CHRISTMAS
(text
only, to print)
On this
holy Christmas night, we have not met to listen to a well known story, but to
live out that story, to live out the birth of Jesus in the
Allow me
to present that story to you in three pictures or scenes, as you prefer. The first
one in
Let us go
to
Later we meet
with Joseph, newlywed with Mary. He is preparing the wedding when suddenly some
news are heard in the town: The daughter of Anna and Joacquim is expecting a son. Joseph could not believe it!
But, in the face of reality, he decides to leave her, with the heart full of
sadness. When an angel appears to him in
dreams and says to him: “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.
True, she is expecting a child, but she has conceived through the power of the
Holy Spirit”.
Joseph, full
of joy, goes to see Mary. Only with a glance, Mary realises that Joseph already
knows the mystery of Christmas, and Joseph in the glance of Mary also
understands that what the angel told him is true. His wife is the Mother of
God!
Saint John
Chrisostomus
wonders why Mary did not say anything to
Joseph about the appearance of the angel, and he answers himself saying that, Joseph
would have not believed it. What she had to explain was so extraordinary that
Joseph would have thought that Mary had gone crazy. Martín
Descalzo says that this encounter could be one of the
happiest moments for Joseph and Mary (Vida
y Misterio de Jesús de Nazaret).
We leave
While they were there, the time came for her to
have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in
swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them
in the inn (Lk 2:6-7).
Brothers
and sisters who are listening to me, let us ask
ourselves: Who is this infant laid in a manger?
Let us
contemplate the face of Mary, full of happiness, full of joy, placing her son
in the manger, as saying to us: “This infant is mine and yours, because I have
conceived him for you”.
Look also
at Joseph’s face, I would say even trembling a little,
because he knew very well that God was putting a great treasure in his hands:
the Son of God made man.
We leave
I also
tell you who are listening to me: “I proclaim to you good news: a saviour has
been born to us, who is Christ, the Lord”.
Very happy and anxious to get to
Saint
Bernard says that today there is another very important birth of Jesus, almost
as important as the one that took place two thousand years ago: today Jesus is
born in us. If we want Jesus to be born in our heart, we have to put into
practice this so beautiful prayer of Saint Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument
of your peace;
where there is hatred, let
me sow love;
when there is injury,
pardon;
where there is doubt,
faith;
where there is despair,
hope;
where there is darkness,
light;
and where there is sadness,
joy.
Grant that I may not so
much seek
to be consoled as to
console;
to be understood, as to
understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we
receive,
it is in pardoning that we
are pardoned,
and it is in dying [to
ourselves] that we are born to eternal life. 
MAY
YOU HAVE A GOOD CHRISTMAS DAY!!