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Miracles can happen in our own time, too, if we keep Christ at the center.
There are many fond memories and cherished, time-honored traditions, rituals and symbols that mark this time of the year -- the symbols of the Christmas tree, the ritual of decorating it, the Christmas wreath, stockings by the fireplace, and the wrapping of presents placed under the tree. These traditions make this a very enchanted time of the year. But most of all, the Christmas crèche remains the most cherished and distinctive symbol of Christmas.
Francis wanted to make real to us today the humiliation of the Son of God who became a child born in a stable in the midst of squalor and animals and poor peasants, and yet was the model of spiritual perfection. He who is the ruler of all chose to be subject to His creation, to the point of offering His life on the cross to free us from sin. (Augustine Thompson, O.P., “Francis of Assisi: A New Biography” Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2012, p. 109)
Continued below.
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There are many fond memories and cherished, time-honored traditions, rituals and symbols that mark this time of the year -- the symbols of the Christmas tree, the ritual of decorating it, the Christmas wreath, stockings by the fireplace, and the wrapping of presents placed under the tree. These traditions make this a very enchanted time of the year. But most of all, the Christmas crèche remains the most cherished and distinctive symbol of Christmas.
Humanity: Presence in Time
The story is well known. St. Francis was inspired, it is believed, by his pilgrimage to the Holy Land to depict the scene of Christ’s birth in a literal way. As his first biographer, Brother Thomas of Celano, explains it, St. Francis desired to “represent the birth of that child in Bethlehem in such a way that with our bodily eyes we may see what he suffered for lack of the necessities of a newborn babe and how he lay in [a] manger between the ox and ass.” And people from all around flocked to contemplate the scene during Christmas Mass. (St. Francis and the Story of the First Nativity Scene) Francis wanted to emphasize the real human experience of that first Christmas night -- that God truly became a human being, born as a baby from a virgin mother. The God beyond us and above us is also among us in the most humble way possible. This is a good lesson for us, especially at this time of the year when it is so easy to romanticize that night when Christ was born. It is good that we put much effort, artistry and love into decorating our nativity scenes, but the beauty of the art should inspire us to contemplate the historical moment in its full reality and not distract us from it.Francis wanted to make real to us today the humiliation of the Son of God who became a child born in a stable in the midst of squalor and animals and poor peasants, and yet was the model of spiritual perfection. He who is the ruler of all chose to be subject to His creation, to the point of offering His life on the cross to free us from sin. (Augustine Thompson, O.P., “Francis of Assisi: A New Biography” Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2012, p. 109)
Continued below.
Lessons Learned from Contemplating the Nativity Scene
Miracles can happen in our own time, too, if we keep Christ at the center.
