The Gift of Baby Jesus Changes Everything
As we prepare for Christmas, less than a week now, it seems proper to ask:
what does Christmas have to do with marriage?
We find an answer in a text recently rediscovered (and published for the first time in English in The Rule) by St. John Paul II (then Bishop Wojtyła). He said it is wonderful to connect Christmas with marriage, because it is the mystery of the Incarnation that unlocks the meaning of marriage in its fullest depth:
“under the light of the mystery of the Incarnation, one can find the answers and all the doubts will slowly disappear. This mystery is indeed not only divine but also human: it confirms all human qualities—that is to say confronts them in their depth—in a dimension of the person, grace, and sacrament.” (p. 75)
So, what does Christmas have to do with marriage? In short, everything!
When Jesus Christ was born, God Himself became man. He took on our human nature and sanctified our personhood. We only have the language of what it means to be a person, because the good Fathers of the Church had to distinguish the nature and personhood of the God-man Jesus. He is one person, two natures both divine and human.
His coming opened the sacramental life of grace to us all. He has made us in His image and likeness, as a person. When we align our life to His will, His image radiates from us and we have immeasurable joy!
Wait. Then why don’t we feel that joy now?
Often, it is because we have failed to give Him our entire life: every, single moment. In each present moment of our lives, we are moving towards something. We are becoming more and more—some kind of someone. We are not static; just as time moves, so do we. Look at a photo of yourself from 5 years ago—you’ve changed; we all have. We are all becoming someone. And everything we do matters, because everything we do adds in some way to that “becoming.” God has created a vibrant potency for who you are made to be, and our lives are a dynamic, lived-out, actualization of that potential!
This is also why St. John Paul II said we should see everyone in two moments: who they are now and who they are meant to be. Then, we can see the full vision of who they truly are! It is the balance of the real and the ideal. When all we do is focus on the ideal, we are not present and honest in the present. If the real is not addressed, it can never be truly fixed nor healed and never any closer to the ideal.
However! If we have a place where we can be vulnerable and honest about our real—with all the mess, and all the faults, and all the brokenness—then God can love us tangibly through others and help heal that real, to bring you one step closer to the ideal.
We strive for happiness in this life. Who doesn’t want to be happy? But God’s ways are upside-down to us. He said we must die to live, we must give of ourselves to receive… Will we utterly and completely trust Him?
What if this Christmas, we make an effort to stop running after that ideal in a flurry of anxiety? What if we focused on the present and not the presents? What if realized that only in being okay with my present faults and weaknesses can God heal me and bring me closer to Him?
What if we didn’t “try” to be happy and instead endeavoured to love more generously? What if in our marriage, we leapt without restraint into the spiritual unity of our life and gave ourselves away in love—to spouse and God together?
Do you know what would happen?
Our JOY would be ABUNDANT! Our ability to grow in holiness becomes less of a chore and more of riding the waves of God’s love. Our family becomes balanced and more full of love, because you have allowed God to make you more and more into that beautiful image He meant for you to be! And the more we image Him, the more joy flows out of us!
How do we find a way to do this? How do we make priority/ time/ space to share our “real” with others? St. John Paul II had the answer to this, too. It is why he wrote the Rule.
Give yourselves the best Christmas gift in the world – give yourselves a way out of the stress, out of the frustration, and into the life of joy you always imagined could be possible in Christ!
It just takes a little shifting of time priorities, but you will gain everlasting rewards!
How? Start a Married Couple Group! By applying for the leader couple training.
Come on one of the marriage retreats the WCI offers—which are all based on these rediscovered teachings of St. John Paul II, but are an extraordinary spiritual experience—personal to you and your spouse.
Remember: the truth of Christmas - that Jesus became man to sanctify our humanity and teach us to love in a radical, self-giving way - that truth can radiate from your marriage and bring hope to the world!
Have questions? Contact us today! God bless you!