Christmas Reflection

Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM, and Christine Cusick-Prellwitz offer their thoughts about Christmas. You're invited to share your thoughts and reflections.

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READINGS

Is 9:1-6
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as people make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder,
and the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
from David’s throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
by judgment and justice,
both now and forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!


Ti 2:11-14
Beloved:
The grace of God has appeared, saving all
and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires
and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of our great God
and savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness
and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.

Lk 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
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.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

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REFLECTIONS

By Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM

“She wrapped him is swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.” The infant Jesus was wrapped in the long narrow strips of cloth wound around his limbs and body which made freedom of movement impossible. It was the custom of the time. It seems unbelievable that the Savior, on whose freedom and power we all depend, should be bound to lie helpless on the straw.

Paul tells us that Jesus emptied himself to come among us; not empty of his divinity but of his glory. “He took the form of a servant” (Phillipians 2). Jesus makes himself vulnerable. Paul says that we should have the same mind that Jesus has – obedience to the Father’s will and vulnerable – in order to manifest the great power of God.

Francis of Assisi was overwhelmed b y the humility of God, especially as expressed in the Incarnation and the crucifixion. Francis wanted to relive that first night of Jesus’ birth so long ago by gathering people and animals together on the hillside of Greccio to celebrate the wonder of Jesus’ birth.

As well as being wrapped in bands of cloth at birth, bodies were wrapped the same way for burial. When Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb, his first instructions were “unbind him.” Jesus became vulnerable so that all of us could become unbound. How many things there are that bind us, not allowing us to grow and develop as God intends.

Life in Jesus helps us to stay free. Our rejoicing at Christmas comes from knowing that our unbinding is possible and very real. When we enter into the life of God in Jesus we become more free and help others to come to that freedom.

The Incarnation challenges us to acknowledge the values of Jesus and to assert that love is stronger than force. We should rejoice in our vulnerability because then God’s power comes forth more strongly because we are less in the way.

I pray that your Christmas is filled with peace and the love of God that comes to us in Jesus.


By Christine Cusick-Prellwitz

Amidst the advertisements, tips on holiday shopping, recipe exchanges, and travel warnings, if we really listen, in sometimes hushed voices, we can hear people talk about the “true meaning” of Christmas. Sometimes these conversations surround fundraising efforts, other times they are stories about communities reaching out to their neighbors in need, and sometimes they are captured in small moments when we turn and see a child’s awestruck gaze into the sky, anticipating the implausible.

When I hear these stories of good works, see these gazes of wonder, the Gift that we celebrate on this day seems so simple, so unencumbered. Fr. Lou’s wise words remind us not just of what happened on the still dark night in Bethlehem, but perhaps more importantly, how it happened. Amidst the lavish celebrations, the ornate gifts, all of the things that sometimes keep us “bound,” how far do I fall away from the deep humility, the profound simplicity, of what God made possible, through the faith of Mary and of Joseph, in the birth of their young son, Jesus, Love, Emmanuel, “God is with us.”

When I think of the power that St. Francis heard in the materiality of this “how” I understand with more clarity why Mt. Irenaeus, and all the lives and spirit it embodies, remains, even through physical distance, such a force for so many of us. This tenor of the Gospel message, the emphasis on not just what we are called to do, but the spirit in which we are called to act: the prayer, the embraces, the laughter, the honesty, the conversations, the silence, the nourishment—the Mountain, molded through the example of the Friars, has shown me this “how,” as Fr. Lou reminds us, “love” is “stronger than force,” a love that relies on a beautiful, powerful vulnerability, the truth that we cannot realize Christ’s teachings unless we unfold our sometimes stubborn selves into the arms of community.

As I look up into the depths of this Christmas night sky, I think of St. Francis’s first crèche, the humble lives of a woman called Mary, of a carpenter named Joseph, of tired shepherds, of blessed oxen ass, and sheep, all surrounding a seemingly helpless infant, and I pray that the hope that ties us to one another, in body and spirit, might give stronger voice to the hushed stories of a radiant, lived Christmas Love.

(To share your thoughts, post a comment below on the Mountain's blog or on the Mountain's Facebook Page.)

(Mt. Irenaeus Web Site)