12/23/2012
Here we are again. Christmas! The image here is the creche in St. John Church. It has all the usual figures: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepherds and sheep. Out of view in the photo are the three wise men and the other animals. But there is one figure not in this collection of statuary. Do you know who it is?
It’s YOU!
When you stand and look into the creche you are as much a part of the Nativity scene as any of the traditional figures. The shepherds and the wise men looked on with awe and wonder. So do you. Mary looked at her own son and “reflected in her heart,” as the gospel says. So do you. Joseph is the silent one. He looks on and is speechless. So are you when you see the eternal Son of God clothed in mortal human flesh.
I, too, stand in silence each year before the creche, and awe and wonder fills me. I stare into the eyes of baby Jesus and alllow love for God to fill me and calm all my anxieties and fears. And once again, as at every Christmas, I am at peace.
May the peace of Christ fill you this Christmas! Merry Christmas!