And the Word became flesh...
On this seventh day in the Octave of Christmas, the question begged by the Gospel reading is this: why did the Word of God become flesh? If the Word is the essence of all that is, why the Incarnation? The traditional and popular answer that the sin of our first parents occasioned the incarnation does not do justice to the beautiful event that the Incarnation is. For while it is true that by assuming our nature God has come to save us, God would have still come to dwell amongst us even if Adam and Eve had not rebelled against God. God had planned that creation would attain its fullness in the incarnation of God’s Word. The creation of the world is a gradual process, a work that is in progress and which only attains its completion when we return to God. In other words, the creative process becomes complete when the creature becomes one with its Creator. In the Word becoming flesh, this goal of creation gets to be attained.
In the Incarnation is found the fullness of life. The Word of God, Jesus Christ, the Gospel tells us, is the bringer of life and light. By assuming our nature (flesh), Jesus takes away our weakness, suffering, death, and the darkness that continues to envelop us. Jesus comes to us as the giver of life. He hasn't come to simply point to us where that life can be found (as John the Baptist did). He himself is that very life. He comes to give himself to us so that we can have life in abundance (cf. John 10:10). But it is only when we accept Jesus in our lives that we begin to have that life.
There are many things that we do that have extinguished the life that God breathed upon us at creation. There are many things that we do that have extinguished the breath of God’s life in others. Jesus, by his life and example, comes to show us the right way to live. By coming to us as a baby - the most harmless member of the human society, Jesus calls us to let go of those behaviors of ours that can cause harm to ourselves and to others. Jesus is born in simplicity in order to remind us that the fullness of life is found in simplicity of life. He calls upon us to live simply so that others may simply live. Coming to us as a baby, Jesus calls upon us to refrain from behaviors and attitudes that only serve to build walls around ourselves. Jesus has come to show us that we are brothers and sisters, children of the same God.