Merry Christmas!

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, the conception of Jesus. Today is the day we celebrate the true miracle of Christmas, the Incarnation.

When God sent His Son to be our Redeemer, he did not send a man fully grown. He did not send a chubby toddler, a la Clark Kent, to grow to manhood in an adopted family. Instead, He came as the most vulnerable and defenseless of human beings. He started, just like the rest of us, at conception. One little cell floating around in His Blessed Mother’s womb looking for a place to implant and grow.

We know from biology class that He floated around, a bubbly group of cells bent upon dividing and growing, for at least two weeks. Yet in this frothy state, He was already the Savior of us all. From the moment of conception, He was the salvation of all the world. He was, even as one single cell, fully human and fully divine. His dual nature began at the same moment that He did.

I have often thought about the joy Mary must have known to have the Savior inside of her. Full of Grace indeed! How miraculous and wonderful to know that you have God truly physically inside of you. Then I laughed out loud at myself. I know her joy. I know that feeling. I know how it feels to carry the body of Christ around inside of me every time that I go to Communion. In the Eucharist, I receive the True Presence…the real and true body and blood of Christ. Like Mary for a moment, I carry his body and his blood mixes with mine and flows through me. Oh, happy moment, when I know the joy and peace of Mary. If that is the way she felt for the whole nine months of her pregnancy, then she truly was and is blessed indeed.

So, Merry Christmas, everyone. Go and spread a little Christmas cheer today. The world is aching for it.