Reading
‘So the word became flesh; he came to dwell among us and we saw his glory, such glory as befits the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.’ John 1. 14 Christ the incarnate Word.
Reflection
What’s in a word ?
The word ‘Christ’, from the Greek Christos meaning ‘the anointed’, is used for the Hebrew word ‘Messiah’, ‘one who is anointed’ by the 70 scholars translating the Hebrew bible into Greek in the centuries immediately before Christ’s birth.
But while the Jewish tradition understands ‘Messiah’ as a human being without any overtone of deity or divinity, for Christians ‘Christ’ becomes the pre existent ‘Son of God’, revealing the mystery of God’s very self in human form, emptied of all but love, that we might become part of the Father’s heart.
Prayer
‘Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to min me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.’
St. Patrick’s Breastplate (5th -7th cent. Gaelic)
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