Religion and Revelation
The people of Israel were never satisfied with this communication, so deficient, and lived in a continuous restlessness. Religion, from the Latin "religare", means relationship with God and with one’s neighbour. Ever since the human being gained self-awareness, he believed in the possible existence of a superior being, transcendent to everything and everyone, because He is the Creator of everything and everyone. At all times and in all places, man has sought to communicate with this superior being, God, in order to obtain his blessing.
Cell phone, television and radio waves cross our space and we don't hear or see them, but we know they exist because when we have the right instruments, we can capture these waves. In a similar way, God also sought to communicate with man, and man with God. But this communication is also not accessible to everyone, one needs to have a special sensitivity to enter into this communication.
‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.’ John 3:17-18
Christianity is not a religion, because it does not represent only man's effort or attempt to reach God. On the contrary, Christianity is a revelation because it is God who seeks man and reveals Himself to him. As Jesus says in the Gospel, you did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. (John 15:16)
At Christmas, we celebrate the great truth, that God is not wrapped in silence, but in cloths and laid in a manger. With the birth of Jesus, God breaks the silence, eliminates the distance, and undoes the inaccessibility. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, at our side, a travelling companion throughout our lives, as he was with the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Son of God versus last prophet
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. Hebrews 1:1-2
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways, summarizes all religions; however, in relation to Christianity, this occupies only the Old Testament of the Bible. Unlike all other religions that talk about prophets sent by God, Christianity no longer presents a prophet, but God himself who comes to us, Emmanuel.
Islam accepts as valid the Jewish religious tradition described in the Old Testament which they also consider their own. Therefore, to the Muslims, Mohammed is the last of the prophets that God sent into the world, Jesus being the second last.
If mankind survives another 10,000 or 20,000 years, what sense does it make that the last prophet came in the year 524? The world and humanity have changed more since the year 524 than in all the millions of years before; why were the prophets sent with frequent succession prior to 524, and then after 524, they suddenly stopped coming and were no longer needed?
In the case of Christianity, even if humanity survives until the year 20,000, it still makes sense that the revelation took place in year zero. As the author of the letter to the Hebrews explains, "the one sent" is no longer a prophet, but God himself who came to live among us.
There is a qualitative leap here; prophets bring messages for a time, while the word of God is eternal for all times and all places, because God does not need to speak twice. On the other hand, Christ is not only a spoken word, he is a lived word and one lives only once.
What is the meaning of the last prophet then? Is it because Islam has a more refined doctrine and an ascending path where we have already reached the summit? But the peak shows a closer association to Christianity rather than Islam, with a much more humane and humanizing narrative, such as love of enemies. Islam in its practice and doctrine even resembles the Old Testament more than the New, when we think that Muslim women are still being stoned today when Christ was already against it in his day.
Islam is in itself violent by nature, because it is not about loving God who loved us first, it is not "love is repaid with love"; God in Islam is the Lord of the Old Testament who commands submission. As a matter of fact, Islam means submission, one submits to God, one does not love God who no longer calls us servants, but friends. In fact, the historical way Islam expanded was not through missionary work or catechesis, but by armed force and submission or by trade.
Christmas, feast of the Father
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.’ John 3:16
Since the Church has reserved the Sunday after Pentecost to celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, the union and communion of the three divine persons, it is fitting that she should have a solemnity for each of the three divine persons. Seeing that Pentecost is clearly the celebration of God the Holy Spirit, I wanted to see in the other two, Easter and Christmas, the celebrations of the Father and the Son, but I ran into the problem that both Christmas and Easter seem to be celebrations of the Son, leaving the Father without His own feast day.
It doesn’t seem right that two feast days were allocated to the Son and none to the Father, so I thought which one to give to the Father and by what criteria; it could be Easter, because Jesus dies doing the will of the Father (Luke 22:42) or it could be Christmas, by the fact that Jesus himself says in his dialogue with Nicodemus: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…’ (John 3:16-21).
To solve this dilemma, I turned to grammar and what it tells me about active and passive voice. At Easter, it seems that Jesus is the one who directs the action when he says, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18). At Easter, Jesus is the main actor, no one has greater love than he who lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13). There is no doubt then that Easter is the feast of the Son, because He is the protagonist.
The same is no longer the case for Christmas, Jesus is not the protagonist of Christmas, because grammatically he is a passive person, Jesus is not giving birth, he is born. Because of this, I have never liked the formulation of the third Joyful mystery which in all languages says "we contemplate the birth of Jesus". As if Jesus had fallen from heaven by parachute or as if He himself had caused his own birth. This mystery should say: "In the third Joyful mystery, we contemplate Mary giving birth to Jesus".
Christmas has two great protagonists, one divine and the other human. God the Father is the divine protagonist and Mary is the human protagonist. The action begins in God the Father who sends his only begotten Son into the world. Although there is no order of importance between the Father and the Son, from a grammatical and human point of view, it is more important the one who sends than the one who is sent; the one who sends causes the action, the one who is sent suffers the action.
Mary, the human protagonist, is not passive, she is also active; she represents all mankind that says "Yes" to God's plan. A free "Yes" because it was said with much thought and without any coercion from God who proposed it; a "Yes" that, being freely given, could have been a "No". Just as important is the one who sends as the one who receives. If a King sends a messenger to another King, the latter is free to receive or not receive the sent messenger.
The Character of Santa Claus
"Jesus is the reason for the season" (Protestant churches' Christmas slogan)
Jesus is not the reason for the Christmas season, the Father is. On this feast, Jesus is born: the verbs that refer to Jesus in this season come in the passive voice. Christmas, as an encounter between God and humanity, has a human protagonist, a mother, Mary, who received Jesus in her womb and contributed for it with her genetic material; and it has a divine Father, God.
In another time, I too used to criticize the importance that the civil society gives to the mythical figure of Santa Claus. Today, I understand that it is one of those cases of the "voice of the people, the voice of God". Santa Claus represents God the Father who sent his Son into the world. He is a venerable old man who does not hide his age or tries to look younger, and overflows with kindness by giving gifts to children, caressing them and sitting them on his lap. In everyone’s imagination, God the Father is always represented as an old man with white hair and beard. Santa Claus coincides with this collective imagery.
His suit is red like that of a bishop because, historically, Santa Claus is associated with Bishop Saint Nicholas, which is why he is called Santa Claus in English or just Santa. He lives in the North Pole, a place away from everything and everyone, in a white region, in a pure world that appeals to the collective imagery of how Heaven is conceptualized, God’s home.
He visits us during the night, because it is said that nighttime is a time of salvation. He is never seen, but speaks through his works which are translated into the graces and gifts that we, as children and his children, ask of him. Being able to enter through windows or doors, he always enters through the chimney because he flies from place to place, he comes from above and enters through the only part of the house that is always open and on watch, signalling that we must always be in prayer, open to the Most High, looking upwards from where help comes to us.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’ (…) The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Luke 2:13-14, 20
Conclusion: Christmas, because it is the feast of God the Father, was celebrated in Heaven by the angels saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest’, and on earth by the shepherds who returned from Bethlehem glorifying and praising God.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
Thank you Father Jorge💝
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