This immediate post-Christmas period is experienced by a great many people as an anti-climax. Indeed some people experience this as a time of sadness and even depression. Such caring agencies as the Samaritans, for example, tell us that their phone lines are at their busiest at this time of the year. People heap so many expectations on the feast of Christmas that it could never hope to deliver on them. But the sadness of other people is more solidly based in reality. The scattered family members, who had come home for the feast, have now resumed their exile. The harsh truth is sinking in once again: Man does not live on feasts alone.

The Church however does not regard Christmas as a one-day-wonder. Christmas is a season, a lengthy period of time which permits us to allow the celebrated event sink in. Both of today's New Testament readings -from Paul and from John- are lengthy meditations on the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Paul's powerful meditation is, in part at least, a prayer addressed to God the Father. Paul praises God for his free gift to us in the Beloved. He then addresses God on our behalf. He asks God to give us the spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, that we all may come to a full knowledge of him. The full significance of what has happened in the incarnation is not immediately obvious. It can only be grasped by those with the eyes of faith, and it is absorbed only over a long period of time, over a lifetime.

The Prologue to St. John's gospel is of course a far more famous reflection on the incarnation. 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us', as we heard in our gospel reading just now. The Father has spoken. That word found expression in the most fragile form imaginable. The word of God the Father took flesh in the tiny body of a baby, emphasising thereby the vulnerability of our God for our sake. That word could be encouraged and amplified, or else it could be snuffed out forever. And, from the beginning, there was not shortage of people ready to snuff out the Word. God had done his best. He has expressed himself fully and perfectly. The ball was now in our court. It is up to us now to make God accessible to our fellow human beings. That is the challenge of the Christmas season: to make the incarnation an everyday event, not just a one-day wonder.

In our own experience the word brings order and understanding out of the chaos of our hearts. To make sense of something, we must first express it. The longings of the heart and spirit must find a voice. Our words then are creative; they evoke responses from others. Through this vocal interaction, we construct a whole world of meaning and -often times- understanding. Generation speaks unto generation and in this way is wisdom created and transmitted. No generation has to start anew. They creatively construct their world of meaning on the foundations laid by their ancestors.

In the same way, the New Testament uses the Old Testament as its foundation. The first book of the bible, the book of Genesis begins with the creative utterance of the word of God. God said, "Let there be light, and there was light." God's creative word brings order out of chaos. In the New Testament, God's expression, the word of God, takes flesh, takes recognisable form. He is the expression of God's reality. He is the wisdom of God. Through him the mind of God finds a voice. God's dream for the human race finds expression in him. John expresses that reality poetically "Through him all things came to be; not one thing had its being save through him. He was the true light that enlightens all." Not only is he the Word of God, but in him also humanity finds its most noble expression. His word has both inspired and challenged generation after generation for two millennia now. The prophesy voiced in our first reading today finds fulfillment in his person: "From eternity, in the beginning, he created me, and for eternity I shall remain." If we listen to this word, it will bring order out of the chaos of our world and our lives. Through this word our world is recreated again and again, generation after generation, or as St. John puts it in today's gospel, "To all who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God." Let us pray that this Word of God will continue to make sense of our world, that he will continue to rescue us from chaos and meaningless.

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