Christmas Mysteries of Jesus Christ

A great blessing of the Catholic Church is our reverence for Mystery.  The word “mystery comes from the Latin word, mysterium meaning, “secret rite, secret worship; a secret thing,”  The Church teaches that Christ’s whole life is a mystery, while filled with many things that we can understand, there are many things that we can not understand fully.  We are called to ponder on these mysteries and to seek to grow in understanding, making Jesus Christ “our model” (see CCC 512-560).

At this beautiful time of year, it is good to reflect on the mysteries of Christmas:

(CCC 525) Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. Simple shepherds were the first witnesses to this event. In this poverty heaven’s glory was made manifest.²⁰³ The Church never tires of singing the glory of this night: (437; 2443)

The Virgin today brings into the world the Eternal

And the earth offers a cave to the Inaccessible.

The angels and shepherds praise him

And the magi advance with the star,

For you are born for us,

Little Child, God eternal!

(CCC 526) To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom. For this, we must humble ourselves and become little. Even more: to become “children of God” we must be “born from above” or “born of God.”²⁰⁶ Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us. Christmas is the mystery of this “marvelous exchange”: (460)

O marvelous exchange! Man’s Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity.