25 December 2014
The Nativity of the Lord
The joy of Christmas is irrepressible and irresistible: the magic of this night, the glory of the dawn, when the sun is just an infant piece brighter than the darkest depths of December and begins to shed its new, pastel light on the dark places of earth. It is simply “in the air” and the joy is that of a newborn infant, the thrill of God’s supreme human artistry entering this worn world –yet again, for all children bring a promise, but as never before, for unlike all others this child will never disappoint the desires of holy hearts. And there is more.
The first reading for the Vigil Mass on Christmas speaks of God as the Bridegroom who is coming to wed His People Israel. This child has come to fulfill the deepest desires of all loving hearts, to incarnate and realize all the deepest longings for goodness in the universe. He comes as the bridegroom to satisfy the longing of His Bride, the bride God had prepared for Himself through the ages. A People who were not content with the merely human round of birth, decay and death, of power and earthly glory, so much less for fleeting pleasures no matter how intimate: to this People comes the beloved spouse to care for her forever.
And that people is the Church gathered around the one who will become a “Bridegroom of Blood” at Calvary. The revelation begins today, when the future of the universe appears in this newborn baby, born to fulfil the deepest desires of all creation for love, understanding, redemption, perfect and eternal union. Today we begin the walk to Calvary and the Resurrection beyond into a transformed universe. The wedding feast of the Lamb begins.