“Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man. Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man … Let us then joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate the festive day on which he who is the great and eternal day came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short day of time.”
These stirring words were taken from an ancient homily by the great Catholic theologian and bishop – St. Augustine. Perhaps the most eloquent of all the teachers of the faith throughout our 2 millennia tradition, St. Augustine conveys the wonder of the Incarnation of God. A great mystery in which we believe and profess - that the God who created heaven and earth out of nothing – the God who is all powerful and all knowing, in the fullness of time, took upon Himself the lowliness of our human flesh and walked among us. This is the mystery we celebrate with joy at Christmas. The truth and meaning of Christmas are central to our identity and lives as Christians – including the awesome and humbling reality taught by St. Augustine – that is was for
our sake that God became man.
This year the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes is exploring the theme of “holiness and mission.” We have discovered that each of us – you and I - are called to be holy - and from this foundation of holiness we are better able to live out the mission that Christ has entrusted to his Church. This year we have examined different definitions of holiness – to do God’s will; to pour ourselves out for others; and, like the saints, to immerse ourselves into the life and love of God. But the definition which is most fitting on Christmas is this: we are holy when we take on and live the attributes of God. St. Athanasius said centuries ago that God became man so that we might become like God. Thus, before we can commit to lives of authentic holiness and become more like God, we must understand the ways in which God is holy.
God manifests His holiness in a variety of ways: by creating; by gifting; by loving; by teaching; by healing; by forgiving; and by restoring His creation. And we who are disciples are called to do likewise – to follow the path of God. More than in any other place in Scripture, the Christmas story conveys the most unheralded and yet most important dimension of God’s holiness: His humility. The entire mystery of the Incarnation points to the deep humility of God. That God who is totally other and vast in power and glory would humbly enter the smallness and brokenness of our world – and would do so from within our very flesh. It’s extraordinary what we believe. As St. Thomas Aquinas once said of God – O sublime humility, O humble sublimity.
More than any of the gospels, the Gospel of Luke gets at the earthiness of the Incarnation and the fact that God’s entrance into the world signals that the old order is passing away. Reality is turned upside down. Where is the King of Kings born? In an unknown outpost on the edge of the Roman Empire. And where specifically is the Christ Child born? With the animals – in a cold, simple manger. The Lord of Lords at the beginning of his earthy life: small and vulnerable. And to whom is the message of Christ’s birth first proclaimed by the Angels? To the shepherds in the fields. One can think of few more lowly in Scripture. Without power or status, living a hard and lonely life. The beauty of Luke’s Gospel message is that those who live for power are brought low – they do not recognize the presence of God - and those without power, the shepherds and the poor, are magnificently invited into God’s reign. My friends, the Christmas story conveys God’s most unheralded virtue – His deep humility - and puts before us the pattern for our lives of faith in humble service.
If we see God’s disposition of humility manifested in the Christmas story, it from this disposition that God does the great work of restoring humanity from our fallen condition. Just as the virtue of humility is God’s most unheralded virtue, God’s act of restoration is His most unheralded work. Remember what St. Augustine said: for our sake God became man. God became man so that he might restore our broken human nature from within – reconciling us to the love of the Father. This is the beautiful reality that the Prophet Isaiah prophesies to – See, the Lord restoring Israel.
Now to the practical implications that the mystery of the Incarnation and the meaning of Christmas have for us – they’re manifold and important. The name by which we call God at Christmas is Emmanuel – which means God with us. And in the Incarnation God
is with us in a most extraordinary way. So here is the challenge and a relevant question. God in freedom and love has chosen to live with us. Have we chosen to live with God – or do we live our lives apart from God? God is with us, but are we with God? I ask this question not to throw a Christmas guilt trip on you – but because this is a question fundamental to the meaning and happiness of your lives. God does not impose himself upon us. God always respects our freedom - which God gave to us to love and serve Him and others. But, too often the invitation by God to enter into his life – to be with God - is ignored. We then wander in unhappiness, unfulfilled, searching, serving false gods and closed off from God’s grace and truth. Ah – but the humility, love, and mercy of God are seen in the fact that He never gives up on the children He has created and redeemed. His outstretched remains extended to us.
More than 1600 years ago Augustine was wandering and searching – serving false idols and living only for pleasure. But he heard the voice of God, recognized God’s truth, and took God’s outstretched hand. His life was transformed as he chose in freedom to live
with God. His restless heart rested in the Lord. He became a bishop, a great theologian, and a saint. His considerable gifts of faith and reason were then gloriously put in service of God and the restoration of humanity. Writing years after his conversion in the same homily I quoted above, St. Augustine says this about our Incarnate God: “He has become our justice, our sanctification, our redemption, so that, as it is written: Let him who glories glory in the Lord…For this reason, when our Lord was born of the Virgin, the message of the angelic voices was:
Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.” Merry Christmas!