A Wonderful and Joyous Christmas
Beirut-Lebanon: Christmas Day- A day which means so much to us- in fact, to the whole of mankind. I cannot help but reflect on some significant aspects of THIS Christmas:
TRUTH IS CHRISTMAS
The birth of Jesus is a historical truth; not some kind of fairy tale or mythological story meant to legitimatize a particular ‘belief’. God, comes into this world, becomes like us in all things but sin; He pitches his tent amongst us. The Prophets in the Old Testament foretold the birth of Jesus “therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”( Isaiah 7:14)“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”(Isaiah 9:6). It is a truth which we need to assimilate and communicate. It is a truth which we need to bear witness to; Jesus, our Saviour invites each one of us to be his co-redeemers entrusting us with a specific mission on this earth.
HUMILITY IS CHRISTMAS
Mary is humility personified. From the moment she says “yes” to the heavy responsibility that God entrusts her with, she humbly goes about doing what is expected from her. She visits and attends to her kinswoman Elizabeth. The ‘Magnificat’ she sings is about how God exalts the humble. It was certainly not an easy journey with Joseph to go to Bethlehem to get themselves registered in the census. She does so braving all odds. “There is no room in the inn” – is definitely no music to the ear of a woman about to deliver a child. She swallows the rejection, without complaining. The only place which the humble Joseph could find for Mary to deliver her first-born, was a stable on the periphery of the town. This humble, insignificant place becomes the palace for the ‘king of kings’. At Christmas, Jesus comes to us with the message of ‘humility’.
INCLUSIVENESS IS CHRISTMAS
The story of Christmas is that Jesus comes for ALL; no one is excluded. The Angels announce the good tidings of Jesus’ birth, first to the Shepherds. These were the sub-alterns of society; living a very hard a frugal and marginalized life. Yet they are the first to reach the stable to worship the new-born King. They are warmly welcomed; they are part of the family; including, that little ‘drummer boy’ who can only play his drum for Jesus. The Magi soon become part of the family. They bring to Jesus expensive gifts; but they are also aware of evil intentions of King Herod. From the many camels they have in their caravan, they would have certainly given a couple of them to Joseph, who needed to flee into Egypt along with Jesus and Mary. The First Refugee Family and Egypt sheltered them. Christmas reminds us of the need to check our attitudes, our actions – towards the other; to learn to become more inclusive.
SERVICE IS CHRISTMAS
In the Spiritual Exercises, St Ignatius Loyola, in the meditation on the Nativity, invites the exercitant “to see Our Lady and Joseph and the maid, and, after His Birth, the Child Jesus, I making myself a poor creature and a wretch of an unworthy slave, looking at them and serving them in their needs, with all possible respect and reverence, as if I found myself present; and then to reflect on myself in order to draw some profit”. In our highly commercialized world of today, we think that material presents are all that matters at Christmas. Sadly, that is far from what Christmas is all about. At the heart of Christmas is service; the courage to share of oneself- to be available to the poor and lonely, the sick and the old, the rejected and the excluded; to sit with them, to listen to them, to hold their hand, to accompany them, to serve them in whatever way we can. And to serve, with love.
Our world today is torn asunder by violence and hate; by discrimination and divisiveness; by corruption and greed; by injustice and inequality. Many Christians get caught in the web of materialism and hedonism- with things which really have nothing to do with Christmas. It is therefore important that we make every effort to put Christ back into Christmas, so that we can truly experience His JOY, HOPE, LOVE and PEACE.
A sure way of experiencing these gifts is through Truth, Humility, Inclusiveness and Service- THIS CHRISTMAS!
About Author:
Fr Cedric Prakash sj a Jesuit of the Gujarat Province is a human rights activist. He is currently based in Lebanon, engaged with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the Middle East on advocacy and communications. He is the recipient of several International &National awards. He is also a prolific writer.