Luke 2:1-14 (Mass at midnight)
“I proclaim to you good news of great joy: today a Savior is born for us, Christ the Lord.”
At the heart of the Gospel – the good news of Christianity – is joy! The joyous mystery the birth of Christ, the joyous mystery of God’s act of love and redemption, the joyous mystery of being invited into a new covenant with God. The angel says this to the shepherds in today’s Gospel “I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people…a savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord.” This joy of the coming of the messiah is laced, from the beginning, with a paradox. Jesus, the cause of our joy as savior and redeemer, has the appearance of being ordinary. There doesn’t seem to be anything about him by which to cause the joy of the angels, the joy of shepherds, or the adoration of the magi. This is because the joy of the messiah is not just a natural product that we can discern on our own but is a gift of grace where we see the cause of our joy and the cause of our adoration in this seemingly ordinary child. This is also true of this season, and our daily lives. In order to see and experience the joy within the ordinary moments of our Christian lives, we must cultivate eyes and hearts that receive God’s light so that we might see the divine in what appears ordinary without the light of faith.
Today, let us pray in gratitude for the gift of the mystery of the incarnation. God’s coming to dwell with us and to redeem us is one of the greatest mysteries at the heart of Christianity. It is truly a mystery of great joy. Let us pray to be renewed interiorly with a sense of joy at this gift and with eyes to see God’s lasting joy lying below the surface of what might appear ordinary in our lives, church, and world.