At the end of the Advent Season and as the Christmas festivities approach, the true meaning of Christmas, of the coming of Jesus Christ into the world, can become obscured amidst so many things that we may think are important, but in reality are not. At this time, it is normal for us to worry about Christmas dinner, the gifts, the clothes we will wear and so many other details that are part of the celebrations. However, celebrating Christmas is not simply celebrating the birthday of Jesus Christ. At birthday parties, preparation is usually limited to taking care of the party location, food, drinks, guest list and other external details.
But celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, “God with us”, requires much more than simple external preparation. In this regard, we can even say that we confessed and performed acts of charity, which are common practices at this time. These help us prepare for Christmas, but they are not enough. The Child God needs to be welcomed and, to know if we are ready for this, we can ask ourselves some questions: do we have a place for God in our lives? Where will we welcome the Lord? What will our attitude be after welcoming Jesus Christ into our lives? Answering these questions can reveal to us what the true meaning of Christmas is.
The true announcement is to take Jesus Christ
In Bethlehem, no one wanted to welcome her, and with her the Baby God. In this fact, we have an image of the spiritual reality that, when we stop welcoming the Mother, we also stop welcoming the Son. As there was no other place, the Blessed Virgin “gave birth to her firstborn son, and, wrapping him in swaddling clothes, she reclined him in a nativity scene; because there was no room for them in the inn.” This inn is the image of ungrateful hearts, which welcome any type of person, but have no place for God.
In this regard, “he said to a devout soul: It was a divine arrangement that me and my Son lacked clothing from men, so that souls captivated by the love of Jesus would offer themselves to welcome Him and Him. lovingly invited him to take up residence in their hearts.” After two thousand years, Jesus Christ continues to come and look for a place to be born. However, how many times are we the ones who have no place for Him, why do we love creatures so much more than the Creator? Sometimes our hearts are like a terrible inn, full of guests of the worst kinds: selfish, liars, arrogant, lazy, pleasure-loving. How many times do we say that we don’t have time to pray, but in the rush of everyday life we have time for everything and everyone, except for the Lord of time?
For these and other reasons that come to mind in these reflections, this Christmas is an invitation for us to prepare our interior and welcome the One who will make His home in our hearts.
Being reached by the presence of God
Jesus Christ came into the world, which “was created by him and for him”, but was not welcomed by men: “He came to his own and his own did not receive him”. Therefore, Christmas is always an invitation to prepare our hearts to welcome the Baby Jesus, because “the Truth that saves life ignites the heart of those who receive it with a love for others that moves them to give back what they received freely.”
This is an opportunity that we should not neglect, since “being reached by the presence of God, who is close to us at Christmas, is an invaluable gift. A gift capable of making us ‘live in the universal embrace of God’s friends’ in that ‘network of friendship with Christ, which unites heaven and earth’, which expands the scope for its fulfillment and which, if lived in its truth, flourishes ‘in a free love and full of concern for the good of all men’. Nothing is more beautiful, urgent and important than giving back to men for free what we received freely from God!” Nothing exempts or frees us from this serious and fascinating commitment. In this way, “the joy of Christmas, which we already know, while filling us with hope, stimulates us at the same time to announce to everyone the presence of God among us”.
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The Virgin Mary as an incomparable model of evangelization
In this announcement, we have the Virgin Mary as an incomparable model of evangelization, as she “communicated to the world not an idea, but Jesus, the Incarnate Word”. After receiving the announcement of the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, the Virgin of Nazareth hurriedly left for the mountains, to a city in Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted her cousin Saint Elizabeth. “Now only Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child trembled in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”
In Saint Elizabeth and her son Saint John the Baptist, still in her womb, the first miracle of Jesus Christ in the order of grace was performed. Both receive it through the simple greeting of the Blessed Virgin, as she carried the Child God in her womb to the house of Saint Zacharias and Saint Elizabeth. The Gospel had not yet been announced by Jesus Christ, but He, the Good News in person, was in Mary’s womb. The Virgin Mary always carries her Son Jesus on her lips and in her heart, which is why her action was so effective.
Jesus Christ is present among us
Therefore, let us invoke with confidence, so that we may receive the grace to bring Jesus Christ, the Savior, to the men of our time. In this way, each of us must feel the joy of sharing with others the Good News of the Son of God: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Jesus Christ is present among us. He is Emmanuel, which means God with us. Jesus is not a distant God, but he is always present in our lives. This presence of Jesus Christ is the reason for our joy, which drives us to announce this Good News, and the true meaning of Christmas.
Christmas and the expectation of the glorious coming of Jesus Christ
Therefore, the true meaning of Christmas is that Jesus Christ came into the world and remains in our midst: “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world”. He is and will always be present, in tabernacles throughout the earth, in the celebration of the Sacraments, but mainly in our hearts, until his definitive coming at the end of time.
In this sense, the preparation for Christmas has a permanent character, as the Lord Jesus is always with us, but at the same time, his presence is renewed through, especially in the Liturgy. Furthermore, we must watch and pray, as we can lose the presence of the Lord because of our sins and also because we do not know the day or the hour, whether or not we are on the verge of the second and definitive coming of Jesus Christ.
In anticipation of the glorious coming of the Lord, we must continually prepare our hearts. However, at the second coming of the Lord, we will no longer be the ones to welcome Him into our lives. But it will be the Son of God himself who will prepare a place for us and welcome us: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take possession of the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”.
The coming of the Baby Jesus into the world
Therefore, Christmas is a time of joy for the arrival of the Baby Jesus into the world, but it is also the right time to renew our commitment to continually prepare ourselves for the second coming of the Lord. For “happy are those who wash their clothes to have the right to enter the city through the gates. That said, starting from this Holy Year of Mercy, let us welcome God’s mercy into our lives and take on our spiritual life with determination.
Finally, let us welcome the Virgin Mary into our hearts with love, for with her we will welcome her, and let us live with joy the expectation of the glorious coming of the Savior: “Come, Lord Jesus!”