Gospel: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord

 There are four Masses that are celebrated for the feast of Christmas and each is given its own set of readings to help us contemplate Christ's birth. The Gospel for the Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve is taken from the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. The Mass at midnight proclaims the birth of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke. The Mass at dawn on Christmas morning continues the story of the birth of Jesus as found in Luke's Gospel, ending with the shepherd's visit to the infant Jesus. In each of these Gospel readings, we hear portions of the infancy narratives with which we are familiar. We will now proceed to the Gospel for the day.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God.

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.

The Gospel for the Christmas Mass during the day is taken from the beginning of the Gospel according to St John, although this part is not an infancy narrative like those found in Matthew and Luke. Instead, St John's Gospel starts at the very beginning and presents the Creation story as the framework for announcing the Incarnation. St John's opening words echo the first verse in the Book of Genesis. This framework invites us to view Jesus' birth from God's perspective. Each of the Gospels make clear that Jesus' birth was the result of God's initiative. St John's Gospel, however, emphasizes that Jesus' birth was the divine intention from the moment of Creation.

As we observe in today's reading, the Gospel of John includes highly philosophical and theological language. One example that particularly stands out in this Gospel is St John's repeated references to "the Word" in the opening verse. This expression (logos in Greek) borrows from a concept found in both Jewish and Greek thought. Jews used this phrase to describe God's action in the Creation story, for example, and in the wisdom of literature. In Greek thought, the logos was understood as an intermediary between God and humanity. St John and others in the early Church adopted this language to describe God's incarnation in Jesus. As the term was used to express Trinitarian faith of Christians, the Word came to be equated to the second person of the Most Holy Trinity.

In this prologue to the Gospel of John, we also hear the main themes that will be developed in his Gospel. These are often presented in dualities: light and dark, truth and falsehood, life and death, and belief and unbelief. We also hear in this prologue a unique aspect of St John's Gospel, the theme of testimony. St John the Baptist was sent by God to testify to Jesus, the light. Others in this Gospel will also offer testimony about Jesus. The reader is invited in this testimony, which bears witness to Jesus, the Son of God. But even more directly, Jesus' actions and words will testify to Jesus' identity as God's Incarnate Word.

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This post is sponsored by GCash.