Christmas is an invitation to reflect on the meaning and impact on us – in the past, at present, and for the future.
Francis Thompson (1859-1907), an English poet and a Catholic mystic, wrote just one poem in his life and it became very famous. The title of the poem is: The Hound of Heaven – It is a poem centering on the pursuit of a sinner by a loving God. The sinner is running away from God but God as a hound, that is, as a relentless hunting dog, goes after him. Francis Thompson writes: ‘Nigh and nigh draws the chase – With unperturbed pace – Deliberate speed, majestic instancy’ and finally God overpowers the man and says: ‘Rise, clasp My hand, and come’. This is the final surrender of human to God.
And we celebrate tonight, God’s search for the humans and becoming Himself a human being. He came down all the way from heaven, and has now settled down with us here on earth. St Athanasius (293-373) said, “God became man so that man might become God” – It is an invitation for us to grow into Godness. This is to realize what St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) crisply said: exitus et reditus. We came from God as we were created in His image and likeness (Gen 1:27) and we, as Teilhard de Chardin would say, are to converge towards and merge with the Omega Point. The fulcrum of this human history as well as the history of salvation is Incarnation celebrated at Christmas.
Today’s readings tell us how the expectation of the Israelites became a reality when Jesus was born and how it is an ongoing event of grace. In the words of Isaiah, people walking in darkness have seen a great Light tonight. This Child would bring immense joy and effective governance with justice and righteousness. And this human Baby would be our Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace (Is 9:6). And this prophetic vision of Isaiah became a reality on this Silent Night. This prince would be wrapped in swaddling clothes and His throne would be the manger of the cattle filled with straw. But He brings along peace and joy not only to the simple shepherds but to all men and women of goodwill (Lk 2:14). And this Child is the grace of God in human flesh and in concrete timeline. This little innocent Baby is the one who would train us, as Paul writes to Titus, to ‘renounce ungodliness and worldly passion’ (Titus 2:12). In other words the Baby in the manger invites us to grow in Godness. He has the gene of God and He would do divine gene-therapy for us to become God-like.
And this process of growing in Godness requires that we have to grow in phases of reflection, refraction, relations, reformation, and resilience.
Reflection: St Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), in the contemplation on the Nativity (SpEx 110-117), invites us to reflect on this event of Incarnation so that we would have reverse Incarnation. Tonight the universe is reflected on the crib. Constantine Beschi, in his writings and poems, would describe Mary as a person having the sun for her cloak, the moon for her footwear, and the stars as the crown emanating light as described in Rev 11 and 12. We notice Joseph, the designer and builder, mason cum carpenter, seriously reflecting on the future of the Child. We register the shepherds sharing their innocence with the Child, while the Magi finding simplicity in divinity. The animals are meeting face to face with their creator. There is no other incident in the history of world religions where the creator comes face to face with the creatures. Over there the darkness is filled with the light of the world; and silence is mesmerized with the angelic singing.
Refraction: When Newton let sun light pass through a prism, out came the multicoloured spectrum. We have seen the same on rainy days, how the sun light, due to refraction through the rain drops, forms the rainbow. The intellectual reflection should seep through our inner self of emotional build up. On this day when the Light of the World is born, we could think of us as prisms and God’s grace streaming through each of these prisms. We have the grain of Godness in us manifested in our goodness and feeling of compassion for the other, especially the needy and the marginalized. The divine light of tonight refracts through us and reveals something in common with Jesus – His compassion, His thirst for justice, His taking stand with the poor and the neglected, His boldness to fight against injustice etc as the multicoloured or multifaceted rays of grace that get refracted through our inner prism.
Relations: These refracted rays of Christ’s characteristics predominantly center on salvation in relations. When Ignatius wrote to the Jesuit delegates, Lainez, Salmeron, and Favre, sent to the Council of Trent in 1545, he gave them three instructions: i. build social relations; ii. help the needy; and iii. take care of your health in moderation. And tonight we perceive the importance of building social relationships with people from all walks of life: The Shepherds and the Wise Men are the representatives from the both extremes of the society, namely the illiterate and the learned, the poor and the rich, the down-to-earth shepherds and the heavenward-looking star-gazing astronomers – all merge and converge in a little Baby. This relationship is enhanced by sharing – Sharing can be of goods or goodness. The Shepherds share their simple goodness with the divine Baby, while the Magi share with the Lord their costly goods, namely, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The shepherds so much impressed the Baby that latter Jesus would imagine Himself as the Good Shepherd. And the sky-searching Magi made a great impact on the little One and later He would advise people to decipher the signs on the sky such as ‘if you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you could say, it’s going to rain and it does’ (Lk 12:54); and when the fig trees ‘sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near’ (Lk 21:30). Similarly, He would recommend us to decipher the signs of our times in order to build the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Reformation: Relationships enabling one to understand others as well as the universe, would call for reformation, which starts with the change of heart. Christmas asks us for reformation and reorientation. We also learn from Christmas that crisis contains potential for creativity. Pandemic was a crisis but it made us realize that we need people more than ever. This feeling, on the one hand our helplessness and on the other hand our interdependence on others, has started its ripple effect. We have come to realize that either we live together or we perish together. As the Omicron is invading the world, we realize how the world is a small village, and how this mighty world is too small and too helpless on the face of the invisible micron. Our science and technology have not come to our rescue in a big way; but the money-making industries, in the name of vaccines I and II, and now booster, are thriving.
We need change of perspectives. We could distantly hear the voice of John the Baptist, who was giving the clarion call for reformation based on a new outlook on life. He exhorted all who have two shirts to share with the one who has none – He admonished the tax collectors (or civil servants) not to tax people more than their due; and he warned the soldiers (or law and order people) not to extort money and not to accuse people falsely – He ultimately recommended all to be content in life with what one has (Lk 3:11-14). This reformation starting from the mindset of justice and equality should lead us to rework our life principles and practices for the better and the Ignatian ‘other’ centered.
Resilience: Often, any change, including reformation would imply resilience or forbearance. We need to constantly adopt ourselves amidst challenges and hardships and at the same time not losing our enthusiasm to live better. The Holy Family stands out as an example of resilience: Joseph and Mary, when they could not succeed in booking a room in the inn, they could adapt themselves to the cattle-shed and the baby Jesus finds comfort in the manger. Further, they would find their way as migrants to Egypt; and they also would look for the missing boy Jesus for three days in tension and confusion. The Shepherds have the resilience to go in search of the 1% lost sheep, leaving behind, with full confidence, 99% well behaved sheep. The Magi had to exercise resilience as they had to take an unknown alternate route back to their native cities and countries.
We have learnt this lesson of resilience from the migrants when the lockdown was announced in March 2020. Change is the one that is changeless in our lives but we need to learn, through resilience, how to live amidst changes, challenges, and storms. Our GC 36 had the audacity of hope to ‘row into the deep’ so that we could sail through the storms, not getting frightened of the ravaging storm waves but by looking at the benevolent Jesus, who is the Lord of the Storm. We need to put on courage and confidence as we contemplate the crib. We need to be like eagles. When there is a storm or cyclone, all the birds rush to safe shelters. But an eagle watches the wind direction and studies the intensity of the storm, then accordingly opens up its wings and synchronizing with the storm, the eagle could fly in the direction and with the velocity of the storm and soar to the heights where it is calm.
So tonight and in the days to come, when we see the baby Jesus lying on the manger, let us reflect how much we resemble Him. We could thank the Lord for all that is common between us and Jesus or all that resonates with Jesus. And when we find any discord or dissonance, let us reform ourselves so that we could reflect Jesus in us and refract Him in our ways of thinking, living, and giving. And Christmas makes us understand the need for building lasting and meaningful relationships in view of our mission. Let not our Christmas just mean the crib but let it extend as care for others; let not Christmas get localized with sharing of goods as gifts but imparting our goodness with others; and let not Christmas end with candies and dinners but let it become concern for the needy.
Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do people say that we are?” and “What do we know about ourselves?” As followers of Jesus, we need to ask ourselves in our mission the questions: “Who am I?” and “Whose am I?” Today let us ask ourselves the triple questions: “What is Christmas to me?”, “Who is my Christmas?”, and “To whom am I Christmas?” Whoever brings peace and joy in our life is our Christmas and whenever we bring along peace and joy to others, we are their Christmas. Jesus wants us to be His peace and joy to others. Jesus has no one else today except us to proclaim and to live out his peace and joy and to share them with others. He needs to be born in us so that we get transformed and become the other Christ.
May the Christmas make us understand that every day is the day of God’s blessings to us and a reminder that we as Christophers, are bearers of Christ, and we need to be God’s blessings for others – Let us be that light and blessing of the baby Jesus to others in 2022. May the Baby, the Incarnation, inspire us for reverse Incarnation. This could be realized as Paul would say by putting on Christ (Rom 13:14) and having the same mindset as Jesus Christ (Phil 2:5). Let us be the Christmas’ peace and joy to all people we meet in life and we serve. May the peace and joy of Christmas be with us all through the Christmas season and all days of the New Year 2022.
Francis P Xavier SJ
25Dec2021