General. Christmasday will now follow in quick succession. Today’s Collect is a repeat of the Angelus prayer which calls to mind two mysteries, God sending His Christ to become man and the Resurrection. We celebrate and commemorate both sacraments in the Eucharist, at the end of which we shall have the spirit to go out and live and spread what we have received. The Resurrection is an event which also touches us personally. It is through our personal sufferings (passion and death) that we may arrive, as from now, in the glory of being resurrected from among the dead. This way, we would be celebrating God’s mystery of sending His Son to save us.

Isaiah. Rejoice for the day of the Lord is arriving. He will take flesh and live among us, be with us ("Emanuel"), to teach us heavenly ways. God can wait patiently for the fulfilment of times to bring to a good end His Plan for humanity. Even by incarnating Himself in a Virgin, this is a sign that He could work wonders, including such as may seem abnormal to achieve a normal come-back for humanity to the pathways of salvation.

Epistle to the Romans.. St Paul here traces the theological link of Jesus Christ to the Father. Jesus had David as a forefather according to the flesh, and was Son of God through the Father’s sanctifying spirit by raising him from the dead. The image is clearly set for us. Obedience, which is achieved by having faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, will render us also God-like creatures, the same as Jesus who entered the world in obedience to his Father. It is then that our salvation will be complete.

St Matthew. St Joseph entertains strange doubts about what was really happening to Mary. Faith and doubt are oftern in conflict in the believer’s mind, not being mindful of God’s grace and promises to ourselves and to humanity as a whole. The angel who appeared to Joseph assured him that the occurrence was only part of God’s fulfilment of His promise towards humanity which he was accomplishing through His incarnation into the world so that He might be ‘God with us’ – Emanuel. This had to be done through a Virgin, even thus showing us God’s inversion of natural ways to bring humanity closer to divinity.

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