"This is the word of the Lord" is what the reader says to indicate the ending of a liturgical scriptural reading. The very same phrase is the "theme" of the Christmas daytime Mass, in which we hear the beginning of St John's Gospel about the 'Word' of God. The newborn Child we celebrate is the Word of the Lord, God made flesh, God Himself among us, one of us. We're invited to contemplate and reflect not just on the story of Christmas but what it means, its mystery. This helpless child, just starting His human existence, is the one through whom all of creation came into existence. He is what God wants to say to us, while we so often complain we can't hear what God might be saying to us and that He doesn't "answer" our prayers. St John commented that the world He made didn't recognise Him, His own people didn't accept Him. We who do accept Him, in the faith that itself is God's gift to us, see His glory as He lives among us and have received power to become children of God. This is the vision of Christmas we have the privilege of sharing with others in this season. We who believe are the children whose festival Christmas is: people who have begun to understand what is meant by "the Word of the Lord" and "the Word was made flesh".