Sunday, December 24, 2023

 

CHRISTMAS 2023

 

          It was exactly 800 years ago on this night that Saint Francis of Assisi put together the first Christmas creche in a cave in Greccio, Italy.  Greccio is a small town near Assisi built on a mountainside.  He wanted the people of Greccio to put themselves in the nativity scene, so that they could experience the presence of the Word made Flesh in their midst – God with us.  He prepared a manger and brought hay, along with an ox and a donkey and other animals.  His friars recruited people from the town to take the roles of the human characters.   

            Saint Bonaventure describes what happened.  Francis, who was a deacon, stood before the manger radiant with joy and chanted the Gospel and preached to the people around the nativity of the poor King.  Overcome with love for him, he was unable to utter his name and called him the Babe of Bethlehem.  Master John of Greccio had left the military and witnessed the miracles that resulted from this first creche.  During the Mass, the baby Jesus appeared in the manger.  Francis went to the manger and held the babe in his arms as if to awaken him from sleep.  The people of the town preserved the hay of the manger, which miraculously cured all diseases of cattle and many other pestilences.

            Eight hundred years later, we continue this practice begun by Saint Francis in the creches which we put underneath our Christmas trees at home.  We have a more than life-sized creche in the Parish Life Center, with lots of hay.  We have the carved olive tree from our Holy Land pilgrimage last year.  It contains hand crafted figures connecting us to our friends in Bethlehem who are suffering so much this Christmas. 

            Our creches invite us to enter more deeply into that great mystery we celebrate today.  Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at.  Instead, he emptied himself and became one of us in the flesh.  He was not born in a royal palace.  Instead, he was born in poverty – in a stable in an insignificant village.  The angels announced his birth not to the rulers in Jerusalem nor to the religious leaders.  They announced it to shepherds living on the margins of society.  The wood of the manger which held him securely would one day give way to the wood of the cross.  On that cross, he would lower himself out of absolute love to take on human suffering and death.  By doing this, he unites himself with our suffering and conquers our death.

            Today, we celebrate this incredible Mystery of God taking on human flesh and dwelling among us.  We hear the announcements of the angels in the Liturgy of the Word and fall on our knees in the middle of the creed, as Saint Francis did in his creche.  Like Francis, we hold the Lord’s real presence in our hands or on our tongues when we receive Communion.  Like the residents of Greccio, we are sent forth to proclaim the Miracle of our Savior’s birth.

            We don’t need to take the hay from our creche.  But, we can take the Christmas Miracle with us.  When we are more patient with family members who get on our nerves, we take the Christmas Miracle with us.  When we listen to those with whom we disagree and not write them off, we take the Christmas Miracle with us.  When we maintain hope that wars will end and peace will be established, we take the Christmas Miracle with us.  When we see our infinite God in the small and trivial and insignificant moments of our lives, we take the Christmas Miracle with us.  No matter what may happen in the coming year, we can take the Christmas Miracle to maintain our confidence that darkness will not prevail.  The Christmas Miracle is Emmanuel – God with us, made flesh, and born in our hearts today.

 

 

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