Sister Elise Saggau
The salvation of God takes place by God coming among us as one of us. This is the meaning of the Incarnation. At a certain moment in time, God actually took on our flesh as a true human being and became part of our earthly, fleshly existence. Our loving Creator God became immersed in the very matter of creation, in the very ordinariness of it all. God’s goodness is so infinitely abundant that it overflows into what is not God. By nature, God seeks union with what God loves. This union is absolutely fulfilled in the person of the human being, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was and is human in the very same way we are human. There is no other way of being human. And by being so, he makes it possible for us to be the very best human beings we can be. But, as we live our lives in grateful acceptance of this marvelous Christmas gift, we begin to understand that not only we humans but also all created reality find fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He embodies all that is.
At Christmas, then we honor the amazing and profound reality of the Incarnation. God became human. God entered among us in human flesh. God made a home among us in this created, limited, and unfinished universe. We simply do not, nor can we, really understand this. Yet, as we continue to contemplate the mystery, it continues to teach us who we are and who God is. Every time we see a newborn baby, we actually see an image of God. Every time we contemplate our own poor flesh, enmeshed in the messiness of our real lives, we are contemplating God at work. When we consider how frightfully messed up our present world situation seems to be, we are invited to believe that God is at work among us to save us. We believe that all creation is so beloved of God that God is right here in it with us, struggling along with us. We believe that this messy story is an important and meaningful story that will have a good ending. We believe in a splendid and unimaginable future. Advent always reminds us of what we are waiting for. And we wait in hope because we know that Advent always ends in Christmas.
We are part of a very long story. It is not just about human beings, but is also about a vast universe that God has created and that God loves infinitely. Our story will have a happy and glorious ending beyond anything we can comprehend. We believe that God will stick with us until God’s dream comes true. Already, in one sense, this dream has come true in Jesus Christ, who above all other creatures images the divine loving Creator. But in another sense, we must wait in patience and in hope for the “not yet” part of the story.
Sometimes we get a little glimpse of the ending, a “preview” so to speak. We see it shining in the eyes of those who truly love. We see it in the indescribable beauty of nature—sunrises, sunsets, moon, stars, oceans, lakes, rivers, all green growing things and animals of infinite variety. We feel it in the wind and in the warmth of fire. We taste it in the fruits of the earth and feel it tingle in the wine as it touches our tongue. We smell it in the aroma of bread baking.
Now it is Christmas and God is coming, has come, will come. God promises us a glorious future. We do not know just what this means, but we know it is good and that we are heading that direction. We know that what we do now and how we live now really matters—it matters to us and it matters to the entire universe. And so, here we are—prophets and pilgrims and heirs of prophets and pilgrims. Our brother Jesus Christ came as a prophet and as a fellow pilgrim. This is what we celebrate at Christmas. So, let us rejoice and make merry—God has come and will come and nothing again will ever be the same.
