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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