Readings: Isaiah 52: 7-10

Hebrews 1:1-6

John 1:1-18 or 1-5, 9-14

"And the Ward became flesh
an made his dwelling among us."

Today, the whole Christian world celebrates the solemnity of the Lord's nativity. It is one of our main feasts and its greatness and significance is next to Easter. Since it has become a part of our liturgical calendar – and much more of the civil calendar too - everybody looks forward to it with joyful expectancy, so that when the day finally comes, the very spirit of joy and gladness urges us to set even the slightest worry and sadness aside. The Savior is born, and so we have all the reason to merry and merry. It is worth noting, then, to meditate on what usually accompanies our human celebration of merriment while we also try to remember and recapture the original spirit of the celebration of the first.

1. The most evident thing that goes along with our joyful Christmas celebration is the material aspect of it, that is, our material abundance or at least the expression of it. In any culture, any form of joyful celebration is always associated with table preparation. Especially for us Filipinos, it seems difficult to think of a celebration without
something in the table. That is why, for all the years we have been celebrating Christmas, this material and economic aspect that accompanies our celebration forms part of our tradition. But unfortunately, this seems to trigger some unpleasant reactions. Some say that this is not the essence of Christmas. Others would even suggest that we must get rid of it since we are getting far from the spirit of the first Christmas. For many, this is indeed a peripheral thing, which does not constitute the real meaning of Christmas.

We must admit that in many ways, Christmas today is so much abused, adulterated, commercialized. But should we really do away with our material concerns so that our celebration be genuine? Does God not really want to see us prepare food, buy presents, give and take gifts etc., during his birthday?

2. This material aspect of our celebration must lead us deeper reflection. We must begin with these propositions. First, that Christmas is a celebration not only in best times or in good times but in bad and difficult times, too. Second, that whether in good or in bad times, Christmas is a celebration of a Joyous spirit, which can be measured and realized not by external and material expressions alone, but not without them either. Third, that especially at these difficult and trying times we are in, it is imprudent for anybody to spend beyond his means just to celebrate the meaning of Christmas. Such imprudence has never been taught by the Church, and much less by our faith.

However, we must be equally clear and Straight, too, that these external and material expressions we show are most basic of human beings. In fact, we cannot deny that what usually takes our primal concern is the economic side of the celebration. It is plain hypocrisy to ignore the importance and significance of these material preparations and presents during Christmas. If one prepares something for his own birthday, there is no reason why we should not prepare something for the Lord’s nativity. If our fiesta celebrations are usually "measured" by the food we prepare and the several activities we share, there is no reason too why we should not care for our noche Buena, for our Christmas parties, for our exchanging of gifts, etc. This material side of the celebration forms part of humanity, culture and civility. That is why it has to go along with any celebration including and mostly Christmas. Take this away from man and you are actually stripping him off of his culture and tradition. And here, we must remember on the first place that on Christmas, the person whose birthday we are honoring is the author of culture arid tradition. So, why should we deny the fruit of the same culture and tradition to him who deserves it most worthily?

3. But over and above this fundamental expression of human behavior, the material side of Christmas celebration is actually a semblance of our inner spiritual virtues. Among others, we cite the virtue of generosity. Parents buying new clothes and toys to their children godparents preparing gifts for their godchildren, lovers giving cards to each other, friends and strangers alike singing Christmas carols in the neighborhood and giving something to them in return, etc., all these things bespeak of our inner desire to share whatever we have and are. Even at this given economic crisis we are facing today, everybody strives to give love on Christmas. This giving of love in whatever way is a concrete manifestation of generosity. People who understand what generosity is, understand too what Christmas means. They have reached maturity both in life and in faith. That is why, they even think less about themselves they think, more about others first. This is the case of parents to their children, of the lover to the beloved, of one who is better off to the other who is less fortunate. Actually, he who is generous on Christmas is basically a generous person. Our experience seems to attest to this. This is a common truth in the neighborhood. He who is generous is really generous. He may just show his generosity mostly on Christmas, but it does not need a Christmas for him to he generous. But he who cannot be generous on Christmas can never be generous outside Christmas. In fact, he is the typical opportunist who takes the season as an opportunity to take than to give. And he too does the same thing even outside Christmas.

4. This experience brings us closer to the basic theology of the Incarnation. God became man because of love. But this has become real love because it has been freely given. Love unshared is no love at all. Thus, the necessary component of love is generosity. It is only when love is divided that love multiplies. This is the theological message of the Incarnation. It is the selfless giving of God to man that man may realize and learn the abundance of God's love. We must remember that the gift of God to man at that first Christmas is not just a "spiritual creature" but a real man with body, and soul. Christ came not as an angel or as ghost, but as man. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” In other words, even God himself deigns to express his abundance basically in a material way. This may lead man led more easily to a higher and transcendental level of awareness that he too is a child of God.

Christmas is, therefore, the forever-living reminder of God's generosity. And our own generosity in the final analysis is only a reflection of God’s. Thus, if we've got to be generous on and outside Christmas, it is because we participate, or at least earnestly try to participate, in God's generosity. Giving and taking on Christmas is not a new issue. It is as old as the first Christmas. And we must be happy that it happened that way.
Today, it still happens that way.