Archbishop Leonard P. Blair
Advances in science over the last century or more have revolutionized our ideas about the origin of the universe. Some of these advances are the work of Catholics. For example, a Catholic priest, Father Georges Lemaître, was the principal architect of the “Big Bang” theory. Others, like Stephen Barr, use new scientific discoveries to revitalize medieval proofs for the existence of God. Theologians like the Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin sought to understand in contemporary terms the full cosmic significance of God’s revelation in Christ. “Cosmic” here means the search for a coherent interpretation of the universe in its ultimate origin, nature, order and destiny.
When we celebrate Christmas, as we soon will, we recall with faith and devotion the birth of Jesus Christ over 2,000 years ago. This is a past historical event, and if Jesus were only a human being we might say that his life belongs to the past. However, the birth of Jesus, “true God and true man,” is the “cosmic” event, because in him a “new creation” has already begun, one that displaces this present world of sin and death and will be fully revealed when he comes again “to judge the living and the dead, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Between these two “comings” of Christ, however, there is something more that is at the heart of our Catholic Faith. It is our knowledge in faith that the same Jesus who was born in Bethlehem and who will come again to judge the world is personally present now in the sacraments, above all in the Holy Eucharist. To receive Holy Communion is to receive the living Christ who, St. Paul says, “fills all things.” (Eph 4:10)
In receiving him worthily, we become what we receive, not a digested piece of bread and wine, but Jesus himself, as he promised when he said “whoever eats me will live because of me.” (Jn 6:57) So however much we may remember fondly and prayerfully what happened two thousand years ago in Bethlehem, we are not only celebrating a past reality at Christmas. Far from it. Nothing could be more real and alive than the “real presence” of Jesus in the Eucharist. And no greater Christmas gift could we possibly receive than this gift of himself to us in Holy Communion. So if you’ve not returned to Mass as a result of covid fears, or you’ve gotten comfortable just watching Mass on television or by live streaming, I urge you to restore your full communion with Christ at Christmas by receiving him in the Eucharist at Mass, and preparing to do so worthily in the Sacrament of Penance. Not to do so is to starve yourself of the “bread of life,” for in the words of Jesus, “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you.” (Jn 6:53)
May the supernatural life we receive in the Holy Eucharist inspire and strengthen us to be, in the words of the Prayer of St. Francis, “instruments of peace.” It is the peace which the angels proclaimed to the shepherds at Bethlehem. It is the peace that Jesus said the world cannot give, but He alone. It is the cosmic peace of God that lies at the heart of the origin, nature, order and destiny of the universe.
A blessed Advent and Christmas to you all. Jesus is the Light of Christmas.