(this was a bulletin insert for the Solemnity of Christmas)
INCARNATION
From the time I studied choral direction in college, I have been heavily immersed in Christmas carols. Well do we know the carols based on the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke that elicit fond memories of our past Christmases. What would Christmas be without “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night,” and other Christmas greatest hits? However, more fascinating are the many carols written during the Middle Ages that are not found in our normal diet of Christmas hymnody. These carols like “The Holly and the Ivy,” and “My Dancing Day” contain within them symbolic language, and in some, direct language foretelling the Paschal death of the adult Jesus. Mystics, such as St. Francis of Assisi, spoke and wrote about the first death, the death to self, that the 2nd person of the Trinity underwent in order to be born as the infant Jesus. Out of love for humanity, the “Word” of God, through whom humanity was created, grew less so that humanity could grow more and be saved. We do not often hear these carols, for who wants to think about death at Christmas? However, in being caught up in the “Fa, la, las” of popular Christmas culture, we miss out on the deep expression of God’s love found in the Incarnation of Jesus. Within the baby Jesus stories of Christmas is the greatest love story of all time. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (Jn 3:16).” As truly festive as the celebration of Jesus’ Incarnation is, let not the manufactured dazzle of Christmas blind us from the real story of God growing less to become like us, so that we might grow to become more like God.
