Christmas Reflection

  Readings: (For Christmas morning)   

• Isaiah 62:11-12. Zion-Jerusalem is no longer forsaken but will be called “frequented,” because of the swarming number of the Lord’s holy people.
• Titus 3:4-7. When the kindness and love of God appeared, he save us because of his mercy through the baptism of new birth and our renewal by the Holy Spirit.
• Luke 2:15-20. Shephards have come in haste Once the saw, they understood. Mary treasured all these things and relected on them in her heart.

Christmas reflection for your consideration: By Fr. Ronan Newbold, CP  

Today we celebrate Christmas, The readings we hear today will tell us of the historical moment where the incarnation of God and man happened through the birth of Jesus Christ. In the second reading we are told that our salvation is a free gift from God who loves us dearly and in His mercy we are renewed. This reading reminds me of a story I had heard recently which I would like to share with you.  

This is a short story about a childless couple who had raised their orphaned nephew named David. He is now leaving them for college, and the three of them are standing on the railroad platform waiting for the train to pick him up. David looked at his aunt and uncle. There his aunt stood with hands wrinkled, and cupped and hard from selling fruit and vegetables outdoors in all kinds of weather. He face, surrounded with a worn scarf, was ruddy and round and invariably smiling. Her heavy body was more accustomed to a half a dozen sweaters at one time than a single coat. Her hair was the color of moonlight now, but the dark eyes were still bright. He, with his slight, wiry body, strong yet bent from lifting too many fruit and vegetable crates for too many years, had wind-burned skin, with a swarthy, wrinkled face, and wry mouth. There the childless couple who had taken the orphan David into their home, rearing him since the age of seven, yet refusing to be called Mama and Papa for fear he would forget his real parents. David took their rough peddlers’ hands in his smooth and clean student hands. “How can I ever repay you two for what you’ve done for me?”  His uncle spoke gently, “David, there’s a saying, ‘the love of parents goes to their children, but the love of these children goes to their children.’” “That’s not so,” protested David, ” I’ll always be trying to…”  

“David,” his aunt interrupted. “What your uncle is trying to say is that a parent’s love is not meant to be paid back. It can only be passed on.”

David would like to pay back his foster parents. David is educated and knows the “logic of the market”, that is, how indebted he has become to his uncle and aunt for the roof over his head, the meals, the clothes, the education and most importantly, the love and common sense that he has received from them over the years. So, in a spirit of this logic, he will somehow pay them back for all that they have given him. As Pope Benedict wisely reflects in his Encyclical “Caritas et Veritate”, the “logic of the market” cannot achieve the aims of human flourishing nor ensure the primacy of the human person over capital. The market is insufficient to bring up children, safeguard human dignity and promote the common good. In fact, the market, unless carefully watched, can seduce unchecked wealth and do harm to the human race as we have seen.  

The uncle and aunt, in their wisdom and experience already know this and try to explain it David.

Pope Benedict also writes about the “logic of gift” where he challenges economic theories and shows how important it is to be like David’s uncle and aunt. They know bringing up a child is based on the principle of gratuitousness and free, selfless, generous giving. They know that the human person is not guided by the invisible hand of supply and demand, but rather by the human heart which has divine origins and therefore a source of strength that exceeds the demands of simple justice. The Pope goes on in his encyclical to explain that the “logic of gift” requires the recognition of the giver, namely God, and that the world is a gift of God.

Further, God entered this world with all of it ups and downs so that we may know how important the word “gift” is in our lives.  This principle of freely giving calls for unbounded generosity. It provides a foundation for restoring the most essential bonds of connectedness that makes persons more human. This principle is the basis of global solidarity.

Notice how much the aunt and uncle are like God. They give and give freely, refusing any kind of a payback. God is the same. No matter what we do, we are unable to pay back what we have received here on earth. Christmas is the celebration of this fact of God giving freely the whole of creation and of God giving us the Son who showed us how to give generously.

3 Responses to “Christmas Reflection”

1. Pol ,CP says:

   December 20, 2009 at 3:33 am

   Thanks Ronan and John. Merry Christmas.
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