A friend of mine is
expecting his first child any day now. I
met him a long time ago, when he was an undergraduate and I was in seminary. We each pursued our life’s adventures far and
near, losing touch and making contact over the years, until just a few years
ago I was pleased to help him and his splendid wife prepare for marriage. Her pregnancy brought them back to Washington
this summer, and I have been pleased to visit with them several times. As the due date grew near and I was checking
in by email, I expressed my hope that we will see one another soon, writing: I gather you'll be around here over the
coming weeks, building your own Nativity scene.
Can't wait to see.
Only as I was writing
that, did I realize the ramifications of what I was saying. Now, he may in fact be setting up somewhere
in his home a little diorama of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, perhaps with a king or
camel. It may even be elaborate, but I
doubt it requires as much skill and effort as the one our Holy Name men put up
in front of the church each year! But
that was not what I was talking about.
One day I helped them
carry things up to their third-floor apartment, and then they gave me the grand
tour. They showed me the room that would
be for the baby, and some of the furniture and other items that they were
preparing even back in summertime. But
even building a crib, or the purchase of what these days pass for swaddling clothes,
was not what I had in mind
He and his wife are
preparing to welcome the arrival of their child, a nativity that will change them, and moreover, it will change the
world. This new relationship will take
first place in their lives, and will level demands upon them without
articulating a word. The demands of love
cannot be resisted, nor can they be resented.
Just as I was impatient
for news from my friend, our eagerness for Christmas, the anticipation of Christ’s
birth, reveals the particular delight God elicits from us by coming as a tiny
child. But we can no sooner turn away
from His ongoing requirements once He presents Himself, than parents can from
their own child. God who has revealed
Himself to us first as a loving Father, now enters our lives as a dependent
child.
My friend is reordering his
life to make a space for this new-born life, as if building a new home. It is a nativity scene that is not frozen in
time, but extends farther than he can plan or even picture. This is what he and his wife is building now
for their child, and this is what God gives us an opportunity to do for Jesus
at His birth.
God’s sign is simplicity. God’s
sign is the baby. God’s sign is that he
makes himself small for us. This is how
he reigns. He does not come with power
and outward splendor. He comes as a baby
– defenseless and in need of our help.
He asks for our love; so he makes himself a child. (Pope Benedict XVI)
Without hammer or nail,
without statue or figurine, may God help you build a Nativity scene this holy
day. Let Christ be born to you and
yours, and may he reign over you in His small, simple way. Without a word, he demands only your love;
this is the yoke that is easy, and the burden that is light. Behold, He comes. A blessed Christmas to you!
Monsignor Smith
