How do we live the spirituality of Advent and Christmas in a milieu where this great mystery of faith is celebrated as a secular holiday and its preparation is a call to rampant consumerism and extravagant feasting? How do we keep our focus on the Gospel call to be alert and aware, to await in hope when all around us lies a landscape of frenetic activity, and considerable anxiety about meeting expectations or deadlines? How have we resolved the tension between being faithful to the beautiful season of Advent with its powerful message of hope and longing, and the reality of our world which seems so out of sync as our eyes and ears are assaulted with the sights and sounds of a commercial Christmas as soon as Halloween is over until they end abruptly on December 26. Do we sometimes welcome the new liturgical year with great anticipation and find ourselves four weeks later a bit strung out and disappointed as we enter into the celebration of this great day, wishing our preparation had been a little more focused, a little less caught in the frenzy around us? Is there a sense that we might be missing something as we respond to this beautiful day in the best way we know how?
As we gather together with friends and family to celebrate the great mystery of the Incarnation, we can sometimes fail to see the fullness of this gift, because we expect God to be present in the extraordinary, in that which stands out in contrast to everyday life. But the story of the nativity of Jesus tells us how completely God abides in what is ordinary, and chooses to enter our world amid the very real stresses of life that surround his kinfolk and account for his birth in a stable. God is in the midst of our world and our lives as truly as God came to earth more than two thousand years ago. God has been given once and for all, and forever to the human species and to the whole created world. That is the meaning of the Incarnation, the meaning of Emmanuel, and the meaning of Christmas.
As we celebrate with thanksgiving this mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus, we can be grateful for the incarnation of God in every human being and in all living creatures. We can find hope and joy in the many expressions of God found everywhere around us, in the tremendous outpouring of generosity and caring, perhaps not named as such, that is present in our culture these days, in the beauty of our tastefully decorated homes, in the liturgies we have celebrated, in the gifts given and received over these days, in the friends and relatives who have connected with us, in this festive meal prepared with loving care, and most of all in the spirit of caring and concern we give to one another. At times we are called to rely on God with us when Christmas becomes a moment of pain or heartbreak when we are ill or grieve the suffering or loss of a loved one and we know we are not alone. Presently in a world torn by war and division, we are called to stand in the darkness with those who suffer and respond by sharing our blessings in whatever way we can.
The beautiful Christmas song O Holy Night has been sung in churches and halls all over the world in many languages. Written by a simple wine merchant in Germany in 1847, this hymn contains a line that says when God came among us in the shape and form of Jesus “the soul felt its worth”. That baby in the manger at Christmas mirrors the truth of the divinity that is also present in you and me. As we gaze on the nativity scene where God becomes human, and realize that our worth comes from the mystery of God at the centre of our being, we find reason to sing further of the thrill of hope and the new and glorious morn we celebrate at Christmas. And we do not need to prove our worth, only to recognize it, to accept it in faith, to be grateful for it and try to live out of its power in our lives. And as Jesus shows us from the stable, weakness and vulnerability take nothing from it, but only add to that power.
Soon the Christmas bells and lights and tinsel will lose their significance in our society as people rush madly to take in the boxing-day sales and return to the humdrum of daily routines. But that spark of divinity that is such an essential part of our human identity will continue to be a light for us and for those whose lives we touch. As a Sister of St. Joseph, I wish to thank my companions in community for the many ways you have expressed the truth of the Incarnation in your lives, and continue to bring the light of God into a world in need. As we celebrate the great worth that is in each one of us through the Incarnation, let us be grateful for this power of God that is present in our world, expressed in unique but very ordinary ways we can often take for granted.
Joan Driscoll CS
December 2017