39 — JESUS FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATURES

January 4

Presence of God. — Give me light, O Lord Jesus, to discover Your ineffable greatnesses as Son of God through Your most humble appearance as Child.

Meditation

1 — “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible things... All was created through Him and for Him; and He is before all and all subsists in Him” (Col. 1, 15-17). In this text of St. Paul is synthesized the infinite greatness of Jesus. As Word He is the substantial and most perfect image of the Father, having the same nature as Him and proceeding from Him by eternal generation. As Word He is the firstborn of all creatures because He was generated by the Father before every creation; moreover, the Father created all things through Him, His Word, His infinite wisdom. “It is to be known,” teaches St. John of the Cross, “that with this one figure of His Son, God looked at all things: and this was to give them natural being, communicating to them many graces and gifts of nature... Looking at them... was the same as creating them in His Word, His Son” (C. 5, 4). But the Word is not only firstborn of all creatures; being Himself God like the Father, He is also their Creator, so that “without Him was made nothing of what has been made” (Jn. 1, 3).

All these greatnesses that belong by nature to the Word, by reason of His Incarnation and therefore of the hypostatic union, become the greatnesses of Jesus, true God and true man; in fact St. Paul affirms that “in Christ dwells bodily all the fullness of Divinity” (Col. 2, 9).

Jesus was pleased to hide these infinite splendors of His divinity in the hiddenness of the manger, but, guided by love and faith, we do not want to delay in recognizing and exalting them.

2 — Jesus is the firstborn, He is the source of our being not only in the natural order, that is, with regard to our creation, but also and particularly in the supernatural order, that is, with regard to the life of grace; indeed... “with the same one image of His Son [God] left creatures clothed with beauty by communicating to them supernatural being: which happened when the Word, by becoming incarnate, raised man to divine beauty” (J.C. C. 5, 4).

The Word became incarnate precisely to communicate to us supernatural being; Jesus came precisely to make us children of God: He, the only Son of God by nature, thus becomes firstborn of many brothers and sisters who in Him and through Him are made children of God by grace. This is the marvelous and mysterious plan of our elevation to the supernatural state: “Blessed be God the Father... who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ... having predestined us to be His adopted children through Jesus Christ, according to the benevolence of His will” (Eph. 1, 3 and 5).

God the Father from all eternity willed to raise men and women to the dignity of His children and therefore to our first parents, together with natural life, had given supernatural life, which they lost, however, by their sin. But God had already foreseen this fall and had permitted it solely in view of a plan far grander than the original, which would manifest in unsurpassable way His infinite charity and mercy: the Incarnation of His Only-Begotten, so that through Him “we too might receive adoption as children” (Gal. 4, 4).

In this marvelous plan we contemplate two sublime mysteries: Jesus firstborn of all creatures also in the supernatural order and precisely as man; we, children of sin, become in Him and through Him adopted children of God.

Colloquy

Eternal Father, “Lord, my God, in such great number You have wrought Your wonders and Your designs for us, and nothing is comparable to You. It is good to give You praise, Lord, and to sing to Your name, O Most High; to proclaim in the morning Your goodness and in the night hours Your faithfulness. For You make me glad, O Lord, by Your work; in Your deeds I exult with jubilation. How great are Your works, O Lord! Exceedingly deep are Your designs” (Ps. 39, 6; 91, 2-6). Your most splendid work, the Incarnation of Your Only-Begotten, what more sublime masterpiece than Christ Jesus, true God and true man, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”? (Col. 2, 3).

O Jesus, You make me understand that You are truly the God-Man, and You manifest Yourself to my soul with such majesty that it is not possible for me to doubt Your infinite greatness. O Lord Jesus, who could fully understand Your majesty as absolute master of earth and heaven?

“My hope, Christ God, sweet lover of men, light, life, life, salvation, honor and glory of all Your servants, You live forever, reigning now and for all ages... You are my living and true God; my holy Father; my pious Lord, the great King, the good Shepherd, my only Teacher, most excellent helper; my guide to the homeland, my straight way... my spotless victim, my holy redemption, my firm hope, my perfect charity, my true resurrection, my eternal life. You I desire, sweetest and most beautiful Lord!...

“O splendor of the Father’s glory, who sit above the Cherubim and behold the abysses, true light, light that illumines, unfailing light, into which angels long to gaze, behold, my heart stands before You; dissipate its darkness, that it may be more abundantly flooded by the splendors of Your holy love.

“Give me Yourself, O my God; give me Yourself, for I love You; and if this love of mine is little fervent, grant me to love You more.

“I cannot measure how much of Your love is lacking to me so that it may be as it should, so that my life may run in Your embraces and not depart from them until it hides itself in the light of Your face; this I know, that everything is evil for me apart from You, O Lord, not only outside me, but also within myself. Every abundance that is not my God is for me indigence and misery” (St. Augustine).