Et verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. (John 1: 14)
This marvelous declaration, this concise formulation summarizes the wonder at the root of our celebration of the nativity of the Son of God. From His conception to His birth, Our Lord dwelt within the confines of his mother’s womb; among us, yes, though also not yet among us. His emergence from that sweet shelter, His manifestation to the wondering eyes of shepherd, mute beast, and starsearching king, is entrance into the air we breathe and arrival into the life we live on this splendid earth our creator made and into the marred world of man’s making.
Hidden in this phrase so familiar even in Latin is the English verb that describes the great action of God: to inhabit. et habitavit in nobis. Behold, He comes, not just to visit, but to dwell; not simply to insert Himself but also to make His own all that is ours, unto our very flesh. He is not just passing through; He abides.
The Living God does not just slip on a suit to disguise His splendor, he steps into a life He will make His own. He will hunger and thirst, sleep and dream, yearn and relinquish. He will enter friendships and see them lost; He will know mirth and grief. He will gain strength and competence; He will be made helpless and die. His birth is an entering into everything that we are and do, instantly making everything we are and do into something that God Himself is and does. He inhabits not simply our home or our world; He inhabits who we are. He is come to stay.
What He will do in our life and with our life transpires over a lifetime and is accomplished on a Friday afternoon. After three days’ time in the darkest place we spend our time, He transforms what He has made his own and with it all that is ours.
His goal all along, why He chose to inhabit us (et habitavit in nobis) was that we be made able to inhabit Him. His moving in to us is the making possible of our moving in to Him. And He, the coeternal Son of the everlasting Father, dwells forever in the perfect mutual intimacy of the Triune God, Love indivisible and perfect. The very Being that is our source is also our goal, a destination we can reach only in Him who participates in that Being. “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” (Saint Athanasius, On the Incarnation)
It would be easy to think that this means that Christ came to change us into somebody else. But the opposite is true: He came so that we could be who we truly are. He came from somewhere else as something else so that everything else that God enjoyed could be ours as well. All else is ours in Christ, who inhabits us and makes ours what we did not possess. The logical question is, what else?
By inhabiting us, Christ returns to us all that is meant to be ours from our very beginning, the creation of Man. By inhabiting us, Christ returns us to intimacy with God and with one another in mutual charity. By inhabiting us, Christ reveals and removes all obstacles to that intimacy, the obstacles that are inherent (original sin) and that are our own regrettable actions (actual sins). By inhabiting us, God makes possible what we could never achieve of ourselves, and that is being ourselves, our true uninhibited, unburdened identities in right relationship with God and neighbor. Now that is something else!
To look on that helpless infant we lay in our family manger scene is to see God inhabiting all that we are and inviting us to inhabit all that He is. He became tiny so that we could be made great. He is the Divine Inhabitant. Let Him in, so that He take you up.
We who dwell here so close to the tabernacle, literally the tent or dwelling place of the Lord Jesus Christ, invite you to delight in welcoming Him who comes to inhabit our lives. Fr. Swink, Fr. Wiktor, and all the fearless and faithful helpers here at the heart of the parish offer our prayers and warmest wishes for you, that your Christmastide be filled with joy, and the tiny and divine inhabitant be at home in you, and yours. Merry Christmas.
Monsignor Smith
