“SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER”
Daily Spiritual Reflections
25th December 2021
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SATURDAY, SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD
Is 9:2-7; Ps 96:1-3, 11-13; Tit 2:11-14; Lk 2:1-14
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CHRISTMAS MUST HAPPEN IN OUR HEARTS
The Corona Virus has changed our way of living. It will surely have an impact also on our Christmas celebrations. I would like to recall the words of Pope Francis, which he pronounced at the end of the weekly General Audience on 16th December, 2020: While “this year restrictions and hardships await us, let us think of the Christmas of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph: There were no roses and flowers! How many difficulties they had! How many worries! Yet, faith, hope and love guided and sustained them. May it be so for us too!” He concluded with a prayer: “May these difficulties help us purify Christmas, making it more pure, authentic and true, with less consumerism.”
Here are three key words beginning with the alphabet “S” that indicate to us three ways we can celebrate Christmas with a difference this year.
1) Silence
Today Christmas is filled with noise. But just reflect on the first Christmas as described in the Gospel today. Except for the message and song of the angels to the shepherds who were out in the fields, not a word is spoken by Mary or Joseph. We could recall the words we find in the book of Wisdom, to describe the whole scene of the Nativity: “For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed….” (Wis 18:14-15).
Christmas is shrouded in silence. “Silent Night, Holy Night” is one of the most popular carols we sing in this season. Silence is the atmosphere of God’s coming. Silence is God’s language. A silent God can only speak to a silent heart. St Ambrose (339- 397) notes: “The devil loves noise; Jesus looks for silence.”
Sadly, we live in a high decibel culture, making us deaf to each other and ultimately to God. Silence is the great revelation: it reveals God to us; more threateningly, it reveals us to ourselves. Could this be the reason why we are afraid of silence? Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), the French philosopher and catholic theologian put it so eloquently when he stated: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” We need to enter into ourselves, explore and experience silence more deeply if we are to enjoy Christmas. The great Carmelite mystic, St John of the Cross reminds us: “The Father spoke one Word, which was His Son, and this Word He always speaks in eternal silence, and in silence must it be heard by the soul” (Maxims and Counsels, 21).
2) Simplicity
Christmas is wrapped in simplicity. As we contemplate the Divine Child in the crib, we are struck by simplicity.
• The Gospel begins with the mention of the emperor Caesar Augustus) and the governor Quirinius – the high and mighty of those times, yet God does not make himself present there.
• He appears not in the splendour of a royal palace, but in poverty of a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes, not luxurious garments.
• He was born in a simple village of Bethlehem, not in Rome.
• His mother and father were ordinary and simple village folk.
• The first visitors were simple, smelly shepherds.
There is beauty and blessedness in simplicity! It is to the simple that God reveals his deepest secrets. Jesus himself exclaims: “I thank you, Father of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Lk 10:21). The simple are ready to learn because they are empty; the sophisticated mistakenly think they know it all and sadly remain for that very reason unlearned. Blessed are the simple for they shall be taught by God! Like the shepherds on that first Christmas night, we need to come to Jesus in our simplicity and littleness.
Pope Francis spoke on this aspect. “In a society so often intoxicated by consumerism and hedonism, wealth and extravagance, appearances and narcissism, this Child calls us to act soberly, in other words, in a way that is simple, balanced, consistent, capable of seeing and doing what is essential” (Homily at Midnight Mass, 2015). Let us rid our Christmas of external, lavish celebrations and return to a simplicity of life.
3) Solidarity
The Christmas crib displays the joy of giving. Giving starts with God. The best and the finest is given to us by our heavenly Father. He so loved the world that he gave his only Son (cf. Jn 3:16). The joy of giving is pronounced by Mother Mary who offers her beloved Child to the world. Saint Joseph is ever ready to give of himself for the babe and the mother in the manger. The star gives light and direction to the three wise men. The three kings, offer gifts to the newborn King. We can distinguish three levels of giving:
a. Giving away what we don’t need. It is clearing our houses and cupboards of those things which we no longer use and only occupying space. It’s good, but not enough.
b. Giving something new or things we actually need. It could be in kind or cash. It is better, but we can go beyond.
c. Giving of ourselves. This is uniquely Christian and follows the example of Jesus, who came to the world and then offered himself on the Cross for our salvation. This giving continues in the Eucharist.
Can we think of giving of ourselves this Christmas? Mother Theresa of Kolkota always used to say, if you cannot give anything at least give a smile. “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” Give a word of encouragement, or appreciation, give a pat on somebody’s back, and do not forget the most powerful and princely giving is forgiving.
Christmas tells us that if we wish to be happy, healthy and joyful, we must share our goodness with others, especially with the, poor, old, sick, and the less fortunate. It makes us aware what Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
Response: Unto us is born this day a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.
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