On the nativity

8 January 1978

In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

One can in life sacrifice nothing but what is of supreme value, and in the gift of Christ to mankind, our Father Who is in Heaven, sacrifices, delivers, unto suffering and death the only Begotten Son, Him Who is to Him everything, Whom He treasures above all the worlds. No, not above all worlds, Whom He treasures so much that He can give Him to die for the world He had created and which He loves enough to make the death of His Son the salvation of the world. On the day of Incarnation we have a vision of many things; on the one hand of this love of God, of this love that stops at nothing, and on the other hand, the vision of the new-born Son of the Virgin, of the frailty, of the terrible vulnerable quality of love when unreservedly defenseless it offers itself to us. Christ in the manger is an image of this divine love; vulnerable beyond measure and generous beyond measure. A love so complete, so unreserved, so generous. Christ, later, on the night in which He was betrayed, said to His disciples: No one takes My life from Me, I give it freely... God gave freely unto death His Only Begotten Son. Later Christ said to His disciples that He has given us an example for us to follow. Here is the beginning. Can we love generously? Can we love so as to give without being forced to give, seduced to give, beguiled into giving, almost blackmailed into giving. How often has any of us give all that he had, that is all the love of his heart, without thinking of the consequences, without asking himself whether the suffering will be too great and the cost too high. How often? – And we see God do it, but doing, knowing what the cost will be and doing it unhesitantly, knowing what is to happen to the Only Begotten Son, and doing it. To send out into death in the war the best man one has, because he is the one who will do best is a painful, a tragic experience, but one knows that this man will try and avoid death, he has skill, he has knowledge, has courage, but God delivers into our hands Jesus, a new-born babe, helpless and defenseless and One Who will not defend Himself, Who will not use either power, or strength, or wisdom, or courage, or cunning to save Himself, One Who enters the world totally defenseless and vulnerable, made such by His own choice, of His own free will, giving without measure, giving at the highest possible cost of defenselessness.

Let us remember in this period of Christmas what the Incarnation means, not as the beginning of our salvation only, but as a blood-offering, a sacrifice of love which reveals what love is, immeasurable, generous, given; and let us learn from our God how we should live and receive one another as He received us, as He still does receive us day after day. Amen.