Merry Christmas, everyone! I’d be remiss if I didn’t reflect—today of all days—on the spirit of the season: that is, the coming of the Lord, our Saviour, when he was born on this day thousands of years ago in a manger. That is, after all, what Christmas is all about.

For us men, and for our salvation, [He] came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man…

From the Creed

Back in the days when I was in RCIA, we were going through the Creed, and these words regarding the Incarnation struck me. Think about it: God is beyond time. He is not just a being like any other. He is, in fact, Being itself. “I Am that I Am,” he told Moses (Exodus 3:14). To God, the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden is just as present as is Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary.

God wasn’t surprised by what happened: he’s omniscient. He didn’t think, “Oh, crap!” like we’d thrown a wrench into his plans. He knew what would happen (or at least He must’ve done); and even if He didn’t desire it, even if it wasn’t His perfect will, He permitted it. This begs the question why He would allow it to happen in the first place. In fact, one might even ask the question why God bothered with creation at all if we were just going to muck it up!

God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1

He didn’t do it out of necessity! He was/is/ever shall be (literally) blessed in himself. Certainly, if God were to allow us free will, then that entails us being free to make our own decisions, for better or for worse; but frankly, this is an incomplete answer. There is only one reason anyone could possibly have to give something to someone who can offer them nothing: love.

For God so loved the world…

John 3:16

But surely God could have permitted some other passing of events! Indeed, He could have, so why did things happen as they did? God’s love explains creation, but to answer this question, I think we need to dig a bit deeper than that. It’s entirely possible to think that I’m wrong about this, but if you want to know what I think, I think that in all of His wisdom, God let things pass as they did because for anything to have happened any differently than it did—a tale of love, betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption—is to extinguish the greatest love story ever told. (And a much better love story than Twilight, at that.)

God is no mere consequentialist: this soon becomes clear when one studies Catholic moral teaching. It matters how we do things, not simply that we achieve a particular result. Of course, the result matters as well, but in His providence, God wove this beautiful story with the perfect happy ending; and woven into this story is a clear indication of who God is, and what love He has for us, who are made in His image. We are redeemed by a God who came down from Heaven not simply to meet us, but as one of us: both fully human, and fully divine. Friends, that’s the reason for the season.

There’s no finer point I’d like to make than that. I only wish to stress how incredible Christmas truly is. With that, as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour today, I wish you all a very merry Christmas, the compliments of the season, and that a great many blessings be imparted upon you and your families, now and in the days to come.