It is the Christmas season, and we
are wishing those we see “Merry Christmas.”
However, was Christmas merry for Jesus?
This is not a question I’m going to give an answer to; I just desire
that people consider it when coming up with New Year’s resolutions. Thinking about the word “Christmas,” two
words come to mind: “Christ” and “Mass.”
Of course, “Mass” goes straight to our Lord’s crucifixion, his Passion, death,
and resurrection. What follows will be
excerpts from Alphonsus Liguori’s book, The Incarnation, Birth, and Infancy
of Jesus Christ; Or The Mysteries of the Faith. A large portion of the book deals with our
Lord’s awareness of his sufferings as a newborn infant, even while in his
Mother’s womb. My mind goes back to a
Taiwanese show we watched, wherein a woman was considering abortion because she
surmised of the hardship that the child would have to go through. Did Mary—being cognizant of Scripture—know of
her Son’s suffering at the time of her Fiat?
Jesus, being content and happy at the Father’s side, chose to leave that
comfort in order to suffer continuously for us?
It is mind-boggling. Here are the
excerpts from the book:
“Consider that the divine Word, in
becoming man, chose not only to take the form of a sinner, but also to bear all
the sins of men and to satisfy for them as if they were his own: He bore their iniquities. Father Cornelius adds, “as if he had committed
them himself.” Let us here reflect what
an oppression and anguish the heart of Infant Jesus must have felt, who had
already charged himself with the sins of the whole world, in finding that the
divine justice insisted on his making a full satisfaction for them.[1]
Even while he was in the womb of
Mary, every particular sin passed in review before Jesus, and each sin
afflicted him immeasurably. St. Thomas
says that this sorrow which Jesus Christ felt at the knowledge of the injury
done his Father, and of the evil that sin would occasion to the souls that he
loved, surpassed the sorrows of all the contrite sinners that ever existed,
even of those who died of pure sorrow; because no sinner ever loved God and his
own soul as much as Jesus loved his Father and our souls. Wherefore, that agony
which our Redeemer suffered in the garden at the sight of our sins was endured
by him even from his mother’s womb: I am
poor, and in labors from my youth. Thus, through the mouth of David did our
Saviour prophesy of himself, that all his life should be a continual suffering.
[3]
Even from the womb of Mary, Jesus
Christ accepted obediently the sacrifice which his Father had desired him to
make, even his Passion and death: Becoming
obedient unto death. So
that even from the womb of Mary he foresaw the scourge and presented to them
his flesh; he foresaw the thorns, and presented to them his head; he foresaw
the blows, and presented to them his cheeks; he foresaw the nails, and
presented to them his hands and his feet; he foresaw the cross, and offered his
life. Hence, it is true that even from
his earliest infancy our blessed Redeemer every moment of his life suffered a
continual martyrdom; and he offered it every moment for us to his eternal
Father. But what afflicted him most was
the sight of the sins which men would commit even after this painful
redemption. By his divine light, he well
knew the malice of every sin and, therefore, did he come into the world to do
away all sins; but, when he saw the immense number which would be committed,
the sorrow that the Heart of Jesus felt was greater than all the sorrows that
all men ever suffered or ever will suffer upon earth.[4]
Consider that Jesus suffered, even
from the first moment of his life, and all for the love of us. During the whole of his life, he had no other
object in view, after the glory of God, than our salvation.[5]
The chalice which My Father has
given Me, shall I not drink it? said he to St. Peter. It was necessary, then, that Jesus Christ
should suffer so many ignominies to heal our pride, that he should embrace such
a life of poverty to cure our covetousness, that he should be overwhelmed in a
sea of troubles--and even die of pure sorrow--to cure our eagerness [of]
sensual pleasures.[6]
Can it then be true, my amiable
Saviour, that ever since you were an infant, and in every moment of your life,
I have been a murderer of your sacred heart, and a murderer more cruel than all
those who crucified You? And I have
renewed and increased this suffering every time I have repeated my offences
against you? O Lord! you have indeed
died to save me; but your death will not save me if I do not on my part detest
every evil and have true sorrow for the sins I have committed against you. But even this sorrow must be given me by you. You give it to him that asks it of you. I ask it of you through the merits of all the
sufferings you did endure on this earth; give me sorrow for my sins, but a
sorrow that will correspond to my transgressions. Help me, O Lord! to make that act of
contrition which I now intend to do.”[7]
Oh, yes, we need to rejoice because
of our Savior’s birth. Nonetheless, that
joy must go hand-in-hand with the knowledge of the sorrow we continue to cause
our God when we commit sins, even venial sins.
We cannot allow ourselves to become so calloused as to ignore the added
sufferings we cause our Savior. Let us
rejoice, but with repentance.
[1]
Alphonsus Liguori, The Incarnation,
Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ; Or, The Mysteries of the Faith,
ed. Eugene Grimm, The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, (New York;
Cincinnati; St. Louis; London; Dublin: Benziger Brothers; R. Washbourne; M. H.
Gill & Son, 1887), 197.
[2] Ibid.,
199.
[3] Ibid.,
200.
[4] Ibid.,
195.
[5] Ibid.,
201–202.
[6] Ibid.,
211.
[7] Ibid.,
198.
