The Incarnation and the Nativity of Christ
Today’s Collect prayer invites us to prepare our hearts by reflecting on the mystery of the Incarnation - God becoming flesh in Jesus Christ. As the Nativity draws near, we plead for God's mercy to flow to us unworthy sinners. Despite our shortcomings, Christ’s birth offers divine compassion that redeems and heals what is broken. The eternal Word embraces mortal flesh to be Emmanuel, “God with us.” We should be awestruck regarding the profound condescension happening soon through the long-expected birth of a child.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God, as we see how the Nativity of your Son according to the flesh draws near, we pray that to us, your unworthy servants, mercy may flow from your Word, who chose to become flesh of the Virgin Mary and establish among us his dwelling, Jesus Christ our Lord. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
The Word Became Flesh
Taking up the Apostle John’s expression, "The Word became flesh", the Church calls Incarnation the fact that the Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. In a hymn cited by St. Paul, the Church sings the mystery of the Incarnation:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8
The Letter to the Hebrews refers to the same mystery:
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I have come to do your will, O God."
Hebrews 10:5-7
Belief in the true Incarnation of the Son of God is the distinctive sign of Christian faith: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God." Such is the joyous conviction of the Church from her beginning whenever she sings "the mystery of our religion": "He was manifested in the flesh."
The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man.
Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church - §461-464
Let us pray
Father, we contemplate the birth of your Son. He was born of the Virgin Mary and came to live among us. May we receive forgiveness and mercy 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.