(Listen to this homily here).
This morning we heard one of the most beautiful and deep passages
of the Bible—the Prologue of the Gospel according to John.
This
introduction to John’s account serves as an overture to the rest of his
narrative. One could also say it
is a great summary of the whole Bible.
Several different themes emerge which are frequent in the rest of the
book: light versus darkness, belief (which John writes of more than any other
Gospel), testimony, grace, fulfillment, God versus the world.
I
would like to reflect for a moment on one of the key verses in the Prologue—indeed
a key verse for the entire Bible.
John 1:14 states: “And the Word
became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” This is the great mystery of the incarnation of Jesus Christ—that
God became man, that God became a baby!
What
is really cool is to know that the phrase made
his dwelling could also be translated as made his tent or made his
tabernacle. By coming as a
man, Jesus is tenting or tabernacling among us. Every time we come to church we see
this reality continued in a different way—Jesus is still dwelling, tenting,
tabernacling with us in his real presence in the Eucharist!
We
pray that we may live out the realities expressed in the Prologue of John. In a particular way, as we come to Mass
this Christmas day we recognize that Jesus still dwells among us in the
Eucharist and ask for the grace to follow him faithfully.
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