John 1:1-18
The Light Shines- MERRY CHRISTMAS!
In just a few words this Gospel passage tells us what God gave us for Christmas. “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” There can never be a better gift given. 
And this exchange of gifts, as described by St Augustine—“God became man, so that man might become God.”
Each time we go to the Eucharist we continue participating in this exchanging of gifts with God. When the presiding priest pours a little water into the wine, he prays: “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity”. We offer up at each celebration bread and wine as an offering, and we then in return receive the Body and Blood of the Lord. This is why we, as Christians, should “remember the dignity that 
Christmas gives you.” [Pope St Leo]. Christmas, the Incarnation, gives us the best of both worlds! “God became man so that man might become God.”
Christmas takes place just a few days after the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year [making it the longest night of the year]. But on that day of the solstice, the balance of significance begins to shift. Each day will be met with a longer period of light shining, and the night therefore doesn’t last as long. It is the heavens’ way of reminding us, a found in John’s Gospel, that “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it.” Christmas IS the birth of He who will call Himself the Light of the World.
Let the light continue to shine in the darkness. Let us rejoice in the coming of our Lord and Savior. Give thanks to God for this great exchange of gifts. The Lord of the angels became man today so that man could eat the break of angels!
included. There might be many things happening in your life, and it might pass you by, or you might fail to see the importance, but this Canticle of Zachary, is a great hymn of gratitude to God. It allows us to discover the spirit around us, and it welcomes the new day-one fill with Love and Compassion of God’s unending Love.
enemies. This litany leads to a great celebration of those last of the great prophets who “will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.” Zachary’s canticle radiates the new order the high priest’s own son; he will bridge the old and the new. He will become the mouthpiece announcing the coming of the Messiah who is to come.
Elizabeth, as they were well beyond their child bearing years, and yet they had been blessed with a baby. Not only were they now blessed with this gift of new life, they were also greeted with the notion that this young baby boy—John—would be someone with an important vocation, “For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.” This was reaffirmed as Zachary had been struck “dumb”, but when he finally was able to speak, he spoke of the blessing that God had given to them. God had truly been so good to them, and it was all such a welcomed and joyous gift. They could not have known that the greatest gift of all was soon to be given. The gift of the Father’s Son, Jesus Christ, would soon be upon them and the whole world. He would soon come to begin His mission of salvation.
Sometimes the words of “gratitude” and “thankfulness” are not easily found in our own vocabulary. We often hear people refer to the act of “giving thanks to”, but never do we hear giving thanks because. We forget that at times we fail to be thankful for what God has granted us. When we see others that need more than we—we should not grumble but rather give thanks. When we are interrupted because someone calls, or comes to see us—we should not become irritated, but rather to welcome it as a visit or call from Christ. The Gospels tach us to have gratitude, to come to understand that all we have is a gift from God, and that we should always remain truly grateful for these gifts.
their undeniable joy and thanksgiving to God for his many gifts and graces each day. Every day was met with a reversal: a sinner repents and is forgiven, the lonely hears a friend coming, those sick and infirmed begin to experience new life. Even Mary herself comes to experience a reversal. She experiences the notion of the empty being filled, the childless bearing children the virgin becoming the mother.
was never a confirmation that she was with child. It was when Elizabeth told Mary that the child in her womb leapt with joy at the sound of her voice, that Mary was comforted that Her God was indeed great, and that the light of faith burned brightly. The darkness of unknowing, mixed with a faint light of faith, resolves into the full light of knowledge: YES, the Lord is with me, within me!
significance the first thing you do is go and tell someone. We just simply desire to share good news and to do it in a spirited gratitude. We also should in turn celebrate with those who have received good fortune—a sense of charity.
These good zeal impelled Mary to take the Word to Elizabeth as swiftly as she could. This is a act of bearing Christ to another, to share that message. It is through zeal that baby John begins to react while inside of Elizabeth’s womb. Later in life, John the Baptist will point to Jesus as the Messiah and will embody zeal. A sense of good zeal towards others is highly contagious. This type of gratitude can grab a person and pull them near and within a circle of trust.
called to do. AS St benedict says in the Rule for monastic living, “As we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love” (Prologue: 49).
Mary is able to shake off the worries that surely were coming to her in this instance and doing so with the understanding that God surely had a plan for her, and for this situation. Mary is able to take God at His word, and with that trust the Word made flesh is dwelling within Mary—and is soon to be the Savior of the world.
bear in our body the Body of our Savior. This is why we are always greeted by the Priest with the words from the angel—“The Lord be with you” (cf. Lk. 1:28)—because it is at this sacrifice that we are also offered the opportunity to choose to carry Christ in our bodies, if we all could only understand this concept fully and would allow it to become our fiat.
many of us! After sharing the message Zachariah was rendered mute, unable to speak. So, for nine months he spent waiting for the birth of their child. They may not have known it, but they were VERY much part of God’s plan.
the image of God? Afterall we were indeed created in the image of God and in his likeness. Christ, God become human, spent his life showing us the human dignity of living in the image and likeness of God. Since Jesus died and rose from the dead, he sent the Spirit to live within us so we can live as Jesus lived, and be his presence in the world which we live. We must take this message and share with others, as we have been given the greatest gift of all.
A more exact statement is to; Do Not Be Afraid! And we are indeed blessed with four different accounts of the Birth of Jesus. Each of the Gospel narratives have their own theology, creating a unique and somewhat different point of view. In this Year A, we come across Matthew’s encounter with the birth of Jesus. It is important to note and understand that Matthew was writing for a Jewish community—which is why he begins with the male aspect of the family, St. Joseph. Matthew places emphasis on the fact that Joseph is a man that is suffering from the news that Mary is indeed pregnant. And that it is not biologically of his line. Joseph is at a crossroads. What should he do? When we look at Luke’s account, which is at contrast, Mary becomes the central figure. Her fiat from the question posed by the Archangel 
Gabriel – this narrative is a much different angle of the story of the incarnation. You can see how the different accounts take on new meaning depending on which “lens” one looks through: In Matthew it is through the lens of Joseph, and in Luke’s account it is through Mary’s. The result is in fact the same, the one central difference is that instead of an excited young girl happy to give birth to the Messiah, we get the image of a man who is slightly shocked and saddened that his soon to be bride is pregnant. The one centralized focal point, and point of “unity” in the two differing account is when the angel says to Joseph, as when Gabriel said unto Mary, DO NOT BE AFRAID!
On the feast of the most Holy Trinity we read from the Gospel of John. It is quite interesting that the word “Trinity” is not mentioned at all in either the Old or the New Testament. Trinity comes from a Latin-based word meaning the number three or triad. Although in the New Testament there are many texts that speak of God as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; there is never a direct reference to the Trinity.
familiar with. This Spirit of Truth has a particular task that is bestowed upon them, which is to guide the disciples through the truth—bringing to them the message that is heard from the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Spirit of Truth also functions to glorify the Son—and to then take from the Son, whom has everything the Father has—declaring it all to the disciples—HOW WONDERFUL!
We run into problems is the fact that we are given several different reference points to try and explain the Trinity. One of the most popular is the shamrock—followed closely by the image relation of using the sun. God is of course more than a leaf on a clover, and more than the sun [Father the sun itself, Son is the light, and Spirit the heat]. No matter what image that you use, all of the references lack in some way, creating an incomplete and problematic approach to trying to explain the presence of the Trinity. It is, of course, best to go back to the Scripture for the understanding.
Taking a look at this mystery we can see that it is nearly impossible to fully understand it. The mystery of the Trinity is not something we can understand in this world, and we should not try to understand it. We should engage in a deeper relationship to get to know God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There is no distinct answer that can ever be given, but then why would you want to solve that mystery. By maintain the mystery of the Trinity we care thus called into a developing relationship. We can be continually filled with wonder and LOVE!
Dr. Lawrence V. McCrobie 
You must be logged in to post a comment.