The Word Leapt down in Silence

Christmas Mass During the Day

Some would naively argue that the concept of the “Logos,” translated as “the Word” in St John’s lyrical prologue, was something radically new, an appropriation of a Greek philosophical concept. But in the Book of Wisdom in the Old Testament, we find not just a subtle and distant hint but a blaring proclamation of the movement of the Eternal Word:

“For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty Word leapt down from Heaven from Thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction” (Wisdom 18:15).

As with most holidays, Christmas generally tends to be a noisy feast filled with strong, joyful carols proclaiming: “For Unto Us A Child Is Born,” “Joy to the World,” “Angels We Have Heard On High,” “Go Tell It On The Mountain,” etc. And this is all true, and very good, and very beautiful. But there is also a silence to be contemplated, a silence that is often missed and dismissed. The great things that God works within His creatures naturally happen in silence, in a divine movement that suppressed all speech. For what could we say? Thus, God’s heavenly secret is kept under the seal of silence unless He Himself opens the lips and makes the words come forth. And this is what happened as the Book of Wisdom said it would happen: “For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty Word leapt down from Heaven from Thy royal throne.”

The Word Himself, God, the desire of all nations, “leapt down from heaven” in “quiet silence,” physically took on silence, becoming a new born human, an infant. And in the wonderful silence in the stable, Mary and Joseph looked at Jesus for the first time and contemplated the mystery of His birth in silence. Today, in the midst of our revelry and celebration, we are called to adopt an atmosphere of silence if we wish to grasp the mystery of His Incarnation and hear His gentle whispering.

When the Book of Wisdom tells us that the “… almighty Word leapt down from Heaven from (His) royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction,” the author was reflecting on the death of the Egyptian first-born at the time of the Exodus. The Almighty God reached down from heaven as He had promised to Moses and slew the first-born of the Egyptians so that all might know that the Hebrew people were His chosen.  God proved victorious and in so doing, through death gave life to His People. Now the Church takes that profound and inspired meditation on the victory of life over death and offers it to us as a reflexion on what Christ will do.  Once Christ is born, a life like no other has entered the world.  In this child, the Almighty Word that leapt down from Heaven, we encounter an unconquerable life, a life that is reminiscent of what went on before but surpasses it in power and fullness.  He came “so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Although the Incarnation took place in silence and the divine movement often takes place in silence, there is also silence which is imposed by force and violence – a silence which seeks to silence God’s Word. St John tells us that “He (the Word made flesh) came to his own domain and his own people did not accept him.” It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Christmas, a reminder of the birth of the Son of God, must be removed from the public square and its message silence because the message of Christmas, one of life, threatens the prevalent culture of death.

The human race has always known violence to innocence, evidenced by the actions of Pharaoh and Herod and in the last century, Hitler and Stalin. While adults can make their voices heard in protest, the unborn, the sick and the elderly, are easy targets because of their natural silence, if no one speaks for them and on behalf of them. Today, that struggle manifests itself in new and frightening ways - with the proliferation of abortion mills and passing of legislation which legalises the murder of innocents, the sick and the elderly and which seeks to silence dissenting voices.  The violence has become customary, normalised, more imaginative and terrifying. 

But our Lord shows us that life is ultimately victorious. Life conquers through its ability to empty itself out.  The power of the Christian faith manifests itself most especially in being what the world is not.  To arrogance it counters with humility.  To cynicism it reacts with innocence.  To deception it responds with truth.  To glamour it demonstrates with simplicity.  To death it responds with life.  To a cacophony of noise, it offers silence. Christian faith is simply the opposite of everything that the world would expect and want.  It offers “mud,” when the world would want “gold and silver.”  This is what Christmas is all about. Christmas bears a dangerous message which threatens our world and yet, it carries with it the only message which can save the world.

But there is great irony in the liturgy of the Church.  In celebrating a humble birth, we offer our best - we offer our “gold and silver”.  To the silent entry of the Word into our world, we offer our voices in songs of praise and wonderment. We enrich the liturgy with the best that we have to offer because the accoutrements of the rituals manifest the beauty of a world that is not ours and thrusts us forward and upward into an unimaginable beauty, a sign of a world to come. 

Today, we come to the manger offering our best only because we have acknowledged the worst in us: the noise we make in competition with God’s sublime Word; the “mud” we have covered ourselves in - our sins, our weaknesses and shortcomings.  We take courage also in knowing that the Word broke His silence and entered into the noisy madness of our world as He stepped into the “mud” of our fallen existence. Yes, the Eternal Word which leapt down from heaven from His royal throne, has stepped into the filthy “mud” in which we are mired. We were once formed from dust, but now our Lord gives us new life by remoulding the “mud” of our being into a new creation. There is every reason for us to break our silence today and announce: “Indeed, from His fullness we have, all of us, received – yes, grace in return for grace.”