Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
We celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, an eternal meditation - because God, who is without beginning appeared in time, in Bethlehem, born of the Virgin Mary. The creation of the universe, including the creation of man and woman and Original sin happened (or are related) in quick succession.
The Hebrew Bible is the chronicle of our faith, precious and reliable having the Holy Spirit as Author. Genesis Chapter 3, verse 14 records that God spoke first to the serpent after the Original sin of Adam and Eve:
“Be accursed beyond all cattle and all wild beasts.
I will make you enemies of each other, you and the woman
- your offspring and her offspring -
It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.”
Some fifty centuries later, (an alternate of 5000 years) Church Fathers called this passage (Genesis 3:14 ) Proto-Evangelium, a rather fascinating but more importantly informative appellation. Proto as inchoate, embryonic, implies a lengthy future development. “Her (referring to Eve) offspring will crush your head.” “Beginnings” in the year 5000 BC did have a long future from Proto-Evangelium to mature development. Nonetheless, “in the fullness of time,” the Trinity was ready (so to speak) for the Birth of the Son of God. St Luke’s Gospel tells us that the Angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds keeping their night watches:
“I bring you news of great joy to be shared by the whole people.
Today a savior has been born to you: He is Christ the Lord
Glory to God in the highest!”
The Birth of Christ, despite a night luminous with Angels’ song and Shepherds’ joy, was shrouded in the mist of obscurity. Memory of the Magi was submerged in the blood of the Holy Innocents; then exile in Egypt ended in a return to Nazareth, a holy time but hum-drum -so passed 30 years. Then! Jesus of Nazareth appeared at the River Jordan where John the Baptist was already a “witness for the Light”.
At the Baptist’s behest, Zebedee’s young “son of thunder” John, left the Baptist to follow Jesus of Nazareth. In extreme old age, John would write the Gospel for which he is called “the Theologian”, “the Divine”.
In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He came to His own domain and His own people did not accept Him.
But to all who did accept Him,
He gave the power to become the children of God.
Much happened in the next few years! The Church of the Apostle John, the mystical Church, was born on Calvary - Water and Blood flowed from the Lord’s pierced Side. (the water of Baptism; the Blood of the Eucharist) John, a priest from the last night’s Last Supper stood with Mary the Mother of Jesus and She was given to him as mother and he to her as son. Peter’s Church, the institution promised by our Lord, “You are Peter upon whom (this rock) I will build my Church,” is the visible aspect of the same mystery.
In about 700 BC the Prophet Isaiah spoke in the name of God:
“The Word that goes forth from My Mouth (says the Lord God)
does not return to Me empty, without carrying out My will
and succeeding in what It was sent to do.”
Of Calvary St John wrote: and He [Jesus] said: It is accomplished and bowing His head He gave up His spirit and died. [Man’s Salvation accomplished and sin forgiven]
In 565 Emperor Justinian placed the relics of St John in a newly completed Basilica in Ephesus bearing our saint’s name. Five hundred years later Ephesus fell to Islam, and the basilica was destroyed. But the mystical legacy of the Church of John has survived. Byzantine Church Fathers, St Maximos for one, write: “The spiritual life has one aim: to transform the human being into Church, the temple of the Holy Spirit”. The Church is really the visible aspect of mystery.
“God is love and he who abides in love abides in God.”
“Little children, love one another; it is enough.”
Christ is Born! Glorify Him! Love Him!
Mother Marija
The Church - a place for re-birth
“No one has dared to give so pure a revelation of the divinity of the Lord as John. We must make bold to say the Gospels are the fulfillment of the whole Bible and John’s Gospel is the fulfillment of the Gospels. No one can grasp their meaning unless he has rested on Christ’s breast, unless he has received Mary from Jesus so that she has become his mother too.” ~ Origen Commentary on the Gospel of John
Pope Benedict XVI General Audience~ St Peter’s Square Wednesday, 25 April, 2007
Origen of Alexandria: Life and Work
Benedict XVI General Audience St Peter’s Square Wednesday, 2 May, 2007
Origen of Alexandria: The Thought
Mother Marija
