A few nights ago there was a young Syrian girl who used a social media platform to alert the world to the plight of the people left in Aleppo as fighting continued to destroy what was left of the city. She sent out a plea to the world community to help rescue her people who were left behind. I was moved by the courage of this young girl who was only ten or eleven years old and who spoke, not out of fear, but out of love. And you may ask what does this young Muslim woman have to say to us about Christmas?
The Christian community around the world celebrates, not just the story of a child born a long time ago, but how that story is still alive among us today. The voice of that young Syrian girl reminds us that God really lives among us today and is seen in the face of a young Syrian girl crying out not just for herself but for all those who suffer in her city. God comes among us in so many ways and through so many people who manifest love in our world. In her, I heard the cry of God, reminding me that Love dwells within me and among us.
The meaning of Christmas and the Incarnation invites us into this mystery of who we are in God. Love is not something we do, it is who we are.
As we gather with family, friends, and neighbours, it is time for us to awaken the love that is within and live from that place where each of us can help transform the world moment by moment through the loving way we respond to all that comes into our lives.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada!
Joan Atkinson, CSJ