God's Christmas Happiness
by Fr. Joe Tetlow, S.J.
We are happy when we come to the solemn midnight at Christmas, full of joy and peace. It's really worth noting that God our Father is also full of joy and peace on this holy night. For God now has some really good reasons to be happy with His creatures. To begin with, His Son is born of a truly holy woman. And then, the Father can look down to see the Son in the arms of a man who is a just man, holy himself and entirely obedient to his angels.
Moreover, secondly, the Father sees His Son surrounded by other holy people—every day holy people like us, w what this pope our "middle-class holiness." He saw His Son tickled by the poor little shepherds and their sheep. And then those good kings come bearing gifts—it surely made God happy that some wise men let the star lead them to come and adore Him.
Before all of that, though, the Father is happy because He watches the final unfolding of the plan decided way back in the depths of eternity. Now is the acceptable time, and a beautiful event has happened. Of course, the Father is happy that the Son is born, bringing His divinity into our flesh. The Son will be with us all days, even to the end. But right now, the Father is pleased and can begin to gather together all His adopted children. So, when we hear the carol, we’ll remember Who Else is happy listening to angels singing sweetly o'er the plain.
