The Lord is close at hand; come, let us worship him!

Yes, the Lord shall comfort Zion
and have pity on all her ruins;
Her deserts he shall make like Eden, 
her wasteland like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness shall be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of song . . . .
Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
They will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee. - Is 51: 3, 11

It is a comfort for me to think that this prophecy is for my departed loved ones - my grandparents, parents (including the father I've never known, the adoptive one who killed himself in his alcoholic darkness, and even the still-living stepfather who hurt me more than both of the others), deceased friends, and especially my dear sister - as much as it is for me. In fact, it would be little comfort for me at all if "they" who will meet with joy and gladness were not to include them.

There is only one God, brethren, and we learn about him only from sacred Scripture. It is therefore our duty to become acquainted with what Scripture proclaims and to investigate its teachings thoroughly. We should believe them in the sense that the Father wills, thinking of the Son in the way the Father wills, and accepting the teaching he wills to give us with regard to the Holy Spirit. Sacred Scripture is God's gift to us and it should be understood in the way that he intends: we should not do violence to it by interpreting it according to our own preconceived ideas. - from a treatise against the heresy of Noetus by Saint Hippolytus, priest

And here is where the modern world gets it completely wrong. The way in which St. Hippolytus insists we should never interpret Scripture is the only way in which most of us ever do!

The remainder of this wonderful passage from this treatise in today's Office of Readings is an expansion on the first chapter of St. John's gospel. This helps me not resent so much our parish's refusal to use any gospel on Christmas except the St. Luke account from midnight mass. I love the passage from John which we never use, which for me captures the true meaning of Christmas in a far more significant way than the historical details of Jesus' birth does, which serve primarily to give testimony to the true nature of the profound miracle that took place on that night.

I also love the song we'll be singing at the presentation of the gifts:

Come faithful one and all this Christmastide
Come to the banquet hall, enter inside
This is the feast of love Christ has prepared
Holy communion with us is shared

Refrain:
Celebrate His coming
Meditate the cost
Look beyond the cradle
And behold the cross
Drink the cup of joy
Eat the bread of life
Taste and see the beauty
Of this holy night

God clothed in human flesh, Immanuel 
from heav'n descended with us to dwell
Once clothed in mystery, hidden, concealed
Truth in a manger now is revealed
(Refrain)

Coda:
Taste and see the beauty
Of this holy holy night - Christmas Communion Song, Susan Nay Calloway

This connection between the manger, the eternal God who condescended to enter it, and the reason he did so is too often missing from our consideration of this indescribable event.

It probably seems a bit ironic of me to use the word "indescribable" for something I seem to be trying to describe. Yet I believe there is a difference between a description of something and an entering into it. And I do not believe we can fully do the latter without giving it fresh consideration from a deeper perspective. It isn't that we are reaching for its as-yet-ungrasped nuances from an intellectual perspective, but doing our part (by God's grace) to listen more closely to God, to allow him to touch us (by grace) more profoundly, more transformingly, with the ever-richer depths of his unfathomable love.