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The Christmas Cycle
and she shall exalt him among his neighbors, and in the midst of the Church she shall
open his mouth, and shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and shall
clothe him with a robe of glory. The Lord our God shall heap upon him a treasure of joy
and gladness, and shall cause him to inherit an everlasting name” (Epistle). These are the
works which Christ, the child in the manger, the eternal Wisdom, accomplishes in John, His
disciple, and in His Church. These, too, the fruits of the Incarnation, He would accomplish
in our lives if we would permit it.
John is the unerring witness of the Incarnation and of the birth of Christ, the God-man. Yesterday
St. Stephen, by his words and by laying down his life for his faith, bore witness to the child we
see here in the crib. Today we receive the testimony of John, the apostle and Evangelist. He has
given us his testimony in his Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was 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”
( Jn 1:14). “And we know that his witness is true,” cries the liturgy today in the Gospel and in
the Alleluia verse.
Because of his virginal purity and his spirituality, John drew closer to the person of Christ
and had a keener insight into the mysteries of His life than any other apostle. He rested upon
the breast of the Master and drew the riches of his Gospel from the heart of Christ Himself. In
his writings he poured forth upon the world the riches of the Word of God. As a result of his
contemplation and of his great personal love for the Savior, he is full of wisdom and initiated
into all the mysteries of Christ. In St. John we have a reliable witness; we know that his testimony
is true. “In the beginning was the Word. . . . And the Word was made flesh.”
In St. John is fulfilled the promise of the Epistle: “He that feareth God will do good; and he that
possesseth justice shall lay hold on her. . . . With the bread of life and understanding she shall
feed him, and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink; and she shall be made strong
in him, and he shall not be moved” (Epistle). In John we recognize ourselves, for in the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass our Lord feeds us with the bread of life and wisdom.
In the house of Mary, in Holy Mother the Church, we have infallible truth. John gives us
this truth in his Gospel and in his life. This truth radiates from the incarnate Wisdom which
we see in the manger on Christmas Day; its fruits are a life of purity, the forsaking of all that is
sinful and unholy, and a life centered on God.
When we celebrate Christmas in the proper spirit, we, too, add our testimony to that of
St. Stephen and St. John. “The light shineth in darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend
it” ( Jn 1:5). We should add to the testimony of John the testimony of our own faith. Still more
should we bear witness to Christ by the purity of our lives, by the strength of our love of Christ,
and by forsaking all that cannot with propriety be seen at the side of the crib and in the house
of Mary.
Prayer
Do Thou, O Lord, in Thy goodness shine upon Thy Church; that enlightened by the teaching
of blessed John, Thy apostle and Evangelist, she may attain to the everlasting gifts. Through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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