Posted On 2009-12-29 In Something to think about

A Christmas Meditation by Fr. Alberto Eronti

Manger in the Original Shrine - Photo: Fischer2009 comes to its end and as usual during this time, I make this meditation between the celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany. Undoubtedly, the “globalization” of the world has made us live some events with intensity: global warming, world-wide economic crisis, terrorism, insecurity, migration….. In addition to what the planet has experienced, we must add our own lives with their dreams and disappointments, successes and failures, happiness and suffering…..

It is our history, the history of each one of us, at the end of another year which will soon be “past,” we will celebrate anew the birth of the Son of God and the beginning of a new year.

“Mary, we are your children
the hymn of your tenderness,
the sword of your battles,
treasure of your conquest,
Shrine of your presence,
Church of Jesus Christ.

I am always at home,
Because You always accompany me” (Fr. Joaquín Alliende)

Entrance of the NativityThe birth of the God made man! God being born! God enclosed for nine months in the womb of the Woman, Mary! God learning to be a man: eating, laughing, crying, walking…..! This event which occurred already more than 2,000 years ago continues happening, continues occurring, God has not stopped being born! God is also born in each child, continues being born in each adolescent, continues being born in each man or woman of “good will.” For this reason, the feast has its particular and strange fascination: we feel it is not something foreign to us because we also have been born, we have learned and projected as men and children of God. The birth of Jesus of Nazareth, happening in Bethlehem of Juda, is for each one and in each one of us because He has come to show us “the way of man.”

The Nativity of Jesus is a promise fulfilled and a definite hope

One can be man and woman in many ways, but only one is fullness. This is the only way which points to the Nativity. The celebration of the feast of tenderness, love and peace, is not a social event; it points beyond, it is a profoundly human and divine event. To contemplate the Child with the eyes of Mary and Joseph will mean to contemplate the best of ourselves. That is “the better part” which Jesus speaks to Martha about at Bethany, pointing to the younger sister seated at his feet. To celebrate the Nativity in a Christian way is to do it in a contemplative way, in adoration and with the amazement of children. It is like awakening energy, desires and ideals which are asleep or bewildered by daily life. The Nativity of Jesus, the Son of God, is pure vital energy. It is joy and peace. It is a promise fulfilled and a definite hope.

On Christmas Eve, on the 24th of December, we will find ourselves – as each year – next to the manger. We will want to have the fascinated eyes of Mary and her heart full of tenderness…..the feeling of the contemplative and solid Joseph taking care of Mary’s Treasure…..the joyful surprise of the shepherds hearing the singing of angels and, without a doubt, belonging to the group of the “men of good will.”.

To be reborn is the message of the Nativity!

The new year is always accompanied by certain “classic” words: happiness, good omens, health, peace, to have more and better. It seems that the change of calendar would have a particular and vital psychological influence: to start again! Another opportunity! If it is this way, it will be good to imagine and reflect on the desire, necessities, challenges which face us. Each new beginning, each change, contains in itself an opportunity and it is good to make it possible so that on how it depends on us, it does not drip away like water on ones fingers. To undertake this reality, it will be good to remember that we are not alone. We are not alone because many whom we love and who love us, accompany us; but above all, we are not alone because God is with us. Nativity is precisely this: God with us, God for us, God in us. To say “God with us” is to say that the best of each one of us can grow, develop, become full. God, says the prophet, is “the friend of man.” It is in friendship with Him that we are called to grow, it is nothing else other than to go beyond ourselves. To be born again! is the message of the Nativity and it is the wager for the new year. Amen!

Cordial greetings. May God show you His face and bless you.:

Fr. Alberto E. Eronti

Bethlehem Star

Translation: Carlos Cantú, Schoenstatt Family Federation, La Feria, Texas USA 122809

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