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Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Creed

I believe in Jesus Christ and in the beauty of the gospel begun in Bethlehem.

I believe in the one whose spirit glorified a little town; and whose spirit still brings music to persons all over the world, in towns both large and small.

I believe in the one for whom the crowded inn could find no room, and I confess that my heart still sometimes wants to exclude Christ from my life today.

I believe in the one whom the rulers of the earth ignored and the proud could never understand; whose life was among common people, whose welcome came from persons of hungry hearts.

I believe in the one who proclaimed the love of God to be invincible.

I believe in the one whose cradle was a mother's arms, whose modest home in Nazareth had love for its only wealth, who looked at persons and made them see what God's love saw in them, who by love brought sinners back to purity, and lifted human weakness up to meet the strength of God.

I confess my ever-lasting need of God: The need of forgiveness for our selfishness and greed, the need of new life for empty souls, the need of love for hearts grown cold.

I believe in God who gives us the best of himself. I believe in Jesus, the son of the living God, born in Bethlehem this night, for me and for the world.

 
Upon Reflection:  Most Catholics only make it to one Mass for the celebration of Christmas (if at all); therefore most do not realize that there are different Gospel readings used for the different Masses (1 for the Vigil, 1 for Midnight Mass, 1 for Mass at Dawn and 1 for Mass during the day).  For this reflection, we will focus on Luke 2:1-20 (the first half of this Gospel is used for Midnight Mass and the second half is used for Mass at Dawn).  Luke, the master storyteller, uses fantastic imagery of angels and shepherds and a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes among other things to paint his Infancy Narrative.  But perhaps the most striking and least understood image is that of the manger.  I am willing to bet that if I polled 10 random people walking into church on Christmas day as to what they think a manger is, at least 8 out of 10 would say that it is some sort of crib made out of hay.  True, that is the purpose for which Mary and Joseph used it, but that is not the primary function of a manger.  A manger is a feeding trough for animals (which, contrary to modern crèche scenes, would have been carved out of stone - wood was too precious of a material to use on barn animals).  It is a striking image because it delivers a message about the purpose of Jesus that is too often not connected to Christmas.  We all agree that Christmas is about giving, but what can easily be lost is the type of giving of which Christmas reminds us.  Jesus in the manger is an image that screams, "Feed the World!"  It's an image that says, "Don't just give gifts, give the gift of yourself in a way that feeds others, that nourishes others, that brings others to completeness."  Luke first presents Jesus to us in his version of the Gospel as food.  This means that the first Christmas according to Luke was very much like our Christmas gatherings today:  Family, Friends and Food!  The question for us is, "Will we, like the Holy Family and the shepherds, go forth from the manger each day of the year and feed the world around us?"  Of all the different claims about the "true meaning Christmas,” laying ourselves in the manger for others to feed on is perhaps the truest meaning we could ever experience.