I read an article by Fr Nicholas King SJ awhile back and he asked an interesting question: what was the first Christmas like?
He suggests that we like to imagine what that very first Christmas was really like for the young couple Mary and Joseph. I think it captures our imagination in a very particular way because it is so different from Christmas in Australia. Our Christmas season is filled with sensational gardenia blossoms and exquisite hydrangea flowers. We are soaked in bright sunshine and high humidity and thunderstorms.
St Ignatius of Loyola, in the Spiritual Exercises, suggests a very charming contemplation of the Nativity, inviting the retreatant to imagine themselves as \u2018a poor and unworthy little servant\u2019, who will see to all the Holy Family\u2019s needs.
St Francis of Assisi likewise encouraged the faithful to contemplate the crib at Christmas; and it was he, apparently, who added to the Nativity scene the \u2018ox and ass\u2019 that he had discovered in Isaiah 1:3, where the prophet is unfavourably comparing Israel\u2019s relationship to God with that of dumb animals to their owners (the animals recognise that God is Lord, Israel doesn\u2019t). The crib is such an essential part of our Christmas that it seems surprising that it did not exist before 1223, when Francis created a \u2018living crib\u2019 at the small Italian town of Greccio. Before that the celebration of Christmas belonged to the priests, who conducted a high Latin mass inside a church building.
In contrast, Francis reclaimed the birth of Christ for the original participants: poor people, animals, plants. He placed an ox and an ass round the manger; he imported hay, representing plants, and with his brothers he celebrated the Christmas mass with the local people, who streamed past the crib with lights and candles, creating the light of the star.
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At the end he insisted the hay, and the animals should be taken care of because we must care for every created thing, even when we no longer need it.
The image of the humble crib transcends location and time. The utter vulnerability of the tiny baby Jesus sends an eternal message to all Christians. God sent his only Son as a fragile baby.
The Incarnation begins in a concrete way in the most humble of circumstances with a young couple Mary and Joseph who were inexperienced and overwhelmed. This moment changes the course of human history forever, nothing is ever the same again. The Lord is with us now and forever.
This Christmas I will once again \u2018put the cribs out\u2019. Always in a prominent position so the little ones can pick up the figures and ask, who is this one? I will take my grandchildren to the local Parish to see the Crib and let its transformative story work its wonder on the young ones.
I pray this Christmas that we may take a moment to contemplate the crib; Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to all people of good will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Virginia Ryan<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I read an article by Fr Nicholas King SJ awhile back and he asked an interesting question: what was the first Christmas like? He suggests that we like to imagine what that very first Christmas was really like for the young couple Mary and Joseph. 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