Salvation is not an inheritance for only those of certain groups. People do not have a special claim to being saved based on their families’ traditions, be they of Irish, Polish or Italian descent. Salvation is a gift offered to all the people of the earth in every time and place. The Prophet Isaiah had a vision of all the peoples of the earth, Gentiles as well as Jews, streaming toward Mount Zion, where they would worship the one God. We share this vision and hope. The prayers of the Mass remind us that a perfect offering will be made from East to West, throughout the whole inhabited world and by all of God’s people. We find this idea in the story of the Magi, who were foreigners and outsiders to the Jewish people, but who saw a light in the darkness and set out on a journey to reach it. Each of us brings our own gifts to the Christ Child, and each of us are on our own journey toward the light.
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In the Creed we proclaim that God became enfleshed in this world. During the Christmas season we celebrate the birth and incarnation of Jesus. Our nativity scenes remind us that Jesus humbled himself, in contrast to those who were grasping for more when they were already created in the image of God. Part of being incarnate means that mankind perceives and interacts with the world through our senses. We perceive and encounter God through our senses not just words and ideas in the abstract. The incarnation was not just a onetime experiment that God tried. The incarnation is ongoing. God continues to be present in the person of Jesus, in the Eucharist, and in the body of believers. We reflect on the reality that when “we ask this through Christ our Lord” we truly pray through the person of Jesus, his real presence in the Eucharist and also though his presence in the community of the Church. This challenges us to think about how we are called to respond to the prayers of others, how we should pray knowing that the word was made flesh and dwells among us.
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