall be, the only Son of God, came into the world as a helpless little Baby dependent on His Mother for nourishment, shivering in cold winter wind, crying when hungry, feeling the roughness of the clothes that swaddled Him and the hay on which He, the King of Kings lay.

What love is this for unworthy sinners enslaved to sin that it was prepared to go to such extraordinary lengths to reveal to us the passion with which He loves us?  It is no wonder then that He commands that we love, adore and worship Him and no other in return for He is our Lord and our God.

Psalm 98:1-6

Verse 3

3 He has not forgotten his love nor his faithfulness to Israel. The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power.

Rejoice in the love of the invisible God who was made visible to us in the image of His Son the Beloved.

John 1:1-18

My Beloved, we can spend several lifetimes contemplating and meditating on these verses and we would still be unable to plumb its beauty and wisdom.  Truth and mystery are entwined.  John the Evangelist was given a glimpse of divine truth through the Holy Spirit and since he was the beloved disciple who lay on Your breast, to him was given understanding as far as it is possible for the finite mind to understand the infinite God. But he does a great job since it is the Holy Spirit who reveals these divine truths and without Him it would be impossible to know and even less possible to grasp its meaning.  It is a multifaceted diamond, the beauty and radiance of its light shifts and shimmers as it reveals different aspects of the same Truth, "God is Love, the Word of God is the Son of God begotten by the Father from all eternity.  Through Him all that is came to be and nothing exists without Him for His Word sustains all things.  All life comes fromt he One who is Life.  All light is but a reflection of the One who is Light.  On His coming into the world, darkness was vanquished and it vanished leaving behind no trace for the Light as cause the darkness to cease.

John the Baptist, was the herald chosen by God to prepare the Way for the Light so all who hear may believe and believing be saved.  Without the Light we cannot understand divine wisdom which is often paradoxical.  The Creator of the world,the universe, the firmament and the galaxies visible and invisible to us came in the world and was subject to all the vagaries of being human.  So humble that many did not believe He was who He said He was.  The people that God chose for Himself, painstaking preparing them to receive His Beloved Son rejected Him and so we, the gentiles and pagans were given the opportunity to know Him and receive Him and salvation is now ours as well.  The Son of God was born of God eternally and conceived in the womb of His Virgin Mother in time.  We are born in time and through baptism born of God.

God became flesh and made His home with us.  He became Emmanuel .  We receive of the fullness of His life in the worthy reception of the Sacraments.  We know the Father as Abouna because You, the Beloved, has revealed Him to us.  We are blessed for He chose us and made us children of His Father and coheirs with Him to His Kingdom.