Homily for the Solemnity of Christmas

God Is Now Here!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Solemnity of Christmas, Year B

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Monday, December 25, 2023

In the December edition of Costco Connection, the Senior Vice President, Corporate Membership, Marketing and Publisher, Sandy Torrey, writes, “For me, spending time with them (friends and family) is truly what my Christmas is all about.” Do we spend time with friends and family during Christmas time? Yes! Should we spend time with friends and family during Christmas? Yes! But is spending time with friends and family what Christmas essentially is all about? No! No! No! Christmas is much more. Christmas has absolutely nothing to do with friends and family members. It is about God, the Creator of the universe, becoming a human being. The great joy of Christmas is that the Creator of the universe, who transcends every definition and concept, took to himself a nature like ours. God became one of us and one with us. At Christmas, we celebrate with our sisters and brothers in the faith, with our biological brothers and sisters and with friends, the greatest miracle ever in human history. God’s greatest gift was given to us at Christmas, so, we acknowledge it and celebrate it as a family. Reducing Christmas to a merely family reunion or to a social gathering dishonors this great event. It demonstrates either a lack of understanding of what Christmas is about or an abundance of ingratitude to our loving and merciful God. 

In today’s Gospel, we hear, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The word used in Greek here for “made his dwelling” is eskenosen, which literally means, “pitched his tent among us.” Now, do not read that in a casual way. According to the Book of Exodus, the Ark of the covenant, which is the embodiment of Yahweh’s presence, was originally housed in a tent or tabernacle. But now John is saying that in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth, Yahweh has established his definitive tabernacle among us. God has moved into our neighborhood. God is now here, among us, and with us. This is what Christmas is about, and this is what we celebrate. 

But why did God come? The Word becoming flesh is God coming to dwell definitively in his world, undoing the effects of sin and turning it into what it was always meant to be. More to it, God comes in order to make us participants in God’s own life. God wants to share his life with us. Although his arrival was quiet, silent and unknown by many, nevertheless, he has come as a warrior ready to fight. When we look at the manger, what we see is a helpless infant, born of insignificant parents in a  tiny and unknown distant outpost of the Roman Empire. However, as we learned from the Scripture and Tradition, he did conquer through the irresistible power of his love, the same power with which he created the world. 

God bless you! And Merry Christmas, everybody!