CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - With these words the most theologically profound Gospel begins, the one written by the beloved disciple John: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.. AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US" (John 1:1, 14)

The last to be written, this Gospel contains the inspired mature reflection of the early Church. Within these pregnant words we discover the mystery at the heart of the great event we celebrate on Christmas, the Incarnation and the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The words rendered in English "dwelt among us" are literally rendered "He pitched His tent among us." The God of the whole universe who dwelt in inaccessible light, whom no man had ever seen and lived, became a man. In fact, he became first a child, in the womb and then in the arms of a mother. Then, He lived (lives) among us. He became one of us, fully human while fully Divine. Heaven touched earth and earth is now forever changed.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us of this Jesus whose birth we celebrate: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin" (Hebrews 4:15)

The Eternal Word, coexistent with the Father and the Spirit in the perfect unity that is Trinitarian Love and communion, became a real man in time and in history. As a pre-born child, He sanctified all mother's wombs by dwelling within the first temple, the living tabernacle, of His beloved self-chosen mother. Now that is THE greatest argument against abortion. God revealed Himself first as a child in the womb.

On Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord, we celebrate that Holy Day when this child of Mary's was born and heaven touched earth. He was raised by a human mother and father; and parenting and family life forever took on a deeper meaning. At the bench of Joseph the carpenter, his beloved foster father; he learned the carpenter’s trade and through His work sanctified all human work as a participation in the continuing work of both creation and redemption.

This wonderful child, God Incarnate, worked with the very wood upon which, later as a man, He would be nailed. On that second tree of the Cross, the new Adam stretched out His loving arms to embrace the world that had been created through Him, and re-created it through His sacrifice of Self Giving Love.

Continuing Work of Redemption

God’s continuing work of re-creation and redemption, in and through His Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, now continues in and through the work of His Church in the world. This Church is the Risen Body of His Son still active, still mediating the fruits of His redemption as she journeys through time on the way to eternity. This Church carries forward in time the marvelous work of Christ’s re-creation, redemption and the fulfillment of the Divine plan “hidden from the ages” (Eph 3:9, Coll. 1:26, Rom. 16:25, 1 Cor. 2:7) and now revealed to those with eyes to see and hearts to behold the great mystery.

At the breast of his mother, He elevated the already holy wonder and dignity of motherhood. He offered Himself in His sacred humanity to be nurtured by a mothers love as a sign of the beauty of the entire human experience of growth and maturation. He now symbolically entrusts that nurturing work to that Church which has, from antiquity, rightly been called a “mother” for the whole human race. She is now called to manifest the life of God on the earth.

More than an Idea

He was born into a real family and lived fully the stages of all of our very real and human lives- just as we do and as our children continue to do. He was "a kid"; He was a "teenager", He, "grew up" as He "grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and all men" says the Gospel. (Luke 2:52)

The Christian claim is that God is more than an idea or the summit of all the aspirations of the human heart. He so loved the world that He had created out of love that when it was lost through sin, through the wrong choice of those whom He had created in love and for love to give it to, He came as a child among us. He pitched His tent among us. He became like us, so that we can become like Him and live for eternity in an intimate family relationship with Him. This God of love and communion invites us in His Son to participate in His very life.

As He walked among us He showed us the way to live fully human lives and to respond to both the struggles and the joy that are a part of that journey. He had friends, some ...