Issam John Darwish
by the grace of God
Eparch of the Melkite Catholic Church of Australia and New Zealand
To the Priests and deacons and all the faithful
"But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” Galatians 4
Today we celebrate the greatest mystery of all, a mystery hidden in God from all eternity, but only now revealed fully in Jesus Christ. It is the mystery upon which the very fate of mankind depends, and the fate even of the universe itself. What is that mystery? It is the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Word of God, the unique Son of the Father, became a man, like us in every way, but without sin. He became like us and came amongst us to make us like himself. He descended to us so that we might ascend with him to the eternal life of God His Father in the Holy Spirit.
We celebrate the Nativity, Christ’s birth, when God became man as Jesus Christ; when the Son of God appeared in our world as a descendent of David, born from a virgin mother at Bethlehem, that city of Judah which the prophet called ‘the least of the princes of Judah’.
Christ’s Nativity is God’s gift to all mankind. No human reward can compare with the gift that God has prepared for us. At Christmas we celebrate, not only the Nativity of Jesus, but the wonderful gift that it opens for God’s chosen people. Because Christ is born, we are born again through Holy Baptism. Because Christ is born, we can be reborn to divine life in his saving death and resurrection.
Through his nativity we become God’s true children. God the Father has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. Paul the Apostle tells us that "Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, "Abba, Father." (Gal 4:6). How wonderful is that joy which we now feel. We are children of God. Our present life is a kind of childhood, a prelude to the fullness of life in God, our adult spiritual life in eternity.
This newborn divine child makes no distinction between rich and poor, educated and illiterate, saint and sinner. Rather, he himself is the holy one, the very richness and wisdom of God. Those poor ones and sinners who were humble enough to recognise him and who received him into their lives, became more holy than the religiously correct who rejected him.
As we study the Scripture we are amazed that Jesus could not find shelter in even one room of the houses of Bethlehem. Instead he chose to be born in a manger. In this way he comes to us in his poverty and humility so that he might enter into our experience, feel our weakness and fully share our life. This is the way we must understand the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, that mystery which had been awaited throughout history.
What happened after Jesus’ birth? Hearing rumours of the birth of a king, Herod murdered the little children of Bethlehem. For the so-called great men of the world, power is everything. King Herod and those like him, even in today’s world, are afraid of Jesus. They don’t know how to interact with the baby in the manger, but the poor shepherds and the wise men, who came from the East, are able to receive him with joy. They offer gifts to him, the one from whom all good gifts come.
Our Saviour came among us for many reasons, but three of these are very important:
First, he came to be one of us, speaking our language and experiencing our temptations. He came to forgive our sins, to console the poor and to heal the sick. He came to make us like himself. Indeed, the Beloved Son was incarnated to make us like himself, to fill us with joy and to let us share his love and his eternal life. He was incarnated to bring about our redemption and to restore his divine image in each human person. "The Word Became Flesh” is the key to our understanding of Christmas.
Second, he comes to reminds us to receive Him as little children. "This is the sign, and you will find a child”. The message of Christmas is a message of divine childhood: "Amen, Amen I tell you, any one who does not receive the kingdom of God as a child will never enter it”. He asks us to develop as His children, in His divine image and likeness. He calls us to return to the simplicity and the trust of children, like the child who puts his trust in his father, who walks with him, holds his hand, and receives his guidance to a place of safety. We are to be like that with God. We must put our trust in Him, walk with him and let ourselves be guided by him, expressing our thanks to Him at all times. Then our very heartbeat will become a prayer and a melody.
Christmas is the best time to honour this mystery which we discover in the child Jesus. "When they found Him and His Mother Mary, they offered Him Gifts.” Like the wise men we want to open our hearts and offer to him the best we have. We offer our worship, our thanks, our poverty and weakness, our love and our hope.
Third, he comes to teach us that not only does he come from God, but that He is God. Through Christmas we belong to the very body of Christ because of his incarnation. All humankind is called to become members of Christ’s Body. Indeed, as the Fathers of the Church remind us, "God became man so that man might become God.’ Therefore let us understand the mystery of the incarnation and its dimensions. Also, there is no true life, no communion and no Christmas joy, unless we share our life with the life of others. Our relationships with others find their source in the person of Jesus Christ born in the manger at Bethlehem.
Conclusion: the Christmas message
The Christian mission is to reveal and to live the mystery of the incarnation. Each Christian person in his or her own way is called to this great task. This can be achieved through our fidelity to Jesus Christ and his teaching, through our daily work, in our dealings with others according to our faith, with defending the truth and supporting the feeblest, to be love peacemakers, by serving the parish church, by singing in the choir or in any other services that contribute to spreading the good news.
May the Lord bless you in this Christmas feast and fill your lives with his love and joy. May He reign in your hearts all the days of your life, through the intercession of his holy mother the Ever-Virgin Mary. She is the one whom the Lord chose to be his mother. To all those who come as pilgrims to the manger she chants and sings with the Fathers of the Church: "O Saviour, save this world, for that reason you have come, and confirm all the faithful. For you have shone upon me, upon the wise men and upon all the creatures”.