“As they were going off,

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, 

‘What did you go out to the desert to see?

A reed swayed by the wind?

Then what did you go out to see?

Someone dressed in fine clothing?

Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.

Then why did you go out? To see a prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

This is the one about whom it is written:

Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;

he will prepare your way before you.

Amen, I say to you,

among those born of women 

there has been none greater than John the Baptist; 

yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.’”

From the moment of our conception, we began to grow in the secret and the silence of our mothers’ wombs. This is common to us all. When the time was right, we were all born of women. This, too, is common to us all. It is worth pausing for a moment to recognize the reality of that fact. At some point in each of our personal histories, and the personal histories of every human being who has ever existed, we were born of women. It is, in a sense, a common thread that sews us all together. Every great leader, every despicable tyrant, every saint, and every sinner was born of a woman. Everyone was a mother’s child. It is nearly a primordial event. Being born is to be born of a woman. Perhaps it may not always be so, but it is essential to our humanity and and a bond that unites us all. I was born of a woman, LaVerne. You were born of a woman, your mother. John the Baptist was born of a woman, Elizabeth. Jesus, too, was born of a woman, Mary. 

Jesus was also born of God. Eternally begotten by the Father, Jesus was conceived in Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. With no earthly father, Jesus was born of God. He is God’s Son, on earth as it is in heaven, and Mary is the Mother of God. In his humanity and his resurrection, Jesus is the firstborn among the dead, so that where he has gone we may also go. Because of Jesus, we also are children of God with an eternal destiny. In our baptism, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are reborn as God’s daughters and sons. We are his beloved offspring, reborn into the kingdom of heaven. Born of women and reborn of God, we follow the way of Jesus, our brother. Jesus was born of God. You were born of God. I was born of God. The baptism of John was for repentance, not rebirth. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus baptizes for new life. In this sense, we follow where Jesus has gone before. We are born of God, too. 

As we enter the proximate preparation for the celebration of the birth of the messiah, it is good to ponder in our hearts that each of us, like Jesus, are born of a woman. And, like Jesus, each of us are born of God. Or that Jesus, like each of us, was born of a woman and, like each of us, Jesus is born of God. In a primordial way, we are united with Jesus. In the essential human reality, Jesus has united himself to us. In the essential divine reality, Jesus has united us to himself. Being born of a woman, in the ideal, is an act of love. Being born of God, always, is an act of love. Love unites us all. Love gives us life and new life. Love makes us all sisters and brothers. Love is the gift of Christmas, the birth of love incarnate. Prepare the way for love.