The Word Made Flesh, Dwelling Among Us

Voice over by Rose Khaing Mye Thu

Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 97:1-6; Hebrews 1:1-6; Jn 1,1-18

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, a most holy and joyous Christmas to you all! On this most blessed day, the Church invites us to gaze with wonder upon the great mystery of our faith. The readings presented to us do not merely tell a story; they unveil the ultimate meaning of history, the cosmos, and our very lives. From the prophet’s joyful shout, to the letter’s divine declaration, to the Gospel’s breathtaking poetry, one truth resounds: God has come to dwell with His people.

The Prophet Isaiah sets the stage with a cry of exultation: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings!” This messenger announces peace, good news, and salvation, proclaiming above all else, “Your God is King!” The watchmen shout for joy because they see, with their own eyes, “the Lord restoring Zion.” The message is one of intimate presence and compassionate action: “The Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.” This is the hope of Israel—not a distant, detached God, but a God who comes to save and console.

This hope finds its ultimate expression in the Letter to the Hebrews, which begins with a majestic proclamation of God’s final and definitive word. “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.” This Son is not merely another messenger; He is the “refulgence” of the Father’s glory, the “very imprint of his being,” the one who sustains “all things by his mighty word.” The One who spoke creation into existence has now entered creation Himself. The angels, who were the mediators of the Old Law, now worship Him.

This brings us to the sublime heights of the Prologue of John. Here, the Christmas story is told not from the perspective of the manger, but from the perspective of the Godhead. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The One born in Bethlehem is the eternal Word, the agent of all creation: “All things came to be through him.” Then comes the verse that forever changes human history: “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The Greek word used here for “dwelt” is eskenosen, meaning “pitched his tent.” The God of the universe, in Jesus Christ, has come to camp in our midst. In this Child, we behold the glory of the Only Begotten Son, “full of grace and truth.”

This is the heart of the Catholic faith we celebrate today. Christmas is the feast of the Incarnation. It is the moment the uncontainable God allowed Himself to be contained in a human body. It is the moment the invisible became visible, the eternal entered time, and the divine embraced the human without ceasing to be divine. As Pope Benedict XVI so beautifully taught, “The humility of God is the culmination of his power.” In the vulnerable infant of Bethlehem, the full might of divine love is revealed.

Saint Augustine captures this mystery perfectly: “He is both the source and the destination. He is the foundation upon which we are built, and the capstone that crowns us.”

The comfort for us is overwhelming. The God who rules the cosmos knows our struggles from the inside. He has experienced human fragility, vulnerability, and dependency. He understands our joys and our sorrows. The challenge is to receive 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.” Christmas is an invitation to accept the Word-made-flesh, to believe in His name, and to allow His grace to transform us from within.

This Christmas, let us not merely look upon the manger with sentimental nostalgia. Let us kneel in adoration before the great “I Am” who has become “God-with-us.” Let us receive the grace and truth that flow from His sacred humanity. And let us, like John the Baptist, become witnesses to this Light, so that all the world might see His glory and know the comfort of a God who has drawn unimaginably near. Amen.

A blessed and holy Christmas to you all!