May We Celebrate the Incarnation with Due Reverence

Collect

O God, who through the child-bearing of the holy Virgin graciously revealed the radiance of your glory to the world, grant, we pray, that we may venerate with integrity of faith the mystery of so wondrous an Incarnation and always celebrate it with due reverence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

And the Word Became Flesh…

Today’s Mass Collect invites us to reflect on the Incarnation and to celebrate “it with due reverence.” This is echoed by the words of St. John in his Gospel: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

It is in the Incarnation that we have access to the grace and mercy of God. When we were baptized in Christ, not only were we purified of our sins, but we were made a new creation, an adopted child of God—a partaker of the divine nature.

Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

As we approach the most holy day of Christmas, let us give thanks for the gift of His Incarnation and the sanctifying grace through our baptism.

Let us pray

Father, you show the world the splendor of your glory in the coming of Christ, born of the Virgin. Give to us true faith and love to celebrate the mystery of God made man. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.