A Christmas Meditation

Each year Christmas is for us a feast of unity with the Father, of unity with the Holy Spirit, and of unity with the Word Made Flesh. It is this presence of her child, her God, that took hold of Mary and plunged her into an immense thanksgiving, for God was accomplishing marvels in her in giving Himself completely to her, as a little child is completely given and completely relative to His mother. Mary is mother in a stronger and more profound way than all other mothers (this is the summit of maternity), in the sense that her son, her little child, is given to her by the Holy Spirit and resembles her in a unique way. He is all hers, and He gives her the light which allows her to gaze upon Him, to contemplate Him, and to be wholly absorbed by His presence and by His silence.

Let us ask Mary that we, too, be absorbed by this presence and this silence that we belong wholly to Jesus and that this feast of the Nativity be a great grace for us, a new starting point in our complete gift to Him, this gift that has something of the eternal about it and is constantly renewed if our life is totally given. For it is Jesus Himself who takes possession of our whole heart, of our whole self. Beloved Son of the Father, entirely turned towards the Father. And He desires that during this approach to Christmas each of us be absorbed by His birth in a new way, so that we might be entirely turned toward the Father, thanking Him for giving us His beloved Son in such a poor and humble way, in order that we ourselves may be transformed by Him.

~ Fr. Marie - Dominique Philippe, OP, Philosophy Professor, Founder of the Community of St. John


Image: Blessed Mother and Christ Child