THE OTHER STORY OF CHRISTMAS


12/25/18

It’s very early on Christmas morning; about 1:45 A.M.   The rest of the family is in bed after a wonderful Christmas Eve, first of Mass late in the afternoon, then a terrific dinner followed by watching silly Christmas movies.   Two of the kids are home, the third is coming home tomorrow after her shift working as a nurse in a pediatric intensive care unit.   All is calm, all is bright.

As I prayed before bed, and lamented that I hadn’t sent out some kind of Christmas message this year, a thought came to me…in the nick of time.

The story of Christmas is the story of God’s sending His Son into the world in order to show us how to live and, more importantly, to redeem us so that we can spend eternity with Him.    However, as yours truly and thousands of others have written before, this isn’t strictly, or perhaps even largely, a commemoration.   Christmas is also the story of God’s continuing desire to dwell in our hearts, souls, and minds.  He not only came to us 2,000 years ago but comes to us every day; consequently, we are to prepare our hearts, souls, and minds continually, being ever receptive to His desire to live in us, to consume us, to become one with us.

The story of Christmas is as much a story of Mary’s “Yes” as it is of God’s desire to come to us.   If Mary had not decided to accede to God’s wishes, despite the enormous cost of what she was saying “yes” to, Jesus could not have been born, our Savior could not have come to us, and our salvation would not have been won.   If she had decided not to surrender her life, her will, her future, her everything to God, God’s plan would have been thwarted, as any of us can thwart His (admittedly not nearly as vital) plans by merely exercising our free will to say “no” to Him. 

The thought that came to me tonight in prayer is that, like the story of Christ’s coming not being a purely, or maybe even primarily, a commemoration, Mary’s “yes” to God is much more than a historical accession to His will that we celebrate each year at this time.   As Jesus’s historical arrival could not have happened without Mary’s “yes,” God’s continual desire to love us, to protect us, to dwell with us and in us cannot happen without our “yes.”   Unless we turn our will and our lives over to God and to the accomplishment of His will for us, He cannot come into our hearts and achieve not only what He wants to do for us but also what He wants to do for the world through us.  

Mary surrendered her life to God; hence, salvation came to the world through her at no little cost.    We are to follow her example and surrender our wills and our lives to God, even if the cost is great, so that God’s continuing plan of salvation can play out through us.   God’s salvation and plans are eternal; so is the example of Mary’s “yes.”

God bless you at Christmas and always.

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