Reflection for Jan 1: Returning to the Christmas Mystery

In the Liturgy the Church in her wisdom beckons us to return to “Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger” (Luke 2:16) as we begin this New Year. The Gospel passage offers us the example of Mary who “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Luke 2:18), and invites us to imitate the shepherds, who return “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20). Taking each of these phrases from the Gospel of Luke, we will look at joy, hope, and gratitude to God.

Joy: “Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger” (Luke 2:16)

Joy was recently defined for me as, “A view of reality with an eternal perspective.” As the calendar year nears its completion, the Church turns to Mary, Mother of God and Cause of our Joy and the Holy Family gathered around the new-born Child Jesus.

Who better could help to live with an eternal perspective than Our Lady?

Who better could help us live in the world, but not of the world than Mary?

Who could better help us contemplate the mysteries of the life of Christ and ponder them in our hearts?

We can look at our crèches and imagine the joy of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The birth of every child is a cause for great joy. Mary and Joseph surely took a great natural joy in Jesus birth. But they also shared in a supernatural joy as they beheld the child. Mary and Joseph saw before their eyes the long-awaited Messiah who would save his people from their sins, God himself dwelling intimately with them, and we too can enter into this joy. The Office of Readings for Christmas Eve offers a certain assurance of the joy that this eternal perspective should bring us. We read in Isaiah, “Hark, Your watchmen raise a cry, together they shout for joy, For they see directly, before their eyes, the Lord restoring Zion” (52:8). A different translation reads, “Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion” (RSV). What joy we find in the recollection of the Incarnation! That Jesus, fully God, became fully man for our redemption! Truly, “All the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:10).

Hope: Mary “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Luke 2:18)

Mary pondered, reflected, and returned again and again to these mysteries. The more I pray the daily Rosary, the more I am convinced of how much more we can enter into the mysteries of Christ’s life and the more there is to unpack. Reflecting on the mysteries of Christ’s life helps us to know them, and God in them, on a deeper and deeper level, which awakens in us a love for God and his goodness which we see in these mysteries. This in turn leads us to increasingly desire God in heaven as our final fulfillment, and trust that He will bring us there. This desire and trust is the virtue of hope. The Catechism defines hope as “the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1817).

Returning to the mystery of the Nativity of Christ gives us hope for what He has promised, because we see in it God’s love for us. Aquinas has a beautiful passage in his Summa Contra Gentiles where he explains this:

Now, it is love for something that awakens the desire to enjoy it. It is necessary, then, that man, on the way to perfect beatitude, would be led to love God. But nothing moves us to love someone so much as the experience of his love for us. Men cannot, therefore, get a more effective proof of God’s love for them than seeing God unite himself to man personally, since the distinguishing feature of love is to unite as far as possible the lover and the beloved. It was thus a requirement for man on the way to beatitude that God would become Incarnate. (SCG  IV 54, n. 3926)

Gratitude: “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20)

The first Christmas Lauds antiphon prays, “Tell us, shepherds, what have you seen? Who has appeared on earth? We have seen a newborn infant and a choir of angels praising the Lord, alleluia.” As the shepherds imitated the example of the angels after seeing the child, so we are called to imitate the shepherd by glorifying and praising God. Today provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on the glories of the Lord throughout this past year as we look forward to the next. While too much introspection can be harmful, it is good to cultivate an awareness of the mercies of the Lord and gratitude for his wonders. So, let us in imitation of the shepherds glorify and praise God for the many joys and sorrows experienced throughout this past year.  A lot has happened this past year, in our own lives, in our families, our country, and even our world. What about spiritually? Do we love God better this day than one year ago? What are the particular graces we can give thanks for from the past year?

Let us ask Our Lady, Mother of God, to bring us ever closer to her Son this blessed Christmas season and throughout the new year, reflecting on these things in our hearts, and joyfully glorifying God.