Christmas is about the Incarnation. It is about the only begotten Son of God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, becoming consubstantial with us through the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As with all liturgical observances, Christmas is not merely a remembrance of things past, of something that happened a long time ago in a land far, far way, in a culture we have difficulty understanding.
Really, the focus of Christmas is that Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is born in us. Our reading from Acts is what is usually called “the Pentecost of the Gentiles.” The first Christian Pentecost, if you remember, happened in Jerusalem as Jews from throughout the Mediterranean world and beyond gathered in the Temple for the festival of Shavuot.
Christ born in you and being baptized “with the Holy Spirit” are synonymous, they refer to the same reality. Stated another way, this reality is God sharing divine with us. God sharing divine life with us also serves as a great definition of grace.
Each of the Church’s sacramental rites features what is called an epiclesis. Put simply, an epiclesis is a “calling down.” What, or, better yet, who is called down is none other than the Holy Spirit. In the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit is called down to transform the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
In baptism, there is an epiclesis that occurs in the exorcism that precedes the anointing with the oil of catechumens: “We pray for this child: set him (her)free from original sin, make him (her) a temple of your glory, and send your Holy Spirit to dwell with him (her).” Another one happens when the baptismal water is blessed, when the celebrant, be he bishop, priest, or deacon, puts his hand in the water and says, “We ask you, Father, with your Son to send the Holy Spirit upon the water of this font. May all who are buried with Christ in the death of baptism rise also with him to newness of life.”
In the baptism of Jesus, not just the waters but all of creation is blessed, sanctified, and reoriented toward God as Jesus goes down into the water, is immersed, and arises from the river Jordan. As he emerges, the Trinitarian theophany occurs as the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove and the voice of the Father is heard expressing his pleasure with his Son. This is the Incarnation. This is Emmanuel, God with us!
Jesus was the Son of God even prior to his baptism by John. There is an ancient heresy known as “adoptionism” that holds that it was through the event of his baptism Jesus became God’s Son. This is important for us too, as we think about our own baptism. Baptism makes explicit what is already implicit in us.
Human beings are made in God’s image and, at least originally, in his likeness as well. Our likeness to God is lost through sin and restored by grace through baptism. Baptism, not ordination, is the fundamental sacrament of Christian life.
Our life in Christ is nourished and strengthened by our participation in the Eucharist, which culminates with our reception of communion. This life is restored by grace through the sacrament of penance when have wounded it, weakened it, abused it through sin.
My dear friends, as we bring this Christmas season to a close, let us recommit ourselves to living the life of grace, the divine life into which you were plunged by baptism, was strengthened by confirmation, and is nourished through this Eucharist.
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