The Mystery of the Incarnation
Summary of Headings
The Essence of Faith
Very briefly, a very merry and blessed Christmas to everybody. It's always such a magnificent feast day. There on the entryways, the Christmas 1513 bulletin for Florida. If you would like to pick one up on your way out, please do so. Such an important feast day in the liturgical year, but also most importantly for our faith. The liturgical year, excuse me, our faith demands of us acceptance of something that we cannot otherwise understand. We submit ourselves wholly and entirely to something even if we can't comprehend it in our minds. That is the very essence of what the faith is. And when we look upon a child, any child, it would be very hard for us to see Almighty God within that child. Knowing who and what God is, the person who created the heavens and the earth, keeps all things in order, keeps all things in existence, the ultimate judge, the perfect good, the absolute truth, all things...When we contemplate what God is, it's almost impossible for us to conceive of Him as being simply human. Of course, he's But as of Christmas, he is human. God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ, is truly and absolutely God. It takes a tremendous act of faith to be able to see that. Even some of the greatest figures in history who looked upon Alexander the Great as an infant and just knew all the great things that he was going to accomplish. This will be the greatest conqueror the world has ever known. Who could have suggested that? Of course, nobody did. And of course, he was born in the palace in Macedonia. He was born with Aristotle as his tutor. He was born with tremendous privileges and abilities and also intelligence. Whereas, with our Lord, all we see is a child born in the poorest of conditions, rejected by all, cast out of the city of Bethlehem, born just on the outskirts in a manger, in a cave. The only people who professed faith in him, besides his parents, were some shepherds. No one else. That was the entirety of his entourage. The only people who truly believed in him. We believe in God. We believe in Him because we know the rest of the story. But it's a good reminder to us to purify our faith more. When we approach the Feast of Christmas, it's important that we don't just see all the celebration around it. We don't just see all the things that we tend to practice and accomplish while we are celebrating the Feast of Christmas, but more importantly, we are supposed to look with the eyes of faith upon a simple child and know that it's a Baum confused way of looking at the world. know that he is the almighty God and that he is going to suffer and die for our sins to put everything right. He is the only hope in this world for anything. We get frustrated with the lies we hear all around us on television and the internet, by politicians, by religious leaders and everybody else. We get tired of that. Who is the solution to that? The truth. Truth. Him and no one else. We get tired of the chaos and the destruction and the wars and the pandemonium that go on in the world. Who is the solution to that? Only the Prince of Peace. Only our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only hope for that peace. We get so frustrated with the divisions and fights in the world especially in our own families. We're saddened by the losses that we suffer. Who is the only person who could possibly comfort us, encourage us, strengthen us, guide us and unite us? Only God can. And only our Lord Jesus Christ is God and man. We oftentimes forget that. Our faith is so weak sometimes because we focus so much on visuals and on tangible things. Things we can see and touch. We again, know the rest of the story. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ is God, but we don't ever contemplate the profundity and the depth of what that means. Jesus Christ is God. This child, this baby, is God Almighty. He is the one who is going to bring absolute peace to earth. He is the only path to heaven. Him. A real person. A real historic person. And no one else. It's easy for us to put our hope in people or in situations or in technology or any number of other things just because we can see them and we can touch them. But Christ, by coming in the form, of a man, by being man, actually has changed that wholly and entirely. We no longer can just trust those things and use the excuse of, well, at least I can see and touch what I know. No, he took that excuse away from us entirely because now he is a human being himself. So now he is something that we can see and touch and indeed we do. We must purify our faith. Go back to the very simple thing. What is it we need most in our lives? Of all the things that we could possibly hope for and dream for and ask for from Santa or whatever else. Or the three kings if you're Latinos. What is it that we are supposed, what is the thing that we should ask for above all things? Happiness. And who is the only source of happiness because he is joy, itself, Christ. So the only thing we should want is him. The only thing we should seek is him. The only thing we should desire is him. All through Advent the theme of Advent was longing for his coming. Desiring above all things that he should come. Demanding it of him. Domine noli tardare. Lord do not delay. Commanding him to come soon. As soon as possible. And to not get backed up. But to come now. Now he's here. And now our faith must be filled. And it must be pure. But one thing about faith and this is the scarier part of it, is while it's wonderful to recognize Christ as God and to look upon these beautiful images like him in the manger or like after mass when we kiss the feet of the child Jesus. It's a beautiful practice. To remind ourselves of his divinity. It's a beautiful way to remind ourselves of that. But the more complicated thing is our faith cannot be sterile. It's supposed to be active and it's supposed to be productive. It isn't supposed to be speculative. It is supposed to be something that converts itself into action. If we believe our Lord Jesus Christ is God, what does that mean for our lives? It means that we must live for him, with him, and in him. It means that we must dedicate our lives entirely to him. No matter what that means. It means that we are his and we belong to him. Like every other creature that he created. But even more so because not only did he create us, but he bought us back by humbling himself to take the form of a slave, as St. Paul says. Our faith must not simply be speculative. Knowing that Christ is God is a beautiful fact, but now we must translate it into action. Because Christ is God, I must live my life for him. I must take advantage of the sacraments that he gave me. I must attend the mass that he gave me. I must sacrifice myself on the same altar that he sacrifices himself for me. And each and every day when I go to work, when I go to school, when I go to just live with my family, or whatever it may be, I must consecrate every action that I perform into an act of perfect consecration in union with the humanity and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is what faith means. And that is what the faith in the incarnation and the birth of our Lord means for us. It is not enough just to know vaguely and to celebrate the niceness, the cuteness of the ceremonies and everything else. These things must translate themselves and must translate themselves perfectly into action in our lives. Concretely, that we begin to offer ourselves in a way that we never have before. That we begin to unite ourselves perfectly to God. Because he is everything. And without him we are nothing. The only reason that we can draw breath, the only reason that our molecules stay together, the only reason that our soul stays in union with our body is because he wills it. Nothing else. The only reason that we have anything, is because of him. And so all of it belongs to him. And because he is the one for whom we should seek out most. He is the one we should desire most. We must believe in him strongest. Not in everything else. Not even in ourselves. Our faith must be first and foremost and entirely based upon him. If we are capable of anything, it is thanks to him. If we are capable of anything, if there is anything to be salvaged from our lives, or our actions, or from this world, and from this chaos, it will only come through him. But that's the glorious thing about the incarnation, is that it is a moment of absolute and perfect hope. Because of this extraordinary miracle of the incarnation and the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, of his hypostatic union, then all of a sudden there is no limitation to our hope. There is no limitation to what we do. There is no limitation to what we can do or perform. What it is that we can actually have within our grasp. Because he is also eternity itself. We can have eternal life. Not bound by death. We can have saintliness. Not bound by sin. We can have peace. Not restricted by the wars in the world. We can have all things on earth because he is now man. Because he is born. So while we admire the miracle of the incarnation and birth of our Lord, while we marvel at the beauty of the mystery, let's also ask God that we not be daunted by the prospect of knowing and recognizing that he is God, and therefore having to transform, having to transform our entire lives to follow him. Because that is what we are supposed to do. That is the calling. The vocation. Let us beg God that we not be daunted, rather focusing on the fact that through him, we actually have the opportunity to do all things perfectly. But we have to do it through him. Not through ourselves. And not because of ourselves. And not by ourselves. By any stretch. He is the only solution. He is the only solution to our problems. And let us turn to him with absolute confidence and absolute joy, having perfect faith in this simple child. Knowing that our hope is entirely bound up in him, and believing truly that no matter what it is we may ask for, he has it in his power to give it to us. And that whatever it is he chooses for us, we know it is the best for us. Because he is God. And he can do no less. And our confidence must be entirely with him to the point that we see through the simple figure of a child. And be able to understand that it is truly God. He is truly God. And therefore we have perfect confidence in him and will not waver in that confidence even for a heartbeat so that we will be able to be perfectly united in eternity with him. Ave Maria Purissima. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen.
Summary
The homily begins by emphasizing the importance of Christmas in the liturgical year and the essence of faith as a submission to the divine mystery that transcends human understanding. It highlights the humble circumstances of Christ's birth, contrasting it with the grandeur expected of a king, and underscores the faith required to recognize His divinity. The homily concludes by urging the faithful to transform their faith into action, living in unity with Christ and embracing the hope and joy that come from recognizing Jesus as the ultimate solution to the world's challenges.