How often is the phrase "seeing is believing" used to give a confirmation to something not easily accepted as it is? Today the Church celebrates the feast of the apostle and evangelist, John. This is the person who has made known to us the mystery of faith in so far as faith can be "known."
John affirmed forever in his writings the mystery we celebrate at Christmas, the mystery of Emmanuel, God is with us. Remember that our ancestors were promised a messianic figure. Many of them could not get beyond the notion that this promised messiah would be a kind. But John would remove the regal expectations with a few words that have brought the faithful to their adoring knees: "et Verbum caro factum est." "And the Word was made flesh."
John's experiences and his words share with all believers and all who are seeing to know their Creator the reality of the eternal life of God the Father present in the person of the child Jesus. In this Jesus God became visible to all those who had been seeking to know the true God.
Throughout the days of the Christmas season the daily readings in the Eucharistic liturgies will give us reflections on this extraordinary gift -- Go being with us. The danger we must over come or avoid is a failing to recognize this reality because it can easily be lost in history or because we simply take it for granted.
May these days of Christmas celebration -- until the feast of the Epiphany -- afford us the opportunity to encounter a genuine awareness of God's gift to us in the birth of Jesus. Looking at a representation of the manger scene, how strongly does the event impact our very being, our soul? When John found the tomb to be empty, it was then that "he saw and believed." And you, blog reader, when did you truly see and believe? Can you remember ... or do you take your faith for granted?
