Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!

From the Mass in the night we hear familiar readings - 

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light"

and in the Gospel - the story of the Birth of Christ - situated in the middle of a census - with familiar characters and locations.

Using a familiar prayer form: if you were to insert yourself into the Gospel - Who would you be? Child Jesus ? If you are a child – I suppose this is OK. But if you are an adult - and you are thinking "hey folks - the focus on me…" that doesn’t really work! 

Are you Mary? Maybe a 1st time Mother - looking at the child with Wonder & Awe ... gazing upon the Child who the Angel said 9 long months ago was going to be so important...

Are you Joseph – father / for the first time? 

Looking upon the child and the weight of responsibility: to raise & to provide for Jesus - & you’re not really sure how he got here…

Are you Drummer Boy – (I know he is not in the Gospel - but we all know he was there - we sing the song, we have seen the show... (Par rum pa pum pum...)  Are you unsure of your giftedness?

Are you a Shepherd? Living so near - between Bethlehem and Jerusalem - that hearing of a child wrapped in swaddling cloth you think immediately of how you protect the newborn lambs so that they remain unblemished - to be used for sacrifice in the temple in Jerusalem?

Might I suggest we could all be the Innkeeper 

The one who the Lord is knocking on your heart – 

and you decide if there will be room to admit him.

To not operate out of Fear – like so many were / like so many do.

For the angels had to keep saying – “Be not afraid!”

Be not afraid to admit: 

The Lord of Lords, The King of Kings, the Prince of Peace!

Be not afraid to admit the one laid in feeding trough in Bethlehem - the house of bread.

The one laid in feeding trough with swaddling clothes - like the lambs for sacrifice in the temple.

The one who is the Lamb of God - whom we behold in the Eucharist - the one who has taken away the sin of the world, the one who will save us!

Is there room in the Inn of your heart to receive Christ - in the Stranger, in the Refugee, in the alien, in your neighbour, in your enemy, in the foreigner?

Will you admit him not only This Christmas… but beyond…?