The Night Grace Appeared
Michiel Peeters - Friends, “today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.” “A child is born to us, a son is given us…. Theyname him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, and Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast andforever peaceful… Now and forever.” “Behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be forall the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.”He smashes the “yoke” that burdens you, “the pole on [your] shoulder, and the rod of [your]taskmaster.” This is this night’s announcement.
Who hears it? Who intercepts the glad tidings and goes after them? “People who walked in darknesshave seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” It is those who walk in darkness that see the great light; those who dwell in theland of gloom perceive it, as the shepherds who were keeping watch in the surroundings of Bethlehem.While the rest of the city and land were asleep, they were awake, walking in darkness; they perceivedthe light and went after it, even if it came from “an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in amanger.”
In this night’s second reading, taken from the Letter of Saint Paul to his disciple Titus, we find theverification of the event of Christmas: God, who takes the initiative to enter human history as a man,and the human being who perceives the exceptionality and goes after it: “Beloved: The grace of God has appeared, salubrious for all humanbeings and training us to reject godlessness and worldly desires and to live wisely, justly, and devoutly inthis age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior JesusChrist, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people ashis own, eager to do what is good.”
“The grace of God has appeared, saving all”: the grace of God has appeared, that means, the beauty, thegratuitousness of God, that makes us gracious; it has appeared, it has become visible and tangible in the flesh. “Salubrious for all human beings.” ByHis incarnation, God wants to save all. What does it mean to save? To reveal us to ourselves, with our deepdesire; to teach us how to walk towards our destiny; and to lift us when we fall. In the words of St. Paul,“Training us to reject ungodliness and worldly desires,” that is, to realize and accept that we are made for aninfinite destiny, that our desire does not have its terminus in the things we can grasp. “And to live wisely,justly, and devoutly in this age.”
This is the great verification of encountering God in the flesh: it enhances our humanity, we become more ourselves: we understand and accept the boundlessness of ourdesire, we become wiser, more desiring to do what is good, and, most importantly, more looking for God (which is what “devoutly” means), desiring to find Christ back in every circumstance, in every room ofthe house of our lives. “As we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God andsavior Jesus Christ.” Faith—the recognition of God in the flesh, of God who became one of us—in timebecomes hope, the certainty that the best is yet to come, based on what we have already seen andexperienced. Merry Christmas!
