The poverty of our humanity
On this eve of Christmas, we are presented in the Church’s prayer, within the Office of Readings, these words from a sermon of St. Augustine: “Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man…I tell you again: for your sake, God became man…Let us then joyfully (and thankfully) celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption.” Yes, truly a reason to celebrate the birth of Jesus — God has become man for our sake.
This calls to mind another expression of St. Augustine: that Jesus, in his divinity, took on the poverty of our humanity so that we, in the poverty of our humanity, may take on his divinity. In today’s Gospel, we have the Spirit-filled prophecy of Zechariah who, after being muted for nine months, reveals who Jesus will be and, in part, his mission. He also unveils the mission of his son, John the Baptist: “You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way…”
In our ministries within Catholic Charities, we are called and challenged to be Christ-like for the sake of others as a witness to “taking on the divinity” of Jesus — His mercy, His compassion, His justice, His peace, His forgiveness, His love. At the same time, each of us is also, like John the Baptist, a “prophet of the Most High” going “before the Lord to prepare his way” in seeing Jesus in those who are hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, in prison. Jesus, as Mother Teresa would say, “in the distressing disguise of the poor.”
As Jesus, whose birth we joyfully commemorate tomorrow, became man for our sake, and we are called to be like Jesus for the sake of others, we can draw inspiration from St. Teresa of Avila in her prayer:
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Prayerful wishes for a holy and joyous Christmas and a blessed and grace-filled New Year and 2025.
Fr. Dennis Weber, a priest of the Servants of Charity and Director of Ministry and Mission for the Developmental Programs Division of Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.