The Christmas Gift

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is opened before you a gift of inestimable worth. It is a gift spoken of from in many and various ways, by prophets and patriarchs, by kings and poets. But it is not a new and strange thing. The New Testament contains this great gift. For the New Testament is nothing more than a revelation of the Old Testament. It is as though someone had sealed a letter long ago, and it is just now broken open. So the Old Testament is the testamentary letter of Christ, which He has commanded broken open after His death and proclaimed to the whole world through the preaching of the Gospel.

The fulfillment of the Scriptures is brought forth today, wrapped in swaddling cloths. What was formerly wrapped in shadows and mysteries, known only to seers and prophets, is now revealed to the whole world. The mystery is broken open, the gift is given, the will is read. God is no longer hidden in cloud and smoke; He is present in flesh and blood.

This is the Day!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This is the day that gladdened them, the Prophets, Kings, and Priests, for in it were their words fulfilled, and thus were the whole of them indeed performed!  For the Virgin this day brought forth Immanuel in Bethlehem.  The voice that of old Isaiah spake, to-day became reality.  He was born there who in writing should tell the Gentiles’ number!  The Psalm that David once sang, by its fulfilment came to-day!  The word that Micah once spake, to-day was come indeed to pass!  For there came from Ephrata a Shepherd, and His staff swayed over souls.  Lo! from Jacob shone the Star, and from Israel rose the Head.  The prophecy that Balaam spake had its interpreting to-day!  Down also came the hidden Light, and from the Body rose His beauty!  The light that spake in [Zechariah], to-day shined in Bethlehem!¹

Thus St. Ephrem the Syrian began his hymn on the Nativity of our Lord. Indeed, let us rejoice and be glad in it, for this is the day which the Lord has made! Let us rejoice, for this is the day of our Lord's birth according to the flesh. On this day, earth shall ring with the words of the prophets and apostles, because the Word of the Lord has stepped forth from His holy throne in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

"We Beheld His Glory"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things!” Rejoice and sing this bright Christmas morning, because the Eternal Light has dawned upon this benighted sphere. The Light of the World has come upon the world, and we behold His glory. The everlasting Son of the eternal Father has been born this day into your flesh.

The virgin has conceived and has borne a son. Why do you marvel at this? The eternal Father, existing before all worlds, begot a Son from all eternity without a mother. When did this happen? That is beyond knowing; that is the wrong question. But the Blessed Virgin bore a son without a father. When did this happen? That is a good question. For the birth of the Son of God happened not in eternity, not in abstraction, but in the flesh, of the flesh and blood of Mary in the stable in Bethlehem. Marvel not that God has a Son, but that the Son of God is born of a woman.

"He Undertakes A Great Exchange"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Today, in your hearing, this Scripture is fulfilled. Today Christ is born. Today the Light of the World is become flesh. Today the God of heaven is made man and is born of a virgin. The Light has pierced the darkness and the darkness is destroyed. The Creator has become creaturely, has become a man. God becomes man, and all flesh shall see the salvation of our God.

For the children of man have sat in darkness for untold ages. Since the Fall, man has been engulfed in deep darkness and the shadow of death. Formerly, you were alienated from the Lord and His grace. You forsook His gifts, and sat in darkness and bondage. You chose to do what is best for yourself in your own eyes, and isolated yourself from others, even those who would attempt to love you. Even your love for others has been tainted by the poison of sin, which turns love into misuse.

This Little Babe

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

This little babe so few days old,
is come to rifle Satan's fold;
All hell doth at his presence quake,
though he himself for cold do shake;
For in this weak unarmed wise

the gates of hell he will surprise.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The very Word of God, the Light of the World, the Creator of the Universe, on this day, has become flesh and took up residence among us men. The God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, took on human flesh and blood and was born a baby in a stable in Bethlehem.

Think of a newborn baby. So soft, so warm, so innocent, so vulnerable. So cute and huggable and nice. A newborn baby is worlds away from what God should be, according to the minds of this world. What god would appear as a baby, so easily hurt, so easily killed? What god would expose himself to that sort of weakness and vulnerability?