Gaudete! The King of Kings is Born

Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus Ex Maria virgine, gaudete!

Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born of the Virgin Mary, Rejoice!

Parker Fitzgerald’s Celtic depiction of the Madonna and Child, inspired by illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells.

Christmas is a magical time of year. But what gives Christmas its magic. Is it the Christmas lights on the high-street? Is it the presents under the Christmas tree? Or is to the fact that almost 2,000 years ago God became man and was born to a loving mother in a cold stable in Bethlehem.

The birth of any baby is precious moment full of joy, especially for the family of the child. It is therefore worth considering that the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ concerns not only the Holy Family in the first century, but rather concerns the whole human family till the end of time.

It is for this reason that the Three kings, who most likely traveled from Persia, are traditionally represented as European, African and Asian. Thus, we are helped to see the universal importance of Christ’s birth. While born to the chosen people of Israel, He is the saviour of all men and the King of all kings.

Needless to say, not everyone was willing to accept the regal sovereignty of Christ. Herod, king of Judea upon hearing of the birth of the Messiah, set about planning to murder the Christ-child. He ordered that every child under the age of two be put to death.

It is in the context of this callous disrespect for the dignity of innocent human life, the lives of the most vulnerable in society, that St. Joseph steps up to fulfil his role as protector of Our Lady and the newborn Christ, leading them into Egypt and then later, upon Herod’s demise, returning to settle in Galilee.

St Joseph as protecter and provider for the vulnerable Child and the Virgin Mary is an example of humble, quiet, selfless sacrifice and a model for all men today.

The little Christ, totally unaware of the danger that he finds himself in, is completely trusting in the arms of his mother and under St. Josephs watchful protection. We all know this feeling of total trusting love. Like a sleeping baby in the backseat of a car driven by its father, he worries not.

Christ choosing to take human flesh, being simultaneously true God and true man, attains a certain approachability that a transfigured God in all his glory could not achieve. Why did Christ become man in this way?

Thomas Aquinas attributes this to man’s difficulty contemplating the divine due to his weakness of intellect. He needs to identify with God, a God who experienced human suffering like us and experienced human joy like us. It is through the life of Christ, and not an abstract notion of God, that we come to know the Good News of salvation.

What is this Good News and why does this concern me, one might reasonably ask. The birth of Christ is a moment in human history more significant than any other. One can see this most evidently in how we conceptualise time in the West, Christ’s birth dividing BC and AD.

The nativity might not have an equal theological importance to the annunciation, crucification or resurrection, but it does have a special magic that no other liturgical celebration possesses.

We call the day of Jesus’s painful execution Good Friday. In doing so we acknowledge that God became man to die for our sins and show us the path to eternal life. Christ was conceived and born to die for our salvation, repaying the cost of our every day small and great rebellions against Him.

St. John opens his Gospel by stating that: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.

The annunciation is the Word made flesh, alive in Mary’s womb and at Christmas the Word enters into the world.

In nativity scenes around the world many choose to display a bible or lectionary, - containing the readings for liturgy of the Word at Mass- in the manger, in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Nativity scene, Whitefriar Street Church, Dublin.

On a cold night in Bethlehem almost 2,000 years ago, the Word was made incarnate, born into poverty, born into the loving arms of His mother, the Virgin Mary. A beacon of hope. The eternal hope that comes from knowing that God loves mankind and wants a personal relationship with each and every one of us.

This Christmas we can ask ourselves from where do we derive our hope. True hope, the kind of hope that conquers death, cannot be delivered by Amazon or eBay, but rather was delivered in that stable 2,000 years ago.

As John the evangelist also writes: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”

It is with this knowledge that we can gladly sing: Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus Ex Maria virgine, gaudete!

Niall Buckley,

Christmas Eve, 2020.