Many people mistakenly
believe that our Christmas celebrations reach their endpoint on Christmas eve
and Christmas morning, & then we are finished with the season of Christmas.
However, we also have the feast of the Holy Family, Epiphany, and the Baptism
of the Lord that round out the Christmas season, celebrating key moments taking
place during the life of Jesus that lead up to the period of his ministry. For the daily masses that take place during
this Christmas season, we have daily Gospel readings in which Jesus' identity
as God's son is revealed - at his baptism; through the miracles he performs;
such as multiplying the loaves of bread & walking on the water; and through
his healing of the sick.
Today's first reading from
the first letter of John tells us to “love one another, because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” The Greek word for love,
“agape,” goes beyond the usual meaning we have for love in our culture. The true meaning of agape love is an
unconditional self-giving of the person.
In this sense, Jesus' identity is beyond the mere miracle worker who
multiplies the loaves of bread in our Gospel reading today. Jesus, in epitomizing agape, is God's own
self, the ultimate manifestation of God's self-giving.
God's self-giving of his
son to us is almost too amazing for us to grasp, but it is most certainly not
something we want to ignore as we journey through life as followers of
Jesus. Having been given Jesus as a free
gift from God, the only possible response has to be to give ourselves. It may not seem much in comparison, but it
is all we have to give.
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