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| Lyuba Yatskiv |
We sing the song 12 DAYS of CHRISTMAS all during Advent (well nuns don’t) and when the Birth is upon us, we say, “thank God it is all over”. Do most people even have a clue what these days are? For true Christians it is only the beginning of the celebration. As the crazy, materialistic world packs up presents, throws out wreaths and trees, and prepares for the next commercial holiday (New Year’s Day) and pretends the day after Christmas is just like any other day, we are celebrating new Life in our hearts.
For the whole week after the birth of our Savior, the Church’s celebration continues, reminding us that Jesus Christ is alive still. He is here among us in His Body and Blood, and He will go from this place with us to whatever beginnings we face tomorrow and in the weeks and months to come.
"The mystery of Christmas, which is light and joy, questions and unsettles us, because it is at once both a mystery of hope and of sadness. It bears within itself the taste of sadness, inasmuch as love is not received, and life discarded. This happened to Joseph and Mary, who found the doors closed, and placed Jesus in a manger, "because there was no place for them in the inn" Jesus was born rejected by some and regarded by many others with indifference. Today also the same indifference can exist, when Christmas becomes a feast where the protagonists are ourselves, rather than Jesus; when the lights of commerce cast the light of God into the shadows; when we are concerned for gifts but cold towards those who are marginalized.
The shepherds grasped this in that night. They were among the marginalized of those times. But no one is marginalized in the sight of God and it was precisely they who were invited to the Nativity. Those who felt sure of themselves, self-sufficient, were at home with their possessions; the shepherds instead "went with haste"
( Lk 2:16). Let us allow ourselves also to be challenged and convened tonight by Jesus. Let us go to him with trust, from that area in us we feel to be marginalized, from our own limitations. Let us touch the tenderness which saves. Let us draw close to God who draws close to us, let us pause to look upon the crib, and imagine the birth of Jesus: light, peace, utmost poverty and rejection. Let us enter into the real Nativity with the shepherds, taking to Jesus all that we are, our alienation, our unhealed wounds. Then, in Jesus we will enjoy the flavor of the true spirit of Christmas: the beauty of being loved by God. With Mary and Joseph we pause before the manger, before Jesus who is born as bread for my life. Contemplating his humble and infinite love, let us say to him: thank you, thank you because you have done all this for me."
(Pope Francis, Christmas Homily 2016)