Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health Vailankanni

The Holy Innocents, "the Lamb's companions": "these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes" (entrance antiphon; Rv 14:4)

We have no idea where the divine Child wishes to lead us in this life and should not ask beforehand. Only this do we know: that "for those who love God all things work together for good" (Rm 8:28). And, in addition, that the paths which the Lord directs lead out beyond this earth. "O wonderful exchange" [Christmas liturgy]! The Creator of humankind, by taking on a human body, imparts to us his divinity. God became a Child so that the human race could become children of God. To be a child of God means to go hand-in-hand with God, to do his will, not one's own; to place all our hopes and cares into his hands and no longer be concerned about one's self or one's future. Upon this foundation rests the freedom and the joy of the child of God. Christ is God and man and whoever wants to share his life must participate in his divine and human life. The human nature which he accepted gave him the possibility to suffer and to die… To suffer and die is the lot of every human being. But if he is a living member of the body of Christ, then his own suffering and death receive redemptive power through the divinity of the head… The star of Bethlehem shines forth in the dark night of sin. Upon the radiance that goes forth from the manger there falls the shadow of the cross. In the dark of Good Friday the light is extinguished, but it rises more brightly as the sun of grace on the morning of the resurrection. The road of the incarnate Son of God is through the cross and suffering to the splendor of the resurrection. To arrive with the Son of Man through suffering and death at this splendor of the resurrection is the road for each one of us, for all mankind.

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