There is on-going research into how certain animals manage to communicate, establishing some commonality with human beings. Such investigation makes it clear, however, that language, in its complexity and depth, is distinctively human, a mark of who we are. When we speak, something of who we are goes out from us, so to speak. Words are personal, mysterious, powerful (cf. a soft tongue can break a bone. Prov 25:15). God, too, discloses himself: in the “word” of creation, in the words of the prophets and, now, in the Word made flesh, God’s deepest and most personal disclosure. We give thanks for God’s “eloquence” in Jesus of Nazareth, as we mark his birth.

Prayer

You have spoken, O God, a shattered our deafness and we can hear you in one like ourselves. Let’s celebrate the feast, then, in love and great joy.

K O’Mahony OSA