God’s Mercy Revealed in His Coming Down from Heaven to Save Us!

Christmas Novena – Day 6

Thursday, December 21, 2023

If Christmas proclaims something really loud, it is God’s mercy.

Christmas heralds the ‘active’ nature of God’s mercy. Out of His mercy, God takes a proactive step to ‘make’ things right by sending Jesus into the world. 

It is not that God’s mercy was absent before. Rather, we had God’s representatives and emissaries announce it through the entirety of the Old Testament. 

But in the New Testament, Jesus comes in person, showing the depth of Divine Mercy. 

With Jesus’ coming, the role of intermediaries between God and His people is eliminated, and God meets with His people directly through His own son. 

Hence, if mercy is God’s yet another name, Jesus came to announce it. 

If there is ever a human shape and form to God’s mercy, we see it in the infant Jesus. 

Hence, Jesus is not just the visible face of the invisible God but also God’s mercy in action. 

Therefore, it is not just ‘Merry Christmas’ for us but ‘Mercy Christmas’ too. 

Reflecting on Christmas as ‘Mercy Incarnate,’ St. Faustina said, ‘The Word becomes flesh; God dwells among us, the Word of God, Mercy Incarnate. By Your descent, You have lifted us up to Your divinity. Such is the excess of Your love, the abyss of Your mercy. Heaven is amazed at the superabundance of your love. No one fears to approach You now. You are the God of mercy. You have compassion on misery.’

Christmas is mercy in the manger, lying in all tenderness. Come, let us adore Him!

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar