December 25, 2015
Nativity of the Lord
Each year we need to return to Bethlehem. The poet T. S. Eliot writes: “We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.†Girls and boys do you remember the “port-key†in Harry Potter when Harry, Hermione & Ron, by touching an old boot, are transported to the Quidditch World Cup? By coming to church, and gathering together with the singing of carols, the flowers and the readings we are transported back to Bethlehem to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Today I proclaim verses from the infancy narrative of the Gospel according to St. Luke. Joseph and Mary journey to Bethlehem. “While they were there the time came for her to give birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the inn.†We may misunderstand “no room for them in the inn.†2,000 years ago there are no Comfort Inns that we enjoy and take for granted in our travels. People then journey in caravans and find lodging in sheltered courtyards (or caves). People away from home sleep on cots elevated a few steps from the floor where the animals are kept. We can imagine there is not an appropriate place in the public lodging for Mary to give birth so Joseph finds a quiet niche or stall for a measure of privacy. When the baby is born Mary wraps Jesus in swaddling cloths for care and comfort and then places him in a manger or a feed box/trough for grain for animals. In our devotion the manger becomes a cradle.
The birth of Jesus cannot be understood as a particular event isolated from us. The Son of God, “the Word†is born eternally in the bosom of the Father, becomes flesh in the womb of Mary and is born from the heart of the church and the faithful. There is a threefold birth of Christ: eternally in the Father, from the womb of the Virgin Mary and mystically in the souls of the faithful. (Meister Eckhart, O.P., and Hugo Rahner, S.J., in America Magazine December 21-28, 2015) Our response to this mystery is silence. In the depth of our souls we must listen to the gentle whispering sound of God eternally and always uttering “the Word†of divine love and mercy in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Greek word that is translated as “inn†in our Gospel is used a second time by the evangelist St. Luke with a slightly different sense as the “guest room†where Jesus intends to have his last meal with his disciples. (Luke 22:11) There Jesus, who once as a baby is placed in a food box, will take bread and wine and say: “This is my body.†“This is my blood.†We can return to Bethlehem by listening to the Word, by receiving Jesus in Holy Communion and by living his Way.
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4th Sunday of Advent
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Feast of the Holy Family
