GOD IS ALWAYS IN TOUCH WITH US

 

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Year B

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10 Hebrews 1:1-6 John 1:1-18

 

Our God is a God who speaks to his people as a personal being. But the Fall of man altered God’s mode of communication with us. Before the Fall, God had a direct and unmediated communion and communication with us, human beings. While still in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve saw and heard God and God fellowshipped with them as with friends (Gen 3:8). But when through disobedience, we had lost our friendship and communion with God, God changed his way of communicating with us. He ceased to communicate with us directly (Gen 3:23). That is why throughout the whole period of the Old Testament, God communicated with the people of Israel through intermediaries like the prophets (Moses- Exod. 3:4-6,), visions, dreams and signs. No one dared behold the face of God (Exodus 33:20).

However, as we read in the second reading of the Christmas Mass, in our own time, in these last days, God has spoken to us through his own Son (Heb. 1:1-2). This Son, the Word made flesh is the perfect copy of God’s nature and the one who bears the very stamp of God’s image. What this means is that God’s self-communication and revelation which started from creation have now reached its summit in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Living and Eternal Word of God. He is God’s definitive manifestation of himself to us. To see Jesus is to see the Father (John 14:9).

Dear friend, the Feast of Christ’s Nativity reminds us of how much God loves us. God loves us to the extent that he humbled himself to become a vulnerable child for our sake. In Jesus, God has become one like us in all things but sin. In Jesus, God has become closer to us once again. Jesus is our Immanuel. In becoming man in the person of Jesus Christ, God has once again, made himself accessible to us. In Jesus, we have God that we could touch, hear and see without having to die. May the celebration of Christ’s birth bring us joy, glad tidings and favors. Amen.