“In the sixth month, the was sent from God to a town of named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.” (Luke 1:26-27)

Thus, Luke the evangelist begins his account of how the incarnation of the Son of God came about. God sends his angel to Mary to announce the good news that God has chosen to become man to save man from his sins. Mary replies, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) And thus, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (:1)

The Incarnation comes about through the free cooperation of God and man: God, in sending the Holy Spirit upon Mary that she might conceive as man the eternal Son of God; and man, in Mary’s obedient acceptance of her role as Mother of God. Thus, salvation—the healing and elevation of human nature to participation in the divine—is made possible through God’s free gift and man’s free acceptance of that gift.

The Incarnation is the culmination of God’s steadfast desire to save the human race from its slavery to sin. Indeed, the whole of human history can be properly understood only in this light. God has but one intention on our behalf, which we find expressed in both the Old and New Testaments:

“I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord; plans for our welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

“God wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth. And the truth is this, ‘God is one. One also is the mediator between God and men, the man Christ , who gave himself as a ransom for all.’” (1 Timothy 2:4-6)

God not only desires our salvation. He is actively working to attain it, as Jesus attests repeatedly: “My Father is at work until now, and at work as well.” (John 5:17) “Doing the will of him who sent me and bringing His work to completion is my food.” (:34) “This is the work of God: have faith in the One whom he sent.” (:29) “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (:17)

Mary did the work of God by believing in the angel’s word, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Hence, the holy offspring to be born will be called Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)

Believing in God’s word is called the virtue of faith, through which we receive as a gift the salvation that God has worked out for us in His Son, as St. Paul indicates, “I am not ashamed of the . It is the power of God leading everyone who believes in it to salvation. For in the gospel is revealed the justice of God which begins and ends with faith. As Scripture says, ‘The just man shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17)

We are justified—that is to say, our nature and person are set right with God and right with the world—through our faith in Jesus Christ and our baptism into his life and death. Through faith, God’s justice—the goodness and truth He has always desired to give us—is poured into our hearts in the waters of baptism. By our free response to God’s free gift to us in Christ, our nature is healed and restored; we are given light to know the truth, and love to carry out the works of holiness. In this way, we become true sharers in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), the eternal communion of Persons that is the One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The mystery we recall at Christmas is expressed beautifully in St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians 2:6-11:

“Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. He was known to be of human estate, and it was thus that he humbled himself, obediently accepting death, death on a cross. Because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name, so that at Jesus’ name every knee must bend, in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father: Jesus Christ is Lord!”

I wish you and your loved ones a Christmas filled with peace, joy and faith!

Yours in Christ,

Father Walter