IN ALL THE CHILDREN
We have finally reached the birthday of
Jesus. We stand in front of the manger and look at the peaceful
scene: Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the Infant Jesus at the
center. The birth of Jesus is not a fable. It is a story that
really happened in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.
Faith brings us to recognize in that little Child the true Son of
GOD who, out love, chose to become man. In the face of the little
Jesus, we contemplate the face of GOD, which is revealed in
weakness and in the fragile constitution of a child. He reveals all
the goodness and infinite beauty of GOD, the faithfulness and
tenderness of the boundless love with which GOD surrounds each of
us.
For this reason, we rejoice at Christmas, reliving the same
experience as the shepherds of Bethlehem. We celebrate because with
Jesus’ birth the Father has responded to our desire for truth,
forgiveness and peace. And He has responded with such enormous love
that He astonishes us. No one could have imagined it if Jesus had
not revealed it.
When I visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for the
first time, I was puzzled by the huge Church. It has only one
entrance, so low that only a child can walk straight through it. We
adults have to bend down in order to pass through it. How
appropriate to approach the place where GOD humbled Himself and
became a child.
It is said that the entrance was made so low in ancient times to
prevent soldiers from entering on their horses and Bedouins on
their camels. It was kept that way until today to make all pilgrims
aware: If GOD came down from Heaven, we cannot but come down also
from our pedestals to live as brothers and sisters, to climb down
from our “camels” in order to approach the place where GOD appeared
as a child.
May we, therefore, see in every child the humble Child Jesus who
invites us to “become like little children” in order to enter one
day the Kingdom of GOD. - Fr. Rudy Horst,
SVD
REFLECTION
QUESTION: What are
the pedestals from which I lord it over others, the “camels” I
must come down from
to be worthy of what Christ has done for me?
Lord, thank You for coming and for becoming one of us. Kneeling at
the manger and looking at You as a helpless infant, I feel weighed
down by my pride. I pray that this Christmas will change my
attitude. I pray that every child I see will remind me of You and
of my task to become small and humble. Amen.
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