Christmas Reflection – Al Mansfield

A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN
December 2024
By Al Mansfield

Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens was one of the most prominent and influential churchmen of the last century. He was one of the “prime movers” at the Second Vatican Council. Cardinal Suenens was intensely devoted to the Holy Spirit and also to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In fact, his motto as a bishop was Em Espírito Santo – In the Holy Spirit. However, he was quick to add that his full motto was In Spiritu Sancto Ex Maria Virgine – In the Holy Spirit, Of the Virgin Mary. This calls to mind the words of the Creed, that Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”

Indeed, the Cardinal preached incessantly that the only way that God sent Jesus into the world was through the union of the Holy Spirit and Mary. She is called the “spouse of the Holy Spirit” and, as the Cardinal was delighted to point out, “What God has joined together, man must not separate” (Matt. 19:6; Mark 10:9). A marriage truly “made in heaven!”

SO, WHAT IS CHRISTMAS, REALLY?

Christmas is the celebration of God becoming man, the Word of God taking on human flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Why? The only answer is: God’s infinite love and mercy. I think one of the best expressions of this truth is found in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son so that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

GOD AND MAN

We say in the Divine Praises, “Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.” This is really the mystery of the Incarnation. Try as we might, we cannot wrap our minds completely around this mystery. Our tendency is either to emphasize Jesus’ divinity and neglect his humanity, or vice-versa, to emphasize his humanity over his divinity.

In the opinion of some theologians and historians, before Vatican II took place in the mid-sixties, the focus was more on Jesus as God. Since Vatican II, it has been rather more on Jesus as man. However, we must hold both the divine nature of Jesus and his human nature in a fine balance, neglecting neither.

MARY, MOTHER OF GOD

Because Jesus is truly God and Mary is his mother, we can call Mary the Mother of God. Despite serious controversy, the Council of Ephesus defined as a dogma of faith in 431 that Mary is Mãe de Deus, literally Godbearer, Mother of God.

Cardinal Suenens related that he once asked a very famous German theologian why there was such a decline in Marian devotion after Vatican II. The theologian replied that, for so many people, Jesus had become more of an “abstraction” in their lives rather than a real, living Person. Then he added, “Abstractions do not need a mother!”

MAKING IT PERSONAL

To our human minds, this can all seem rather “abstract” and “heady stuff.” But we are talking about a core truth of our faith. So, what is our challenge this Christmas? It is to make the reality of the Incarnation very personal in our lives by praying both to the Holy Spirit and also to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We can pray that the Holy Spirit would enlighten and open our minds to the mystery. And we should ask Our Lady to warm our hearts with her maternal love so that we may receive the gift of Jesus anew.

Someone who really wanted to make the Incarnation personal was St. Francis of Assisi. In his time, the 13th century, Francis wanted to emphasize the fact that God became a man like one of us by dramatizing the Nativity scene in a real stable with live animals. The sights, the smells, the noise – all contributed to “making it real and personal.” St. Francis is credited with creating the first Nativity scene on Christmas Eve in 1223.

Do we tend to relate to Jesus primarily as God? Then we need to consciously remember that he is a man “like us in all things except sin” (cf. Hebrews 4:15). Do we tend to relate to Jesus primarily as man? In that case, we need to consciously remember that he is “the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made” (Nicene Creed).

Although the video series “The Chosen” is dramatic fiction based on the Gospels and not the Gospel itself, watching it can give us some idea of how it must have been for the disciples to relate to Jesus, their Lord and Master, who is very God come in the flesh. “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). This Christmas, let us renew our love and gratitude for the greatest Gift ever given -God made man in Jesus – and for the “Marriage made in heaven!”