The Nativity and the Baptism of the Lord

Following my most recent blog, I had another awe-inspiring thought...this time about the wisdom of Holy Mother Church and the way she has ordered the celebration of the Church’s Feasts...

Christmas Season officially begins with the Solemnity of the Nativity (that’s right folks, Christmas doesn’t begin until the celebration of Vigil of Christmas on 24 December). And it continues up until the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord (which we have just celebrated this past Sunday). I didn’t realise it before, but these two “bookends” of the Christmas Season are actually deeply connected and ultimately speak to the same Mystery.

Allow me to elaborate...

The Solemnity of Christmas is ultimately about the celebration of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Blessed Virgin. That much is obvious.

But what of the Solemnity of Our Lord’s Baptism? Well, to understand, we first need to ask why it was necessary that Our Lord be baptised. As I noted in another recent post, Baptism is our new birth into the family of God – our regeneration, or being born from above (see Jn 3:5). Furthermore, through Baptism, our sins are washed away (Acts 2:38; Tit 3:5). As noted previously, the Church Fathers taught that the baptismal waters were able to accomplish this awesome spiritual reality purely because the waters of Baptism were consecrated at the Baptism of Our Lord e.g.:

“From the moment that Christ is immersed in water, from that moment water washes away all sins." - St. Augustine

“The Lord is baptised, not having occasion to be cleansed, but that, purifying the waters by the contact of His pure flesh, they may have the power of cleansing.” – St. Augustine

“The water of baptism, had it not been sanctified by contact with the body of our Lord, could not purge the sins of believers.” – St. John Chrysostom

 

So, the Solemnity of the Nativity celebrates the birth of Our Lord into this world; and the Solemnity of the Lord’s Baptism celebrates the consecration of the water by which we are born into the Kingdom of God.

But wait...there’s more...in fact there’s a lot more. But, I want to share just a couple more brief points with the hope that they will inspire within us a desire to meditate more deeply, so that we can offer even more praise to God for His Infinite Goodness!!!

Why was Jesus born? The answer is to die...As the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen often said “Most men are born to live; but the Lord Jesus was born to die”. So the Solemnity of the Nativity also speaks to us of Calvary. And the Solemnity of the Baptism of Our Lord does the same thing. St. Paul reminds us that it is through baptism that we are crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ and raised again to new life in Him (Rom 6:3-4).

And finally...

At His birth, the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, would no doubt have exclaimed “This is my beloved Son!” What did the Father of Our Lord proclaim at His Baptism? “This is my beloved Son”!

Oh the depths of the riches of wisdom with which the Lord has blessed His Holy and Glorious Bride!

Keeping Christ in Christmas

Whilst Christmas Day has come and gone...it feels like almost an eternity ago...we are still in the Christmas Season, which traditionally finishes with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (13 January this year). Since we are still in the Christmas Season, I thought I still have some time to post a blog about Christmas...

Together with Protestant Christians, we often decry the fact that Christmas has become nothing less the unashamed promotion of materialism and consumerism. While the world thinks that Christmas is about the accumulation of gifts, Christians try to remind the world that their need for Christ far outweighs their need for material goods. And so, every Christmas, Christians the world over seek to remind people that “Jesus is the reason for the Season”, and that we ought to “Keep Christ in Christmas”.

I recently posted a picture on Facebook (see above) which contained the phrase:

“The best way to keep Christ in Christmas is to keep Mass in Christmas”

I posted the picture because I initially thought the slogan was quite clever, and also thought-provoking. It challenges us to see that there are two sides to Christmas – yes, there is Christ. But there is also Mass (after all, the word “Christmas” is derived from the reference to “Christ’s Mass”). 

So for us Catholics, Christmas is not just about remembering that “Jesus is the reason for the Season”; it is also about fulfilling our Holy Obligation to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass – which in itself reminds us that Calvary was the ultimate reason for Christmas. 

Then in Mass earlier this week, I had another thought which I think is substantially more profound. Mass cannot be separated from Christmas because Mass and the Nativity are intricately connected. 

Just as Mary received Our Lord with faith, humility, reverence, and obedience so too do we receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. Just as Mary became a living Tabernacle at the Annunciation, so too do we become living Tabernacles in Holy Communion because we carry the Lord Jesus within us. 

But Holy Communion is not the ultimate point of going to Mass. The very word “Mass” comes from the Latin “Ita Missa Est” – “Go, you are sent”. It is true that the summit of the Mass is receiving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, but we do so not solely for ourselves. We receive Our Lord so that we can be sent. To do what? To share Christ with others, even as He shares Himself with us in Holy Communion. 

And that is where the Nativity comes into it. Mary received our Lord at the Annunciation; but she gave Christ to the world in the Nativity. In this way, the Mass really is the mystery of the Incarnation because we receive the Lord in the Eucharist, and then we go out into the world so that we can bring Him to others. In this way, Christ is born afresh in us every time that we are sent forth from Mass.

So the best way to keep Christ in Christmas really is to keep Mass in Christmas. Because God’s grace and Christ’s Presence given to us in the Blessed Sacrament is the surest way to share Christ with a world that so desperately needs Him.