NATIVITY OF THE LORD
25 DECEMBER 2017
In the northern hemisphere,
Christmas comes at a dark time of the year.
Even though we suffered through the shortest and darkest day of the year
last Thursday, it is still cold and dark.
And it remains dark under our “perma-cloud” here. Worse, we live in a world filled with
darkness. Far too often, nations and
groups resort to violence, hatred, and racism to resolve their disputes. In our country, we live in a time of deep polarizations. Instead of listening to each other, we shout
at each other and label our opponents as evil.
We also bring with us the darkness of our lives: the darkness of our sins and failures, the
darkness of failing health and sickness, the darkness of grief and loss, and
the darkness of so much pain outside of our control.
When we
come to celebrate Christmas, we cannot pretend that all of this darkness
disappears in the “Christmas spirit.”
Instead, we dare to celebrate this incredible mystery in the midst of
darkness. The infinite God has decided
to reveal himself not as a powerful ruler born in a royal palace. Instead, God has taken flesh as a tiny,
naked, helpless baby born in a stable.
Saint Francis of Assisi was so moved by this epiphany of God that he
decided to make the mystery more tangible to the people who came to celebrate
Christmas with his community. He built a
stable and placed an ox and a donkey in it.
Then one of the friars set up an Altar and began Mass. Francis sang the Gospel as a deacon with
great emotion. They held the real
presence of the Lord in their hands, as Mary had cradled him in her arms, and
were nourished with the Eucharist. Saint
Francis created the first nativity set, a practice that continues. Be sure to visit our new nativity set in the
Parish Life Center to begin to understand why Saint Francis called Christmas
the “feast of feasts.” He was not
drawing attention away from Easter, when the Lord emerged triumphant from the
tomb to change everything. Rather, he
was pointing out that the Paschal Mystery could not have taken place without
the Mystery of the Incarnation. Francis
understood that we have to approach this Mystery with great simplicity and
humility.
Those who
visit the Church of the Nativity of the Lord in Bethlehem do that in a very real
way. To enter the Church where tradition
says that Christ was born, pilgrims must line up in a single file and bend down
to go through a very small and narrow entrance. The original massive entrance
has been blocked off to prevent soldiers from riding their horses into
church! (Don’t get on your horse and try
to ride through those doors!)
That is the
attitude we need as we approach our newborn Savior. We need to get off our horses of pride and
arrogance in order to approach the Lord’s Table with simplicity and
humility. We need to imitate the
examples of children who love to build forts out of all kinds of materials and
bend down to enter. We need to let go of
so many passing trappings of Christmas that can easily distract us from the real
Mystery hidden in a tiny child lying in the manger. Only then can we embrace the true meaning of
Christmas. Once we approach the manger
with humility and simplicity, we reinforce our faith that this tiny child will
eventually dispel all darkness, in our world and in our lives. The birth of Jesus Christ reveals that God
does not want darkness to prevail. In
the person of Jesus Christ, God shines with hope.
Christmas reminds us that God
emptied himself of the privilege of divinity in the person of Jesus Christ and
took on our humanity to transform us into divinity. If we embrace the Christmas miracle, we will
understand that God’s love, revealed by a tiny child born in a stable, has the
power to transform us throughout the years.
But it takes time. The Incarnate
Lord will continue to reveal himself in the Sacramental life of the Church and
in our daily experiences. But we have to
be alert to his transforming love. Light
will prevail. Christmas promises that.
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