7th June 2026 –
Human beings have got to know the living, loving God through the unfolding of the revelation of the three persons of the Trinity. For each one of us however Jesus Christ, is the one person of the Trinity we will focus on most. He was a human being – and yet by what he did we have come to know that he is Divine as well. Saint John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. In the Creed we say that the Lord Jesus Christ, God from God and Light from Light, for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and by the power of the Holy Spirit was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
Like every event the birth of Jesus was an moment in history and it has a time and place. It was when Augustus was Emperor in Rome. The place was the town called Bethlehem. While there Mary gave birth to a son and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Shepherds came and glorified and praised God for all they heard and saw. Wise men came – they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Every year we see a depiction of that scene in our churches. We see the manger and the baby Jesus. Because of what Jesus did – namely his resurrection – the Christian faith teaches that in the manger in Bethlehem, present in this material world as a collection of atoms and molecules like each one of us, lay the Divine Word as a little baby.
The Divine Word, with the Holy Spirit and some material of this world, are the three components that make the Incarnation possible, this is what we celebrate at Christmas every year. These three components are present in every Mass. The material of this world is bread and wine, the Holy Spirit is called upon by the words and actions of the priest and the Divine Word is made really present on the altar. We eat the consecrated bread and drink the consecrated wine and as St Augustine said “if we eat worthily we become what we eat” Sermons, [227]. Thus by what happens at the altar and by our Holy Communion, Jesus the Word, actually continues to have human flesh and human blood in every age. As we eat Christ’s Body and drink His Blood we become by God’s grace what Christ is by nature. And to paraphrase St Athanasius, God became flesh and blood so that our flesh and blood may be raised up to Divinity. (De Inc 54.3) God wants us to share His life – the life of the Trinity – and we have this real life by being united with Jesus – by being one with him.
In the last few years we have heard of many cases in Africa and in the Middle East of Christians massacred in their churches, short or burned alive. They knew well the dangers of proclaiming their faith by gathering together. Yet today in our sort of society many are indifferent to the presence of Christ through the sacraments and in our communities. However, for over two thousand years Catholics have risked their lives just to be at Mass. Great Cathedrals and churches have been built because of what happens inside at Holy Mass. Millions throughout the world will today bear witness in Corpus Christi celebrations because of what happens at Mass. What do you and all those people understand is happening at Mass? The shepherds and wise men saw something amazing lying in the manger. In this church is something corresponding to that manger, it is the altar behind me, from there we can be united to something quite astonishing. If you are not seeing it with your mind’s eye you are missing something truly amazing.
