December 24: Christmas Eve / Nochebuena

Words are often a weak or at least incomplete method of communication. However, we have to use words, and the Christmas Gospel (Luke 2, 1-14) is an attempt, in simple language, to describe what happened on that extraordinary night, so long ago. It speaks of Jesus being born, and of the meeting of heaven and earth, on that same night when the angels appeared to the shepherds. This was the beginning of a process that is still on-going. As many have said in the past, “it is an old story that is ever new.”

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“Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and always.” (Hebrews 13, 8) His unchanging nature, love, and promises offer us steadfast hope and assurance in an unstable world, in contrast with shifting earthly things. If we think about it, with God there is no such thing as time. All of time is totally present to Him right now. Thus, God’s work among us is always in process, it never comes to an end. 

So, in God’s eyes, Christmas is an everyday event, that involves Jesus knocking on the door of our hearts, seeking admission. What happens after that is totally dependent on whether we accept the offer, open the door, and make our hearts available – as if they were mangers welcoming His presence.

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As you prepare to come to Mass tonight or tomorrow, notice this important point: when the shepherds heard the message, the Good News, they said, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see it for ourselves.” If we follow their lead, our lives become “a journey of discovery.” And this journey involves coming to find out for ourselves the truth and the reality of what we had been told by our parents, grandparents, Godparents, teachers, or preachers in church. We have to cross that bridge. The heart of the Gospel, after all, rests between two phrases: at the beginning, we are invited to “Come and see,” and, at the end, we are instructed to “Go and tell.”

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Worth a listen: https://youtu.be/AYJArs5OOAY

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Hemos venido peregrinando a lo largo de las semanas de Adviento, en la espera del Nacimiento del Salvador, y nuestra espera ha llegado a su fin: nuestro Salvador ha nacido y la fiesta de la Navidad nos llena de alegría, porque “con la encarnación del Verbo, el Creador ha sellado con nosotros un pacto de alianza eterna.”

La Navidad no es un simple hecho histórico, sino algo que se prolonga hasta el final de la historia, signo de nuestro misterioso renacer a la vida divina. Y este nacimiento nos hace personas nuevas, que debemos sentir, pensar, amar, y obrar de manera nueva. Dios viene hasta nosotros, pequeño y en un pesebre, para que comprendamos que, en la pequeñez, está el camino y la puerta para llegar y encontrarse con Él. ¡Feliz Navidad!