Greeting (See First Reading)

You are no longer forsaken
nor your land abandoned,
but you shall be called "My delight."
As the bridegroom rejoices in his bride,
so will your God rejoice in you.
The bridegroom coming to us is Jesus.
May the Lord Jesus stay with you always.
R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

Christmas, God becoming one of us, can you imagine what that means? Too often we think of Jesus as the mighty God, even when we look at him as the Santo Niño. Now here he takes on our human flesh and blood through his Mother, the Virgin Mary. Jesus, God, yes, but one of us, weak, vulnerable, sharing in our life, in our joys and our afflictions, dying like us and with us and for us. And all this to be near and very close to us. He is like us in all things except sin, and he is also already risen from the dead. This is now a God who understands us and accepts us the way we are. Let us welcome Jesus among us.

Penitential Act

It is to take our sins away that Jesus came
and to bring us light and life.
Let us ask him to forgive us.
(PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, we welcome you
as the human face of God,
approachable and one of us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, we welcome you
as our hope and future.
You will walk with us the road of life.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, we welcome you.
In you we are born of God;
in you we see what we have to become.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us all our sins.
give us the strength to do
what you expect us to do and to become.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray
that God's light may shine on us
in Jesus, his Son.
(PAUSE)
Our God and Father,
we have come before you
with great expectations.
Show that you are our God-with-us;
let Jesus your Son take from our hearts
the sadness of sin
and fill us with his light and love.
Let him walk by our side
and share our pains and hopes,
as he leads us to you,
our God for ever and ever. R/ Amen.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction: We Are the People God Loves
      To his people deported to a foreign country, God promises: I will make you again my beloved people, bound to me in a covenant. This promise is fulfilled in Jesus.

First Reading: Is 62:1-5

For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace,
for Jerusalem I will not keep silent,
until her holiness shines like the dawn
and her salvation flames like a burning torch.

The nations will see your holiness
and all the kings your glory.
You will be called by a new name
which the mouth of Yahweh will reveal.

You will be a crown of glory
in the hand of Yahweh,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

No longer will you be named Forsaken;
no longer will your land be called
Abandoned;
but you will be called My Delight
and your land Espoused.
For Yahweh delights in you
and will make your land his spouse.

As a young man marries a virgin,
so will your builder marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride,
so will your God rejoice in you.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

I will made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant;
forever will I confirm your prosperity
and establish your throne for all generations.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O Lord, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

He shall say for me, "You are my father,
my God, the rock, my savior."
Forever I will maintain my kindness towards him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Second Reading Introduction: God Is Faithful
       Paul shows how God has always remained faithful to his people, from the time of their liberation from Egypt to John the Baptist announcing the definitive Savior, Jesus Christ.

Second Reading: Acts 13:16-1, 22-25

So Paul arose, motioned to them for silence and began, "Fellow Israelites and also all you who fear God, listen. The God of our people Israel chose our ancestors, and after he had made them increase during their stay in Egypt, he led them out by powerful deeds.

For forty years he fed them in the desert, and after he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.

All this took four hundred and fifty years. After that, he gave them Judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, and he was king for forty years. After that time, God removed him and raised up David as king, to whom he bore witness saying: I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all I want him to do.

It is from the descendants of David that God has now raised up the promised savior of Israel, Jesus. Before he appeared, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for all the people of Israel. As John was ending his life's work, he said: 'I am not what you think I am, for after me another one is coming whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.'

Gospel Introduction: Son of David, Son of Mary, Yet Born of God
       Jesus is truly human: a royal descendant of David, belonging to a sinful race, to be born of Mary. Yet Jesus, our God-with-us, is the promised Savior, his conception is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Gospel Reading: Mt 1:1-25 or Mt 1:18-25

This is how Jesus Christ was born. Mary his mother had been given to Joseph in marriage but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.

While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him 'Jesus' for he will save his people from their sins."

All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he will be called Emmanuel which means: God-with-us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do and he took his wife to his home. So she gave birth to a son and he had not had marital relations with her. Joseph gave him the name of Jesus.

Commentary

It is time to cry out, to announce glad tidings: Our God is King. Our God has come to bring us joy and to see the restoration of all our lives, to comfort and redeem us. Our God now belongs to all the nations and his bare arm is for all. This is the power of God, the power of a newborn who is the Son of God made flesh, through whom he created the universe. He is the reflection of the Father's glory and he is the sustaining power of life for all in the Spirit. We are called to worship the Trinity as we stand before the crèche and wonder at our God among us. But we must be careful not to get caught up in the piety of the child, for this child is the grown man, beloved of God, the Word since the beginning, the light, the truth, God of God. This child/man/God, when he came, was even rejected by his own. This child is the enduring love of God and we have been given a share in this fullness of God. This is the only God we have ever seen. This is Jesus revealing God. This is what it means to be human. God is incarnated as one of us-we now meet God in every human being, in the Word, and in God's enduring Love/Eucharist/the Body of Christ-all humanity. The way we love one another is the way we love God. God is born in us today.