Why Jesus Christ come into our world?
Christmas is another occasion to touch the greatest mystery of Christianity, which is themystery of God who becomes incarnate in our lives. One of the students of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, a Chinese from Hong Kong, said how he was slowly approaching the Christian faith. First, he read the Gospels, then he was baptized, then he met his future wife, and now he accompanies her, trying to awaken in her the grace of faith so that she too can be baptized. When asked by his promoter what captivates and moves him most in Jesus Christ, he replied: "His incarnation". He added that he still wonders why God decided to incarnate in such a relatively small and insignificant nation as the Jewish people. Why didn't he incarnate in a civilization so developed and one of the oldest and richest – the Chinese civilization? Now, he discovers that the Incarnation of Christ is repeated in every person who opens himself to the Son of God and welcomes him into his life. Paradoxically speaking, the moment this Chinese student was baptized, Christ became Chinese.
For us, Christmas has a captivating dimension, because Christ becomes so close that when we receive Him into our lives through Baptism – He becomes a Pole, an Italian, a Mexican, a Peruvian, and Filipino, etc. He just becomes us. He is so connected to our lives.
“The Son of God became man that man might become God.” (St. Athanasius [ca 298–373]). Jesus came to earth not only to meet us, to take responsibility for our lives, to understand our sorrows, illnesses, sufferings, humiliations, or to identify with us. He came first of all to open a certain path, a process that He had initiated in Himself as a true man. It is about the process of moving to a new way of life. It is as if Christ knew that without Him man would not complete his own development. We all have a longing not to waste our humanity, not to live our lives in vain. Humanity requires a process. The body, the psyche and spirituality develop in the same way. Christ came to bring the development of humanity to fullness. The point is that WE can become like Christ one day. When we can experience life to the fullest—a life that we will be happy with.
Saint John Paul II repeated many times that "without Christ human life cannot be understood". Without Christ, human life cannot be brought to a perfect, satisfying, good conclusion. That is why we celebrated Christmas with such tenderness and beauty. A developed person is also a developed relationship. I will never be fully human if I do not love the other person.
Christmas is a family holiday. Christ did not come into the world like an alien, He did not fall from heaven, but He passed through the womb of a woman and through that woman's relationship with a man as family. He was born into a family. Christmas is about rebuilding our families, about teaching us the sensitivity that we have a family. Today, in a world that is becoming more and more selfish, individualistic and rushing, many people are losing the meaning of loving. Many suffer from loneliness. These are holidays that invite us to cherish, to care for our family ties. Christmas is continued in the octave, and Christmas season ends in the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Jan 09,2023).
Under the influence of Christmas, especially the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ, God comes to rebuild in us the meaning of family relationships – being a son, daughter, grandson, husband, wife, grandfather, mother. These are the most beautiful things in life, and they need special protection and care. Christmas comes to save what is most beautiful in us – love, relationships, falling in love, family, motherhood, fatherhood. Never in the history of humanity has there been a greater miracle of rebuilding our humanity than through the Incarnation of the Son of God. This is what Christmas tells us, and this is why Christ came to earth.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george