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CATHOLIC TRUTH bishop teodoro bacani, jr., DD
A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION
'The human birth of the Son of God
It's Christmas month. What is the cause of our rejoicing? This, essentially: that God so loved the
world that He sent us His Son, born of a woman by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we ourselves may be the
sons and daughters of God.
God has sent His son to us, to live among us, not temporarily but perpetually, so that He is
Emmanuel, God-with-us.
In this child, Jesus, God has stepped into human history and has taken the side of sinful humanity,
of you and me.
Man has repeatedly fled and alienated himself from God. On Christmas, we are told that a Savior
has been born for us. God has, in Christ caught up with us, joined us, and became one of us. God and man divided
by sin are made one again in Christ. With his birth, "at one-ment" has begun.
Now I am never alone because God is with me. He has revealed this in flesh and blood. He is
Emmanuel, God-with-us. Simply and without qualification, God-with-us. "Emmanuel" does not say God is only
with us in Church or in our moments of prayer and in those times when grace is palpable. God is with us also in
our routine work, and in our rest, in our boredom and in our dryness, in our moments of temptation, and even of
sin. He is with us in our polluted streets, in our open seas and clear skies. He is with us in our valleys and
mountains. He is with us in our lows and our highs. He has become our perennial companion - "Behold, I am
with you always!" (Matthew 28: 20)
It is God who is with us! I need never fear anything. Nothing is impossible to Him. Neither the devil,
nor sin nor death can overcome me because Jesus is greater than all of these, and has come to save me from all
of them. I need not fear even my own weaknesses because He has taken upon Himself all of them, sin alone
excepted. I need not fear the future for He who is with me is in the future before me. I need not fear my past
because He is greater than my conscience, and He knows everything (1 John 3: 19-20). Emmanuel, God-with-us,
is greater than anything and can turn even the worst evil into greatest good.
Because with the Incarnation God has irrevocably taken the side of humanity, there can no longer
be doubt about the outcome of Project Man/Woman. Though a particular individual may fail in his destiny, for
humanity as a whole victory is guaranteed.
It is this, which is the reason for our jubilation - what God has become for us, and what we have
become with Him.
Our jubilation is a thankful jubilation. For nothing on our part merited His coming. He did not
come because He had to, but because He wanted to. His coming was pure gift, not a merited reward. It was
an act of mercy not a demand of justice. It was sheer grace not reward for work.
And so we come to Christmas and to the Christ-Child not armed with merits but with empty arms.
And we say to Him, "You, who have come for us, welcome to our lives. You who are God-with-us, make us one with
You. You, who have taken our side, keep us on Your side. You who have joined us, join us to one another and to
the Father with whom You live in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
To you, all dear readers, a Jesus-filled Christmas, and a grace-filled Greater Jubilee Year!
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