Daily Meditation for December 22, 2022

Three days until Christmas. What does that mean to each of us? Maybe some last-minute shopping, decorating, delivering gifts to relatives and friends. Then there are the children counting their last “sleeps” until Santa comes. Or perhaps there’s the deepest preparation: a quiet moment or two in which one reflects on the astonishing reality of this sacred feast: God becoming one of us, namely human. For those who are spiritually formed by scriptural texts, Christ’s birth is expressed in St. John’s Gospel, “And the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). Christ is that Word, existing in and before all time, choosing to be one of us so we can become one with Him through his redeeming sacrifice. Now that’s more than a three-day pre-Christmas reflection. Yet, a prayerful repetition of this quotation, “and the Word became flesh,” these three days may help prepare for the richest understanding and participation of this great feast. Merry Christmas!

By Philip Zimmer, OSB