In our home in the Bronx, once the Christmas tree was up and decorated, my Mother would carefully arrange under it the Nativity Set: the figures of Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, the stable – minus the Infant – who was placed after midnight on Christmas Eve. Any colorfully wrapped Christmas gifts were piled on the sides of the tree. The Nativity Set took center stage!
Mother reminded us that Christmas was not about gifts but about Jesus, born poor in Bethlehem. He was the center of her family’s life in Ireland, and He was the same for us in the Bronx! She would remind us that when she was a girl in Ireland – the second-oldest of 12 children, poor country folk – a typical Christmas gift was an apple, some sweets (candies) and a “fine goose dinner” followed by the recitation of the Rosary by the family on their knees!
I wonder how many Catholic families have a Nativity Set that is displayed in their homes? I wonder how many Catholic families pray together? Is Christmas reduced to gifts and barely a mention of Jesus?
It is good to see Nativity Sets displayed outside some homes in South Jersey. A public reminder to all that Christmas is about the Birth of Jesus. The Knights of Columbus have available a cardboard reproduction of a Nativity Set for outside the home. If interested, speak to one of the Knights.
Eight hundred years ago, in the village of Greccio, Italy, Saint Francis of Assisi created the first live reproduction of the Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Down through the centuries, many live presentations of the Birth of the Lord have taken place. Over the years, I have witnessed many – especially memorable are the adorable live productions done by children. Eventually, the live reproductions of the Nativity of the Lord led to the development of Nativity Sets. These reflect the catholicity of our Church, as they represent varieties of cultural and national settings in which the Gospel has taken root. In the Parish of All Saints in Millville, 200 Nativity Sets from around the world were on display last weekend! Hopefully, that will be repeated, as a family visit to view them is such a fine Christmas activity, especially for the children.
Saint Francis chose the village of Greccio because its caves reminded him of the countryside around Bethlehem. The village locals contributed what was needed to bring to life the Gospel reports about the circumstances of the Birth of the Savior – the hay, the animals, the feeding trough (manger) in which the Infant was placed. The villagers dressed in the roles of the participants at the Birth of the Savior: Mary, the Mother of the Child, her husband, Joseph, the shepherds and even an infant child!
What Saint Francis accomplished with the live Nativity was that the Birth of the Lord was not just a memory for the people. Rather, the live scene invited the viewer into the mystery of the Birth of the Savior according to the flesh. The humility of God who became one of us so that we could be one with God was on display. Here is your God with whom you can easily identify, the Child lying in the manger on a bed of straw surrounded by the animals, His Mother, her husband, the shepherds who came in from the fields at the direction of the angelic chorus. God who does what you do: sleeps, cries, takes mother’s milk, needs to be comforted and loved. Real persons are His Mother, her husband, the Infant, the band of shepherds, and painfully real is the poverty of the manger where He was born.
It can be said that words fail to grasp or explain the mystery of the first Christmas, the Birth of the Lord, God in human flesh. The union of the divine and human in the Child of Bethlehem who is the Son of God and the Son of Mary is a tremendous mystery. God invisible to the human eye is seen. God beyond time enters time. God not limited by the confines and restrictions of human flesh takes on human flesh. The all-powerful God condescending to humanity in the form of an innocent, weak infant boy child. Yes, it may be indescribable, but it reveals God so approachable in the Infant Babe of Bethlehem. God who became human to be very close to us.
I suggest that during this Christmas season, you pause before a Nativity Set, either in your home or in your parish church. Stop there and consider God who receives you with open arms into His love. God who is not distant from you. God who is not detached from this world. God in the innocence, the littleness and weakness of the Infant Jesus who touches your life, your heart and embraces you and your weaknesses with God’s love.
“To us a child is born. To us a child is given.” (Isaiah 9:6) For each of us. For everyone. For you, Christ is born and given. It matters not your frailty, your weakness or your sin. Jesus is born for you. Not in might and power, but in the frailty and sweetness of a newborn infant. Take Him. Hold Him close. Make Jesus the center of your life, your home, your family. He is the gift of God for you. A gift you need.
I suggest that if any member of your family does not have a Nativity Set for their home, you gift them one. They range in price and are easily available. In that way, the 800-year-old tradition that Saint Francis began in Greccio continues in your family as it did in our home when my Irish Mother annually and lovingly arranged the Nativity Set beneath our Christmas tree. On Christmas Eve, she would light a red candle (it had to be red!) and placed it in the window of our living room so that its light would guide the Holy Family to our home, to our family.
May the light of the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph illuminate your home and keep away all darkness. A blessed Christmas to you and yours who will be gratefully remembered by me in my Christmas Mass and prayers.
Merry Christmas!
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden