Christmas is the night when God gives Himself to us. Isaias gives us a name to call Our Lord when He comes: “God with us”. And he also emphasizes: “A child is born to us. A child is given to us.” It is difficult for us to understand because it exceeds our understanding.
God is born, in person. God is born for you, for your sakes.
There is a particularity about Christmas, a concreteness, that has to be noticed and emphasized. There are many ways to look at the Nativity scene, many ways to contemplate it. But tonight, at least, I would like you to think about what it would be like if you were the only one there. Just you and the divine Child.
When we are there alone with the Christ Child, we are going to realize something right away. We are going to realize that our human condition is important.
We are going to look at this Child and say to ourselves, “God is a pure spirit, infinite, eternal, all-powerful. Yet He takes on flesh; He becomes human and He confines Himself within the limits of the human nature that He has created. He has started off as an infant, just like I did, an infant that cannot talk, that cannot walk, that cannot feed itself, that is helpless in every way.”
The Christ Child is saying to us, “I have come to be close to you in the very human nature that I gave to you. I have taken on your human nature, as a gift to you. You must accept your human nature as a gift from me. You must reach your salvation through the limits of your human nature.”
By that, I mean that we have to live in and love the reality that God has made for us.
The limitations of our body: sometimes healthy, sometimes sick
The limitations of a world tainted by sin: sometimes good, sometimes evil we cannot stop
The limitations of desire: sometimes desires realized, many times desires that cannot be realized
