25/12/2009 - THE Birth of the Lord
Night Isaiah 9,1-3.5-6 Ps 95/96 Titus 2,11-14 Luke 2,1-14
Morning Isaiah 62,11-12 Ps 96/97 Titus 3,4-7 Luke 2,15-20
Day Isaiah 52,7-10 Ps 97/98 Heb 1,1-6 John 1,1-18
In all possible three Masses of today, the Word of God through the Prophet Isaiah,
invites us to rejoice. The reason is because of the birth of a child, a child destined
to great things: he shall have great power, especially to establish peace without
end. He shall bear the name of king, but his reign will be different from those
known to us, because in it justice will be exercised. He is surely a savior, for
his people need to be saved, want to be comforted by him. Of joy and salvation speaks
st. Paul in his letter to Titus: having come amongst us, the Son of God teaches
us and gives us the power to change our way of life: in this way his salvation becomes
real and reaches others.
The word "Savior" is used also by the angels who speak to the shepherds,
the first to be called to enjoy the event. What have the shepherds understood? What
kind of salvation they were hoping for? What were the sufferings and injustices
they were enduring? This name of Savior was enough for them to put them on the move,
at night: it's a clear sign that they knew and wished to be saved, and a sign that
they were to wait for salvation only from God. To us it's of little importance to
know from what the shepherds were to be saved: we have enough situations that make
us suffer and desire and wait for salvation, and up to now we have gone through
many delusions that leave us with nothing except to wait our salvation only from
God. Here is baby Jesus, the savior who wants to serve us. John presents him as
Word, as Light, as Life, and at the end, as Truth. We need all of this.
He is the Word, and is from God: a Word who does not betray because it's a Word
made of love, coming from a loving heart, the heart of the Father. All the words
that fill our ears are words of man that can betray and let us down. We need the
Word that becomes our life that can lift us up and restores us.
He is the Light, a light that can guide us in the labyrinth and dangerous obscurity
of this world that hides traps everywhere. Jesus is Light that makes you see things
as they are, as the God had wished them to be from the beginning and will be for
ever. He is the Light that allows you to enjoy life as a gift, a gift to be shared
in return with others: you can say thank you because you realize in your own life
the image of God, his presence, the presence of his love.
He is the Truth: it is he who shows you the true face of God, and therefore the
true meaning of all that he has created and all that is going to happen to you.
He is the Truth: it's not to you to invent what is true; it's not what you go through
and what you think that make true a thought, or make your actions good. It's the
Child whom we adore this night and this day, the Truth: if you live without him,
you live a lie and in return you become a lie that betrays all who come across you.
If you welcome Jesus and live with him, in his love, with his thoughts and words,
then you yourself become truth that makes known the hidden face of the Father.
Today is a great Day, a day that can changes one from within, that makes us great
in proportion to our littleness, that puts us next to that Child who the strong
hands of Mary show us and offer him to us: she is not jealous, she gives him with
joy, because she knows that he has come for us, for each and everyone of us.
Let us become a Word of God, a little light to lead others toward the Truth that
makes us feel we are part of the love of the Father, sharers of his divinity!