Reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Christmas

Today’s readings call us to pause before the Bethlehem scene and contemplate the great destiny of the Child of Bethlehem.

A wit once said: “In the beginning was the Word but in the end was the dictionary!” We complicate our faith unnecessarily. Christmas recalls and celebrates the fact that God did not abandon us to our own devices but sent his only Son to share our weakness, our yearnings and our temptations. From now on we can see God in the faces of those who share his life. And we can remember that when God came among us, it was not with the oratory of a great thinker, but with the smile of a little baby.

In the Child born of Mary at Bethlehem, the wisdom of God becomes real to us.  His very birth makes known the constant and profound love of God for his people, present for all time. His ministry as Messiah will teach us how we can transform humanity’s dark night of emptiness into the eternal day of God’s peace and wholeness; his embracing of the cross will be the ultimate victory of holy wisdom over the Godless wisdom of the world.

As the echoes of Christmas start to become fainter and life begins to move again at its usual pace, the Gospel reminds us once more what really happened at Christmas. God joined our race. From now on we can look on the face of God wherever we see those signs of light in our world, a light that darkness cannot snuff out.

As Rachel McDurris once wrote, “Whoever sees possibilities sees God.”  Let our prayer this day be that we never loose sight of the possibilities that God lays before us.