And the Word became flesh...
On this seventh day in the Octave of Christmas, the question begged by our Gospel reading is this: why did the Word of God become flesh? If the Word is the essence of all that is, why the incarnation? The popular answer that the sin of our first parents occasioned the incarnation does not do justice to the beautiful event that is incarnation. For while it is true that by assuming our nature God has come to save us, God would have still come to dwell among us had Adam and Eve not sinned. In the incarnation, creation attains it's fullness. Creation is gradual, a work in progress that only attains it's completion when we return to God, when the creator becomes one with the creature. In the Word becoming flesh, this is fulfilled. 
In the incarnation is found the fullness of life. The Word of God, Jesus Christ, the Gospel tells us, is the bringer of life and light. By assuming our nature (flesh), Jesus takes away our weakness, suffering, death, and the darkness that continue to envelop us. Jesus comes to us as the giver of life. He hasn't come to point to us where that life can be found (as John the Baptist did). He himself is that life. He comes to give himself to us so that we can have life in abundance (John 10:10). But it is only when we accept Jesus in our lives that we begin to have that life.
There are many things that we do that have extinguished the life that God breathed upon us at creation. There are many things that we do that have extinguished the life in others. By his life and example, Jesus comes to show us the right way to live. By coming to us as a baby, the most innocent and harmless member of the society, Jesus calls upon us to let go of those behaviors of ours that can cause harm to ourselves and to others. Jesus is born in simplicity. He thus reminds us that the fullness of life is found in simplicity of life. He calls upon us, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, to live simply so that others may simply live. Jesus is born to us as a baby, the most dependent member of the society, thus calling us to refrain from behaviors and attitudes that only serve to build walls around ourselves. Jesus has come to show us that we are brothers and sisters, children of the same God.