First Week of Christmas Reflection
Welcome to the Fifth Week of "A Journey through Advent and Christmas." In order to facilitate access to the bundle including the reflections and audio for this program, information from the Companion Guide and links to the audio are included in this post. If you have already downloaded the content based upon our prior emails, this is the same information contained in the download for the First Week of Christmas.
Seeing Things Familiar
Emmanuel—a word we’ve heard over and over at Christmas—means “God is with us.” It’s familiar enough to think of this as meaning that God is “for us,” on our side, working in our favor, and to think of Christmas as a gesture to us of God’s faithfulness.
Unfamiliar Again
God is indeed with us, desiring and acting for our welfare. But God with us reaches into a far deeper reality than we could ever dream of or hope for. God is not merely on our side like a loyal friend or benefactor. God is not merely above us watching like a kind supervisor. God is right here with us, literally and physically and in every way that human persons can be with each other. God’s love is so close that—through the Incarnation of Jesus as a newborn child—He has placed Himself in our very arms. He is with us in every human experience that we endure: the joy of weddings, the grief of losing loved ones, the monotony of daily routines, the warmth of family, the need for escape from pressure and the demands of life, the shared laughter and meals with friends, the agony of feeling like God is silent. In the great surprise of salvation, our Savior—the omniscient and all-powerful Creator of everything visible and invisible—has given Himself to us in the most vulnerable possible way. It is through vulnerability alone that intimacy can grow; “God with us” reveals above all His passionate longing to be close to us.
Read: Matthew 1:18-25
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.
Listen:
- Reveal Party (Fr. Dave's talk)
- Hark the Herald Angels Sing (song by The Vigil Project)
- You Gave Us Your Love (song by The Vigil Project)
- Silent Night (song by The Vigil Project)
Reflect:
- What are some of your favorite images of Jesus? What about these images appeals to you?
- Which of God’s characteristics are most natural for you to imagine and ponder? Which characteristics are more of a struggle for you?
- What are some times that you have been surprised by how and where God showed up?
Pray:
Christmas is the celebration of the most astonishing moment in time: God becoming man, the Word becoming flesh to dwell among us. In the Eucharist, we encounter the exact same presence of Jesus—God made as real and tangible as He was as a newborn in the manger. We cannot time travel back to stand beside Mary at the manger in Bethlehem, but we have an equally astonishing gift in the Eucharist. Visit an adoration chapel to spend time with the real presence of Emmanuel.