Vigil of Christmas Reflection:
The Lord is Nigh2. Tomorrow you shall see His glory with your bodily eyes, in reality and truth. "You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger" (Luke 2:12). Near His crib, in silent prayer and adoration, you will find His virgin mother. There, too, you will find, silent and absorbed in prayer, the blessed Joseph. Silent night, holy night! There you will find the child, nestling in the forbidding straw, deprived of all comforts which an ungrateful people might have given Him. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1: 11). We shall see Him also with the eyes of faith. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth" (John 1:1, 14). In this child in the manger are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. "For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead corporeally" (Col. 2:9). He is the one "who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. For in Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and in Him. And He is before all; and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He may hold the primacy. Because in Him it hath well pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell; and through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven" (Col. 1: 15-23). We behold the child. His human soul is completely immersed in the majesty and glory of the Godhead. Since He is in continual possession of the vision of God, He has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. His soul possesses the vision of the future; it is continually concerned with my salvation, and offers itself up for me and prays for me continually. In the hands of this child is placed the government of the heavens and the earth; His power extends over angels and men, over spirits and hearts. "All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. 28:18).
3. This is He "who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh; who was predestinated the Son of God in power according to the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead; by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith in all nations for His name, among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ our Lord." We rejoice in the honor that is bestowed on us in our election to the faith in Jesus Christ. With our whole soul we believe in Him who has become true man and our brother in the flesh. We believe, too, that He is the Son of God, for He convincingly proved His divinity by His resurrection from the dead. The King of Glory will come to mankind, to the family of nations, and to the hearts of all men, in order to bring them salvation. "Be ye lifted up, O eternal gates"; be opened to Him in faith and longing that you may receive His rule. For it is a rule of grace, of love, and of peace-peace for man with God and with himself. Today we prepare ourselves for His blessed rule by purifying our hearts, our souls, and our thoughts. We shall make our hearts a crib in which He may rest secure. "The King of Glory shall enter in." He comes now in the lowliness of suffering in order to overcome death; He will one day come in glory as Judge and Ruler of the world. Christmas is the complement of the coming of the Lord on the last day. Blessed are they who now share His lowliness, for they may look forward to His coming as Master and Judge with confidence and hope. (Excerpted from The Light of the World, Volume One by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.)