April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
ADVENT REFLECTION
The birth of Jesus
The deepest of all the deep truths about Christmas is that Mary's baby is God. That statement is beyond comprehension. "Finitum capax infiniti" - the finite is capable of the infinite. That is Christmas at its heart.
The giver of the stars becomes a stargazer. Creator becomes creature. The timeless one becomes incarnate. The eternal Word takes on human flesh. No other religion dares to say this.
Madeleine L'Engle's poem, "After Annunciation," speaks of the wonder: "This is the irrational season/When love blooms bright and wild./Had Mary been filled with reason/ There'd be no room for the child."
God having a baby? The actual birth of Jesus has never been an easy truth for people to accept. Many people will have none of the particularity of the Holy Child: human ordinariness; bodily fluids; raw emotions of anger and disgust, fatigue and loneliness.
Birth is painful. Babies are inconvenient. Having a baby is not easy. It is far easier to accept God as the creator of majestic mountains, the rolling seas and wild flowers.
A children's book, "The Invisible String" by Patrice Karst, is a story of connectedness: A mother explains to her two children who were frightened by lightning that she is always connected to them by an invisible string.
Love is the invisible string that connects us all and keeps us from ever being lonely. Jesus came to tell us about the invisible string that connects us with God, with God's love for us.
God is a pure spirit. Until Jesus, God has no body. We can only know God by beholding all the wonderful things God has made.
Christmas is the story of the invisible string made visible.
On his "At Christmas" album, James Taylor sings: "Some children see Him lily white/The baby Jesus born this night/ Some children see Him lily white/With tresses soft and fair.
"Some children see Him bronzed and brown/The Lord of heaven to earth come down./ Some children see Him bronzed and brown/With dark and heavy hair.
"Some children see Him almond-eyed/This savior whom we kneel beside./Some children see Him almond-eyed/With skin of yellow hue.
"Some children see Him dark as they/Sweet Mary's Son to whom we pray./Some children see him dark as they/And, oh! They love Him, too!
"The children in each different place/Will see the baby Jesus' face/Like theirs, but bright with heavenly grace/And filled with holy light.
"O lay aside each earthly thing/And with thy heart as offering./Come worship now the infant King./Tis love that's born tonight."
Let the baby speak to you this Christmas.
(Father Rosson is pastor of St. Mary's/Our Lady of the Lake parish in Cooperstown.)
This is Rev. John Rosson's final reflection for Advent. Read previous installments in the series at www.evangelist.org.[[In-content Ad]]
250 X 250 AD
250 X 250 AD
Events
250 X 250 AD
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