Merry Christmas

12-24-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Chris Axline

Hello St. Mary Magdalene, Merry Christmas!

I love this time of year; it is most definitely my favorite, there is a palpable joy which permeates everything and everyone. Everything looks so pristine and neat, lights are brilliant, trees and houses decked out, presents wrapped. Externally, things look fantastic. But, how do we look internally, spiritually? Have we made room for the Lord in our time of preparations so that our joy may now be complete over the fact that Christ is with us? He is, after all, the impetus for everything going on this time of year and the main source of our joy. Today, Christ is born for YOU! What a truly joyful, comforting fact that brings with it profound and beautiful implications for each of us.

Have we ever stopped to truly reflect, pray, and contemplate on the implication of this reality, God is made flesh for me? What difference does that make in your life? Is my life any different knowing that He is with me in all things? If we have not prayed over this, I encourage you to do so; to ponder the question of what Christ’s birth means for you specifically. In a broad context, Christ is born for us and in His choosing to become one of us, He shows us what it means to be human. By His free choice and entering our lives and into a fallen human estate in a unique way, we need no longer be afraid of God.

In Genesis, we read that Adam and Eve used to walk with God daily in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8) but, after the fall, Adam and Eve were afraid and hid themselves from God out of shame. Now, they were afraid of and no longer trusted the same God who created them, taught them, and sustained them. We, through Christ’s birth to us this day need no longer be afraid. He has come, entering our fallen state to elevate us and call us back to who He created us to be; to that state of union where once again man can walk with God! This is what Christ wants to do for each of us, to walk with us daily and be a part of every facet of our life, from the most mundane to the most extraordinary.

However, Christ’s birth is not just a matter of fulfilling prophecies. It is a personalized message to each of us as part of God’s ongoing love story with His Creation. Emmanuel “God with us” means that He will never (nor has He ever) abandon us. His is a presence though most prominently known through humility, service, and self-gift. At His birth, the Cross already looms over the newborn king as He rests in a manger a feeding trough for animals in the town of Bethlehem which translates to “house of bread.” He who gives us His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity to consume lays before us, this small baby from a backwater town (as it was in Jesus’ day) lies vulnerable before us. Nobody is afraid of a baby, and this is the same disposition God wants us to have towards Him now and forever. This newborn King quells our fears and shows us how to trust God’s Will in all things. God once again walks with us as He did in Eden and that as St. Luke says is, “good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord (Luke 2:10-11).”