The word Bethlehem in Hebrew means ‘House of Bread’. The early Church Fathers thought this was very significant, and linked it with the Eucharist (or Mass, or Communion – the name doesn’t matter).
The point is, Jesus came down to us in a place called House of Bread 2000 years ago. But he still comes down to us week by week, in the Bread of the Eucharist. The Incarnation didn’t just happen long ago. In the Sacrament Jesus still comes to us, as the carol says:
O holy child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us today.
This is why we receive Communion at Christmas, whether at Midnight Mass or on the day itself. The very word Christmas – The Christ Mass – points us to the meaning. Through the Eucharist Jesus is born in us, to make us part of his church, his body on earth today.
In his famous poem ‘Christmas’, John Betjeman reminds us that nothing about Christmas is as important as this. At the centre of all our celebrating is the great Truth that God not only came to us in Bethlehem, but still comes to us in Communion:
No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.
This is the heart of it. Make it the heart of your Christmas too.
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