Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel for the Sunday of January 2026 entitled, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.

***

Today’s celebration seeks to help you savor the riches of Christmas. It invites you to contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation, to discover the true nature of humankind in the light of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Because Christmas can be reduced to pure consumerism, to enormous sentimentality, or to a simple historical memory… distant and past, which we decorate a lot and give a pretty “choreography”, but which, in the end, passes us by in our lives.

And the drama we heard in the Gospel of John can happen to us: Jesus came to his own, but his own people did not receive him… And that can happen to us too. That is why the Word invites us to receive Jesus, to welcome him into our hearts.

And then comes everything else… all the decorations, all the parties, the celebrations, the meals, the congratulations, the gifts—the whole “choreography” is important when there’s something to celebrate. Otherwise, it all amounts to nothing.

Therefore, what is fundamental is what we celebrate: that you open your heart to the Lord, that you have already opened it, and that you have encountered Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who wants to enter your life, your story, and who wants to give you this new nature, that of being a child of God.

And then, the change that takes place in your life is so profound, the new life you begin to live is so beautiful, that your heart overflows with emotion, and that’s why we celebrate. That’s why we have parties and put up decorations and lights and sing, and make special meals and sweets and offer congratulations… Because everything is a visible sign of something invisible, of something hidden there in your heart, but which is real: that you are experiencing a new life.

You are experiencing what St. Paul described in his letter to the Ephesians: so that you may understand the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints. This is the newness the Lord brings to your life: that you can live with hope, that your life has the same problems as everyone else… But the great difference is that you are not alone, that you have the Lord with you, that he dwells in you if you let him into your life.

You have the Holy Spirit with you, who makes all things new, and you have a word, a word of eternal life that the Lord gives you every day. And that is why you can face all your problems with hope, knowing that the Lord is behind it all, even when you don’t understand many things.

But you know that everything has meaning, even if you don’t always see it. And that’s why you can live with hope, with peace, with joy. Because you have the certainty that there is nothing and no one that can separate you from God’s love.

Don’t be afraid! Open your heart to the Lord!