Joke: Santa was working at Brookville shopping center when he noticed a young lady of about 20 years old walking toward him. He was surprised when she sat on his lap. Santa does not usually take requests from adults, but as she gave him such a nice smile, he couldn’t refuse and said to her, “What’s your name?” “Hannah,” she replied. “What do you want for Christmas, Hannah?” “Actually, I want something for my mom, please,” said Hannah. “What do you want me to bring her,” said Santa. Without blinking her eyes, Hannah replied, “A son-in-law.”

Just as Hannah expressed her wish to Santa during Christmas, what should we wish and pray for Christmas? To answer this question, the Church puts together all of today’s readings to clarify for us.

Today, the Church celebrates the Birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are three sets of different readings according to the vigil Mass, midnight Mass, and day Mass. Why didn’t the Church use only one set of readings for all the Masses, from vigil to midnight and Daytime? Readings for Midnight Mass describe God’s grace as revealed in the birth of the Messiah, the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, through his true human origin. The readings for midnight Mass describe the great love that God has for us by coming to us in our human flesh to save us. Finally, the Day Mass readings describe the scene in which God has spoken to us through his Son, the Word made flesh, his true divine nature, comes into our human flesh to reveal his salvation to the whole human race.

Today, we are invited to meditate on the fact that Jesus is God who loves us so much that he willingly accepts to come to us by vesting on himself our very human flesh to be like all of us except for sins. The question begins with the word “why” which often makes us ponder how to respond to the question. We cannot stop pondering at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ with the question: Why did God choose to come to us in our human flesh?

He comes to us in the flesh because he loves us. His origin is divine and human in today’s Gospel, John begins his Gospel by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” If we recall the creation story in the very first chapter of the book of Genesis, God created everything by saying “the Word”, and creatures came into being. However, there is a little tricky, a little twist in the human creation story when God creates Adam. He forms Adam from dust and breaths in him the Holy Spirit, and he becomes a living being. Only in Adam and Eve, human beings, are created special in God’s image as it said in Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The words “Let us,” does it mean there are several gods in the creation or only one God? There are several explanations, one of them is that the words: “let us” describe the solemnity, the importance, and the seriousness, but there is only one God. When we hear the Pope speak, he often addresses us as “We.” It does not mean that he speaks on behalf of several people, but he speaks for the Church, the only Catholic Church that we profess in the profession of faith every Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation.

He comes to us in the flesh because he loves us. Only in the flesh, we can come to receive his grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Also, only in the flesh, we can come to know the truth, to know God the Almighty, and to know that we are created in his image. This is why John says in today’s Gospel, “While the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Saint Paul says in today’s second reading to the Hebrews, “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe.” Only in Christ and through Christ we are adopted to become children of God and to know the way to the Father through the life of a flesh that the Son of God vested on himself on Christmas day.

Christ is the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He chose to vest on himself our very human flesh to be with us to show us how much he loves us, even to the point of suffering and death, death on the Cross for us. What have we done to return that love? Just as Jesus lying helpless as a babe, what have we done to those children who are abandoned, homeless, uncared, unsheltered, hungry, and lonely? Of all the Christmas cards that I received for Christmas, there was one that I found most practical prayer with a little sense of humor for Christmas. Perhaps, it is also a prayer for all of us during this Christmas season. The title of the card is: “The Very First King-Size Bed.” In this card, it said, “Let us thank God for that bed and the baby who slept there. It is the nicest place to be in someone’s thoughts; the safest place to be in someone’s prayers; and the best place to be in God’s hands (from Fr. Kuriakose @ Christ the King parish). The decision is yours.