A Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews 10:5-10
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. 7 Then I said, ' As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”
8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings you neither desired, nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. 9 Then he says, “ Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second.10 By this"will," we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
REFLECTION: “Behold, I come to do your will.”
Jesus came to change the world--Prior to His birth, animal sacrifices were offered up in atonement for sins.
God does not desire our sacrifices nor our offerings. How could a bull make amends for offenses to Him, the Almighty Creator of the universe? The gesture is there but it really does not make amends. God loves us and desires our love. We don't have to convince Him to love us. We don't have to prove our love for Him. We can't earn His love. He delights when we work for Him and his Church, or when we love our families and the poor.
Christmas is about the love of God for us, the love of Jesus for God. It is not about our efforts. Jesus' most generous gift to us is His sacrifice of becoming man. It is this sacrifice that will save us, and it is this sacrifice of obedience and doing God's will that we will find on Christmas Day in the manger. Christmas is about Jesus' love
Merry Christmas
God Bless
