Here we are
at Christmas Eve day. My reflection is
on Scripture readings that remind us of the promise to David of an heir [2
Samuel 7:1-16, Psalm 89:2-29], and the proclamation (“Canticle”) of Zachariah [Luke
1:67-79].
Our hearts
might be moving in three directions today.
The cultural
pull to celebrate Christmas is upon us, no matter what our family or cultural
tradition. We might be excited, or we
might be worried. We might be prepared
and ready and will be anticipating a wonderful time with family and friends. We might not yet be fully prepared, and the
day is hectic. Or we might be
celebrating Christmas alone.
Our
religious memory reminds us of why we celebrate Christmas. We could be imagining the holy couple—Joseph and
Mary—having made their way to Bethlehem, late and with nowhere to stay. Today, the scene can become very vivid for us,
whether we plan to celebrate Mass tonight or to celebrate tomorrow morning. The crib scene has a story. Our Savior— “God with us”—didn’t come into a wonderful palace,
like the one David built. Jesus was born
into a very lowly place. This is the
wonderful sign of God's self-emptying. This
is how God chose to come and be among us—as a newborn baby, in a manger, a
feeding trough. Our Savior comes in this
way, and it can become most meaningful today, if we let ourselves chew this
good news, in the midst of whatever we’re doing. It can mean so much if we let it. It can be a part of what we celebrate tonight
and tomorrow. Yes, there might be people
and parties, and there might be gifts shared. But we can be filled with something our world
will likely not be celebrating—that our God is a God who desires to meet us in
the lowliest places in our lives. God
with us, Jesus, comes to "save his people from their
sins."
The third
movement possible for us today is to remember, to collect, the graces of this
Advent journey. For some of us that might have been a great four weeks of
feeling that our longing for a closer relationship with our God has indeed
come. I might feel forgiven and loved at
a deeper level. I might be giving thanks
that some darkness within me has experienced light. We might sense that some desert has bloomed
with new life, in this new relationship. We might be feeling a greater freedom and a
greater fire within our heart to love as we have been loved. We might even feel more prepared to go out to
the places where others are feeling darkness and lowliness and experience the
call to bring light and joy there. Or we
might find ourselves not having been able to get around to Advent, right up to
this moment. There’s still time today. We can prepare for tonight and tomorrow. We can ask "Come, Lord, Jesus," in
this moment. We can experience a longing
in our hearts to know Jesus' love and mercy, and to feel a small
"Rejoice," or even a really big one, flow from deep inside.
We can
approach the manger of our salvation tonight and tomorrow with great openness
to the graces each of us can yet hope for and receive for our own inner peace,
and that we might bring peace to others in our lives, because of what we
ourselves have embraced.
Merry
Christmas!
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