The Third Sunday
of Advent
(A)
Dear brothers and sisters,
His Holiness Pope Francis recently
published the Apostolic Letter Admirabile Signum in which he reflected
on the admirable sign of the depiction of the Birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It used to be commonly seen in both public and private places at this time of year,
though now it has all but fallen into disuse - even within Christian homes - as
we shape Christmas more and more into a celebration of winter.
The Holy Father wrote his letter both “to
encourage the beautiful family tradition of preparing the nativity scene in the
days before Christmas” and to express his “hope that this custom will never be
lost and that, wherever it has fallen into disuse, it can be rediscovered and
revived.”[1]
His desires in this letter are also mine.
It was, of course, Saint Francis of Assisi
who first gave us the crèche on Christmas Eve in 1223 in the Italian village of
Greccio. He was so moved by the humanity of Jesus that he said to a man named
John who, we are told, “had a good reputation and even better life”:
If you would like
us to celebrate this feast day of the Lord in Greccio, then go there ahead of
me and prepare what I tell you. I would like to portray the Child born in
Bethlehem and to see somehow with my bodily eyes the hardship he underwent
because he lacked all a newborn’s needs, the way he was placed in a manger and
how he lay on the hay between the ox and the ass.[2]
Everything, of course, was prepared as the
Poverello requested and he celebrated Christmas that year at Greccio, some
sixty miles north of Rome.
When Saint Francis arrived that Christmas
Eve night, everyone present was
gladdened with new
joy over the renewed mystery… The
brothers sang the Lord’s praise and the entire night was spent in celebration.
Sighing, the Saint of God stood before the crèche, filled with sighs, contrite
in piety and overcome with ineffable joy.[3]
Francis stood before the crèche, before
the manger filled only with hay, flanked by the animals, and was filled with
sorrow for his sins and with joy at the humility and love of the Child of
Bethlehem. Does the same happen to you when you gaze upon a Nativity set? Perhaps
as children we once were filled with the humility and love of the Son of God
when looking at – or playing with – a Nativity set. It can still be so today; in
these remaining days before Christmas, let us beg the Lord for this beautiful
grace.
Some might now be asking why a Nativity
set should move us so deeply and inspire both sorrow for sins and with great
joy. Isn’t it just a collection of figurines? No, it is more than a simple set
of statues because a depiction of the Lord’s Birth “shows God’s tender love:
the Creator of the universe lowered himself to take up our littleness. The gift
of life, in all its mystery, becomes all the more wondrous as we realize that
the Son of Mary is the source and sustenance of all life.”[4]
This is, in part, why, today, after receiving the very Body and Blood of the
Son of God, we will bless the images of the Christ Child that we will place in
our nativity sets at Christmas. Such displays remind us that Christ Jesus – the
Bread of Life – was born in Bethlehem – the House of Bread – and placed within
a manger, a feeding trough (cf. John 6:35).
The Nativity is set such a cherished
custom for many of the faithful because it is a way for us “to ‘feel’ and ‘touch’
the poverty that God’s Son took upon himself in the Incarnation. Implicitly, it
summons us to follow him along the path of humility, poverty and self-denial
that leads from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross.”[5]
At the same time, it reminds us that “in Jesus, God was a child, and in this
way he wished to reveal the greatness of his love: by smiling and opening his
arms to all.”[6]
For this reason, “the nativity scene shows God as he came into our world, but
it also makes us reflect on how our life is part of God’s own life. It invites
us to become his disciples if we want to attain ultimate meaning in life.”[7]
Perhaps this is why, in an age in which so many people – Christians included –
live as though God did not exist, that the Nativity display is quickly vanishing
from both public and private life. Indeed, as Pope Francis as said,
It does not matter
how the nativity scene is arranged: it can always be the same or it can change
from year to year. What matters is that it speaks to our lives. Wherever it is,
and whatever form it takes, the Christmas crèche speaks to us of the love of
God, the God who became a child in order to make us know how close he is to
every man, woman and child, regardless of their condition.[8]
As we prepare, then, to celebrate the
coming feasts, set up your Nativity sets with joy in a prominent place of the home.
Gather together around them frequently and learn
to contemplate
Jesus, to experience God’s love for us, to feel and believe that God is with us
and that we are with him, his children, brothers and sisters all, thanks to the
Child who is the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin Mary. And to realize that
in that knowledge we find true happiness.[9]
If we allow our Nativity sets to teach us
to imitate the love God, then, we, too will be of good reputation, and of even
better lives. Amen.
[1] Pope Francis, Admirabile signum,
1.
[2] Tomaso de Celano, First Life, XXX.84 in Brother Thomas of Celano: The Life of St.
Francis of Assisi and The Treatise of Miracles, trans. Catherine Bolton
(Assisi, Italy: Editrice Minerva, 2001), 80-81.
[3] Ibid., XXX.85.
[4] Pope Francis, Admirabile signum,
3.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid., 8.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid., 10.
[9] Ibid.
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