IF GOD COMES, A MAN IS BORN

On this Second Sunday of Christmas, the Johannine Prologue that we heard in the solemn liturgy of December 25th resounds again. We highlight some aspects of this text of sublime poetry and theology. The theological Prologue is pervaded by a movement. First, John affirms that the Logos: “Was with God, / and was God” (v. 1). In Greek, the verb is in the imperfect tense to express a past action that continues in the present. But the verb “was” (ēn) in the Prologue is succeeded by the verb “to become” (egheneto): “And the Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14). From the pre-existent Logos to the incarnate Logos, that is, to the Logos that took on the face of a man. What did this incarnation of the Logos entail? A reversal. For Judeo-Hellenistic culture, the Logos is immutable and eternal, while man is fragile and insubstantial. Between the Word and man, therefore, there is an abyss. But now the abyss is bridged, because the Word became flesh (sarx). Not only that. John affirms that the glory of God is contemplated only in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth, so the human is not a shell to be passed through and then left behind to reach glory. The human is the place of God. This fact of faith is not without consequences for us. Yes, because to those who welcome him, the Prologue always states, he has given the ability (exousia) to become children of God (v. 12). But what does it mean to be children? Simple: it means affirming that in the beginning there is a bond and that this bond is marked by love. If it is true that in this bond I am always born as a man and as a son, it is equally true that in this bond I discover the other as a brother, so if the relationship with the Father is characterized by obedience, the relationship with the brother will be characterized by solidarity. Truly, in living the faith born from Christmas—thanks to Christ at dawn / from whom the first morning emerged (to use a metaphor from Rilke)—man and a new world are reborn.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey