Reading I Is 52:7-10
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings,
announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion,
“Your God is King!”
Hark!
Your sentinels raise a cry, together they shout for joy,
for they see directly, before their eyes, the LORD restoring Zion.
Break out together in song, O ruins of Jerusalem!
For the LORD comforts his people, he redeems Jerusalem.
The LORD has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations;
all the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6.
R. (3c) All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
The LORD has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed
his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; break into song; sing praise.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Reading II Heb 1:1-6
Brothers and sisters: In times past, God spoke in partial and various
ways to our ancestors through the prophets;
in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son,
whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe,
who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being,
and who sustains all things by his mighty word.
When he had accomplished purification from sins,
he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
as far superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent
than theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say: You are my son; this day I have begotten you?
Or again: I will be a father to him, and he shall be
a son to me?
And again, when he leads the firstborn into the world, he says:
Let all the angels of God worship him.
Alleluia R. Alleluia, alleluia.
A holy day has dawned upon us.
Come, you nations, and adore the Lord.
For today a great light has come upon the earth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Jn 1:1-5, 9-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.
But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
Merry Christmas!
This week is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth!
Our Gospel today is an amazing reading from the beginning of the Gospel of John.
It starts out a little strangely: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.”
This beginning he’s writing about is the beginning of Creation when God made the world.
“The Word” that John writes about is God’s word that he used to speak the world into
being.
Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh.
In the beginning, God had a plan for the world and for us, but people didn’t want to go
along with God’s plan.
We instead chose sin, and sin leads to all sorts of bad things, like emptiness and despair
and separation.
God didn’t want this for us.
He chose to enter into our sin and sadness and anger.
He didn’t come with armies.
He didn’t come as a scary warrior, but as a baby.
So when John writes, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” he’s
talking about how this Word of God, the Lord’s divine plan for Creation, became a person
through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the new place to meet God, the new Temple.
We are the new Israel, his people.
And today on Christmas we go to Christ’s Mass, meeting him with joy in our hearts.
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