The Birth of a Child: The Hope of Mankind

In France women who are pregnant are often greeted with, “I congratulate you on your hope?” This is very profound since it reminds us that every child is a sign of God’s hope for humanity

In France women who are pregnant are often greeted with, “I congratulate you on your hope?” This is very profound since it reminds us that every child is a sign of God’s hope for humanity. Beginning in the mother’s womb, God creates each child in His image and likeness bearing gifts for the enrichment of humanity and the formation of community. Therefore every baby boy and girl brings with him or her a new expression of God’s image and His giftedness for the benefit of everyone. The presence of God’s image is always a sign of His faith in His creation. When we see God having faith in His creation it is possible for us as His creatures to have faith in ourselves, feel secure, and reach our fullest potential.

We Need Supernatural Faith

When we have faith then we can love and have hope. It’s important to realize that we cannot sustain faith in ourselves by ourselves since we didn’t create ourselves. Faith is a supernatural gift which God alone can give us. Supernatural faith is followed by supernatural love and hope. Sadly, the rejection of supernatural Faith, Hope, and Love today is all too evident in the destruction of the unborn in abortion mills. Every child is a sign of God’s hope for the world. The killing of every child is a rejection of the gifts God wants to share with us and so impoverishes society. This Christmas pray especially for an end to abortion and the rejection of God that fuels it.

God Is With Us

Never before did God’s image appear so perfectly than it did in the birth of the Christ Child. Jesus is Emmanuel, God-with-us. Mary carried in her womb not only the hope of a Messiah for Israel but also the hope of mankind to be freed from sin. Jesus’ entry into human experience offered God’s gift of salvation to every man and woman who was willing to believe in Him. Salvation isn’t as much about getting rid of sin as it is about knowing how much God loves us. The more we know and realise the depth of God’s love for us the more we will take the steps to eliminate sin from our lives and practice the spiritual gift of the “Fear of the Lord”. It’s like turning on the light in the bathroom, looking in the mirror and seeing a smudge on your face. You immediately wash it off because it tarnishes your beauty. That’s what we do with sin when we see ourselves in the light of God’s love.

Do We See as Jesus Sees?

The Word of God Who became man as the Son of Mary was born in a stable, a shelter for the farm animals, because humans had no room for Him. That was where He encountered His creation. Joseph, Mary’s husband, was her midwife and the animals’ breath provided warmth. Jesus’ presence in His creation as a vulnerable little newborn baby shows us how much faith God has in us despite knowing what we would do to Him later on. He entrusted Himself to us, despite our fallen nature and the violence inherent in it. God came into our world to help us see ourselves through His eyes and understand what His Father created us to be. In this manner Jesus is indeed our Savior. We need to be saved from the way we see and understand ourselves and others. We can’t do that without Jesus for He is the Model of what it means to be fully human and fully alive thereby giving glory to God the Creator.

Perception and Reality

Our biggest problem always comes from the way we see things.