Christmas
We all have ideas of how God should act. We face challenges, suffer loss, have wants and needs, and we wonder why God doesn’t just take care of it all for us. We see evil in our world and ponder why God allows it.
Our ancestors, aware that they were helpless and unable to fix everything that was wrong in life, had prayed for a Savior to clean up the messes and make everything right. They longed for justice and hoped for peace. The prophets foretold of a time when a Messiah would bring prosperity for the poor, healing for the sick, freedom from enslavement, and justice for all (including punishment for the wicked). The poor and the meek would inherit the earth.
But God surprises us! He acts in ways that we least expect yet fulfills our expectations in ways we could never imagine. Just think about what happened at the first Christmas in Bethlehem. God could have brought our Savior into the world in any number of the ways people expected the Messiah to come. Instead, He came as a helpless baby.
What is it that God wants to teach us from the crib?
Instead of coming to us in a palace or mansion, he was born in a damp and dark stable, in an unknown city. He chose to come in humility, poverty, and suffering to show us His love for us, to suffer with us and to show us the path to happiness and salvation.
Instead of coming by imposing authority and power, expelling our enemies, and driving out evil, He came as a vulnerable and defenseless baby in need of love and care from Mary and Joseph. He begs us, too, for love and affection, freely given.
God chose to come into the world within a family. He teaches us about family life, and the importance of having a mother and father who are good examples for their children. He shows us that salvation arises from the loving environment of a home with parents, like Mary and Joseph, who know how to give themselves totally to the service of God and to put Him at the center of their lives.
God’s power, like a baby sleeping in its crib, lies in our world as a quiet invitation, not as a threat or coercion. Like a baby, He invites us to come to Him, to take Him in our arms and hold Him close to our heart. In turn, He will hold you close to His heart. Let Him fill you with His compassion and mercy, especially for the poor, the sick, the captives and for the vulnerable babies in the wombs of all pregnant mothers.
As we love and cherish the baby Jesus on this Christmas day, let us live for Him, and pray for protection of all life and for sanctity of the family.
O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature and
still more wonderfully restored it, grant we pray, that we may share
in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.
(from the Collect of Christmas Mass during the day)
Merry Christmas!
~St. Luke Life, Justice and Peace Ministry
