9781644135945

The Christmas Cycle
the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was to give
testimony of the light. That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh
into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received
Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name;
who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory, as it
were, of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth. . . . And of His fullness we
all have received, grace for grace ( Jn 1:1–14, 16).
How can we fail to become inflamed with love for Him who for love of us poured Himself
out and humbled Himself even to the death of the cross? And yet we love Him so little.
Should not a living faith in the mystery of Christmas fill us with unspeakable joy and inflame
our hearts with love? The Son of God has given us the power to become with Him
children of God and to share in the divine life. This life comes from the Father to the Son, and,
by reason of the Incarnation, from the Son to us. “Of His fullness we all have received.” Yet we
profit so little from this great truth.
The Son of God came to us, became one of us, and shared our human nature in order to make
it possible for us to share with Him the sonship of God. Of ourselves we have no claim to this
exalted dignity, for our natural inheritance is the sin of Adam. We had been disinherited by our
Father and were children of wrath. But God sent His Son to follow us into our exile and call us
back to the adoption of the sons of God.
Since Christ is our brother, we share the love, protection, and care which His Father showers
upon Him. How significant for us, then, are these words, “children of God,” when we recall
the words of the Father on the banks of the Jordan and on Mount Tabor: “This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17; 17:5). At baptism the heavenly Father addresses
these same words to us: “This is My beloved son.” By these words we are “translated . . . into the
kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col 1:13) and partake of the nobility, joy, and inheritance
of the Son of God. We are “heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17); we
are His “brethren” (Rom 8:29). He is God’s Son by generation and nature; we are His sons by
grace and adoption.
“Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called and should be the sons of God” (1 Jn 3:1). Are we not amazed that we who are dust and
ashes should now become the children of God, brothers of the Word Incarnate, and heirs of
the kingdom of heaven? Sad to say, many of us esteem the goods of this earth and the affection
of men above this marvelous brotherhood and this glorious inheritance.
O child of God, quickened by the spirit of Christ, think, live, and love with the spirit of
Christ. Study this spirit as you gaze upon Him in His crib. He will come, too, to the crib of your
heart, and here He will seek to free you from the spirit of pride, from the spirit of selfishness,
and from your sins.
Our fellow men are also the children of God and the brethren of Christ. Let us not forget
that our neighbor is as much the son of God as we are. How, then, can we despise a child of
God, a brother of Christ? We may despise his faults, it is true, but not the man himself, for he,
too, is a brother of Christ.
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