This is the most wonderful time of the year. There are many reasons for rejoicing during the holiday season. The snow falling, the smell of pitch, Christmas lights, decorated trees and hanging wreaths, Christmas carols and holiday music, nativity scenes, giving and receiving gifts, family recipes served at family dinners, warm fires under adorned mantels; year after year, sights, smells and sounds help us remember merry Christmases that span generations and our own life stages. These traditions bring us into the “holiday spirit” each year.
The holiday season is a kind of cultural ritual that many people embrace. The Christmas season is a special season, regardless if one holds a deep conviction in their heart of the birth of our Lord and Savior or not. But, if we desire, we may enter more deeply into the mystery of these holy days.
God prepared the Israelites, His chosen people, through the Law and the Prophets. God promised them a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ, who would restore the fallen Adam and heal the spiritually diseased human race. The prophets predicted, and the Israelites prepared. The children of God prepared a “manger” for the long-awaited day of salvation. They waited for God’s loving mercy. The light of the world would soon pour forth through the Israelites to all the nations of the world. A new day would dawn. Today, we remember the fulfillment of this promise: God, who created the stars and knows them by name, humbled Himself to dwell among us. The All-Powerful ruler of the universe took on, assumed, our human nature; the Word of God chose to be born of a virgin; uniting the whole of His divinity to the whole of our humanity. What is not assumed has not be healed. Today, in the manger, the human race, the fallen Adam, is healed.
Today, the Virgin gives birth to the eternal word of God; the angels and the shepherds and the wise men bring good tidings. Let the earth and the heavens rejoice!
This Christmas, may we enjoy all the sights, smells and sounds that make this time of year special for many of us. But, in the midst of the traditions, routines, and sometimes hectic schedules, we may lose our footing. We may forget the “manger” prepared by God’s chosen people, and the manger in the countryside of Bethlehem. We may forget to prepare our own “manger” for the Lord’s birth: our hearts and our homes. If we remember, this “manger,” our hearts and homes, become the place where the Word of God is born in our lives. If we prepare a place for Him, God will dwell among us, today. In the here and now are good tidings of salvation and healing. The “sun” of righteousness, the light of Christ, dawns in our heart, making us children of light.
When Mary heard the words of the shepherds and saw everything that took place surrounding the birth of our Lord, she kept it in her heart; she remembered, she pondered, she meditated on the meaning of this mystery of salvation.
Our “manger,” our hearts and homes, is the place where God is born among His people; the place where God is remembered. While we eat, drink and are merry, let us also remember, ponder, and meditate. Let us rejoice in the birth of our Lord, not only in memory of time past, but in reality, here and now, in our daily lives. Then, truly, this will be the most wonderful time of the year.
Merry Christmas from my family to yours!
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
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Photo by Illiya Vjestica on Unsplash
