December 24 Petition Mission

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…” (Jn 1:14).

A word is the embodiment of an idea. Throughout history, people had ideas about God, but now, says John, “we have heard,…we have seen with our eyes,…we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life” (1 Jn 1:1).

Helen Keller, blind and deaf, recounts in her 1902 biography, The Story of My Life, “We walked down the path to the well house…Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand, she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motion of her fingers.…I knew then that w-a-t-e-r meant that wonderful cool something…That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!”

In the incarnation, we have experienced God in real human terms. Great is the mystery—God made known in flesh!