We can savor Christmas by celebrating the full season, from Christmas Day to the Baptism of the Lord
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In celebration of Christmas, let’s think about a fact, an invitation and a method.
The fact is simply the birth of Christ — an astonishing fulfillment of ancient prophecies. “And they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” No one could have guessed that this would become a literal truth, not just a metaphor. But there it is: God came in the flesh to save us from sin and death. Hannah’s Magnificat at the birth of Samuel (1 Samuel 2), and Mary’s Magnificat at the conception of Jesus (Luke 1), can and should find an echo in our own Christmas Magnificat: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
The invitation builds on the fact. Christ came in history, but that’s not the end of the story. As St. Ambrose said: “A soul that believes both conceives and brings forth the Word of God … Christ has only one mother in the flesh, but we all bring forth Christ in faith.” The fact is a historical reality; the invitation is a spiritual reality: Christ offers to dwell in us.
That indwelling can become the motive force of our life. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “His person becomes, through the Holy Spirit, the living and interior rule of our life” (CCC 2074). So, Mary becomes the pattern of discipleship: What happened to her physically can happen to us spiritually. But it didn’t happen without her consent, and it doesn’t happen without ours. Faith and a life consistent with the faith are how we give — or withdraw — our consent.
In a beautiful Christmas homily on this invitation, St. Leo the Great gave us something of a pattern for evangelization. He said: “Christian, recognize your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member.”
How does this become a pattern for evangelization? Because, intriguingly, this is the first thing the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about morality (CCC 1691). It doesn’t begin with a list of dos and don’ts. It begins with the indwelling of Christ. Only then does it talk about how we continue to live our life in Christ. We might put it this way: Many people only know the law and, frankly, we often only talk about the law. But what if they first knew the Lawgiver and the first and most frequent thing they heard from us was about the indwelling of the Lawgiver changing how we live? That would be a new style of evangelization. It wouldn’t sacrifice the law. But it would always place the law in the context of a living — indeed an indwelling — relationship with Christ.
So, what’s the method? The method is to savor Christmas by celebrating the full season — from Christmas Day to the Baptism of the Lord (Jan. 11). When the world packs up Christmas on Dec. 26, linger. Savor the fact of the Incarnation a little longer. Savor the invitation of the indwelling of Christ a little longer. Show the world the joy that comes from letting the Lawgiver live in us.
Merry Christmas!
