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Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Peace and greetings to you as The Baltimore Beacon arrives in your mailbox at Christmas! At Christmas we celebrate our faith that the Eternal Word took flesh in Jesus Christ and made his dwelling among us (Jn 1:14). Born in time from the womb of Mary by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, the Incarnation of Christ our Savior is God’s loving embrace of our humanity and our way to oneness with God. Speaking of the Incarnation, Pope Benedict once spoke these beautiful words:
On that holy night, God becoming flesh, wanting to become a gift for man, gave himself for us; God has made his only begotten Son a gift for us, taking our humanity to give us his divinity. (On the Mystery of the Incarnation)
God’s longing to be among us in human form came to fulfillment in the birth of Christ. This great gift of God’s abundant love makes our humanity a sacred space of grace and far more than anything that is “merely” natural or ordinary anymore. In Christ we dare to believe that God’s heart beats in our own, that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and that each and every human being is a divine work of art made in God’s image and likeness.
In gratefully recalling and joyfully celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem of long ago, we are invited to bring him to birth by the grace and gift of His Spirit dwelling within us and among us now. The baby Jesus that was born into history over 2,000 years ago is forever being born in us as we incarnate the presence of Christ and become the gift of love that God has made us to be. As the Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart once said:
“We are all called to be mothers of God. What good it is to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly, but does not take place within myself? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and culture?”
These past weeks of Advent have included some especially blessed moments for me of seeing first-hand how Christ continues to be born in our day and time by the loving goodness and gracious presence of God’s people. One such moment happened when I was privileged to share in the celebration of life for our recently deceased confreres, Father Gene Grohe and Father Andy Carr, (who are pictured in the pages to follow). These celebrations were filled to the brim with grateful thanksgiving and deep joy for the ways these Redemptorists gave birth to the goodness of God through their priestly ministries and by their care of the people they served so well. Equally moving and touching were the many heartfelt expressions of deep gratitude by so many people who were not only greatly blessed by Father Gene and Father Andy, but who were also a great blessing to each one of them in the close and loving relationship that they obviously shared with one another.
Just last week I also had the opportunity to visit one of our parish schools at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Mission Church in Boston. Once again, I was very touched by the deep reverence and loving presence of the school’s entire staff toward the students entrusted to their care. And what a great joy to see in the many smiles of hope and delight on the students’ faces, not to mention their friendly fist pumps, their recognition and appreciation of the gift of the loving people guiding and educating them into their awareness of their own goodness and light.
May Christ be born anew in all our hearts this Christmas so that together we may bring him to birth in our time and culture by the way we live and the way we love.
Merry Christmas! Many thanks! Peace be with you!
Gratefully,
Fr. John Collins, C.Ss.R.
Provincial
