"...And laid Him in a manger."

Dear friends:

There are only FIVE DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS! WOW!

It always amazes me how time flies by this time of year, amidst the hustle and bustle of shopping, travelling, family reunions, etc. The first, shopping, is an especially prevalent activity that takes up a great chunk of our time in the month of December. Having said that, like many a shopper in the last week before Christmas, I believed that I was still not finished buying my gifts. So today, I decided to go and attempt to finish it off, buying the last few gifts in one go. I parked the car, walked into Limeridge Mall and began my search, keeping my family's wants/needs in mind as I walked.

It took me about 15 minutes of browsing before I realized that something wasn't quite right.

Sure, the shops were filled with shoppers waiting in line with carts and arms full of gifts for loved ones. The thoroughfares were clogged with people rushing to get into the next store to snag the last remaining "on-sale" item. The mall was fully decorated, Santa was taking pictures with little children in the centre foyer, and Christmas music was gaily emanating from every loudspeaker. Still, I felt a strange sense of discomfort...then I looked, really looked, at the people around me, and I was shocked to see so much sadness, stress, disappointment and even anger on so many of their faces.

I was really struck by this, and I couldn't help but think to myself, "How can they be feeling like that? It's Christmas time!" Then it really hit me, how completely absent any signs/reminders of Christ were from the mall - no Nativity scenes on display, no Christmas stars, not even the words "Merry Christmas". My heart grew very heavy then, and I had lost the mood to shop. I decided, however, to go into one last store to shop for something nice to give to the whole family, so I walked into a store that sold figurines/statues, etc. to put in the house.

As I walked by the counter, I slowed when I saw a man standing with his two young children, a little girl who couldn't have been more than 3 years old, riding in her stroller, and her brother walking beside them, perhaps 5 years old. Their father was buying a very simple Nativity set, and he was handing each of his children a tiny manger, with Jesus carved into each as one single piece; their faces lit up with huge grins! The brother caught my eye, and as I passed he said "Merry Christmas!" And my heart LEAPT in my chest!! This family, buying something so simple for Christmas, expressed true joy, and as my parish priest asked in his homily on Gaudete Sunday, "So many people are not joyful! Why not??"

I know this is a long post, but I was itching to share that! I left the mall then and drove home, having not bought a single thing. Were all those shoppers doing something wrong by buying gifts? Absolutely not!! Gift-giving at Christmas time is a wonderful thing – the tangible expression of love in gift-giving is very important, in my opinion. But why do we do that especially at Christmas? On the drive home, the image of the mangers in the hands of those two children was fixed in my mind's eye, and God blessed me with a small insight.

I'm sure you all know the typical image found on many Christmas cards, of the Holy Family in the stable in Bethlehem, with Jesus lying in an immaculately-clean manger with clean animals all around, and there's a heavenly glow around it all, etc, etc. While this image is SO beautiful and really reminds us of the beauty of the birth of Christ...it's not entirely accurate, and the mundane reality of the birth of Christ led me to something really beautiful :)

Philippians 2:6-7 says, "...although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." Absolutely incredible! Our merciful, loving God, loves us SO much that He chose to be born among filth. He loves us so much that He GIFTED us with HIMSELF, and died for us…the most powerful expression of love (“There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends” – John 15:13). Now picture this: Mary and Joseph, sitting in a dark, dank stable surrounded by foul-smelling animals, looking lovingly at their newborn Son, Jesus Christ, lying in a manger filled with disgusting hay and food remains. That's right, a manger is a food trough, plain and simple! Jesus was lying in a food trough, probably filled with old, rotten food remains, dirty hay and other such things unfit for the front of a Christmas card. And yet Jesus Christ, the SON OF GOD, who has gifted Himself to us out of pure love, chose this as the place to rest His head as a newborn...can you imagine??

One's instinct is to move away from this image of filth...bear with me, I'm going to be a little forward and invite you to keep that image in your mind for a moment :) I realized that this image of "filth" or "rot" could be applied to our hearts at the Christmas season (no, I'm not referring to the condition of our arteries after all the desserts ;P). We are all sinners, and this will not change for as long as we live. What CAN change, however, is how much we let Christ into our lives and hearts, to allow Him to heal us in our brokenness. That's what the Christmas season is all about, letting Jesus be born (or re-born) in our hearts, amidst the filth and rot of sin. He WANTS to be born there, despite our brokenness. "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9) What a powerful verse to remember this season!!

My friends, in the 5 days remaining before Christmas, let us invite Christ into our hearts. Let us pray for all those who have not yet embraced Christ fully (if at all), and are not joyful. Let us make our hearts tiny mangers for Him, so that He may rest His head. Yes, they may be filled with dirty hay, with rot, with filth...but if we embrace Christ, who is coming to heal our hearts and make them clean, then they will be beautiful. That “dirty manger” will then be clean, fit for a King to rest in...and that is an image worthy of the front of a Christmas card.

Pray without ceasing :)!