Octave Day of Christmas
Luke 2:16-21
Gospel Summary
Today's gospel text suffers somewhat from being removed from its biblical context. We are told that the shepherds "went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger." It is helpful to note that they did this only because they had received a vision of angels who told them, "This will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (2:12). The shepherds are thus taken out of their workaday worlds and asked to see their lives in a new and wonderful way.
The insistence on the image of an "infant wrapped in swaddling clothes," that is, wrapped in warm flannel, alerts us to a profound symbolism here, for the flannel bands stand for God's loving care which is shown to us in the coming of Jesus as our Savior. In a very real sense, we can say that God has wrapped the whole world in secure and loving bands by sending his beloved Son to us as an embodiment of unwavering and endless loving kindness.
Since this feast is also the feast of "Mary Mother of God," it is important to note also that "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart". We are not told what "all these things" might be, but we can rest assured that they embraced the whole wonderful experience of bearing a child who is already destined to change the course of human history in ways that will be revealed only later--ways that will involve both painful self-sacrifice and glorious victory.
Life Implications
The beginning of a new year provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the special gift of time. We recall the events of the previous year and express our gratitude for all the good things that have happened, all the while being aware that there have also been sad and painful and perhaps sinful realities. But most of all we celebrate the promise of a new set of months and we try to be hopeful in spite of threats of war and recession and just growing older.
Today's gospel has a special message for us as we hang up the new calendar with mixed feelings. The fresh New Year is in some ways like the infant Jesus "wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." Both the new year and the new child seem so vulnerable but the almighty power of God is hidden in the new year, just as it is in the tiny infant. God is fully prepared to wrap our fragile lives and hopes in the warm blanket of his ever present and constant love. With such assurance, we can face the future with generous hope and with light hearts. For we too need to realize that the angels who spoke to the shepherds are speaking to us also when they say, "This will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." Come, let us adore him.
Today's gospel text suffers somewhat from being removed from its biblical context. We are told that the shepherds "went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger." It is helpful to note that they did this only because they had received a vision of angels who told them, "This will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (2:12). The shepherds are thus taken out of their workaday worlds and asked to see their lives in a new and wonderful way.
The insistence on the image of an "infant wrapped in swaddling clothes," that is, wrapped in warm flannel, alerts us to a profound symbolism here, for the flannel bands stand for God's loving care which is shown to us in the coming of Jesus as our Savior. In a very real sense, we can say that God has wrapped the whole world in secure and loving bands by sending his beloved Son to us as an embodiment of unwavering and endless loving kindness.
Since this feast is also the feast of "Mary Mother of God," it is important to note also that "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart". We are not told what "all these things" might be, but we can rest assured that they embraced the whole wonderful experience of bearing a child who is already destined to change the course of human history in ways that will be revealed only later--ways that will involve both painful self-sacrifice and glorious victory.
Life Implications
The beginning of a new year provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the special gift of time. We recall the events of the previous year and express our gratitude for all the good things that have happened, all the while being aware that there have also been sad and painful and perhaps sinful realities. But most of all we celebrate the promise of a new set of months and we try to be hopeful in spite of threats of war and recession and just growing older.
Today's gospel has a special message for us as we hang up the new calendar with mixed feelings. The fresh New Year is in some ways like the infant Jesus "wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." Both the new year and the new child seem so vulnerable but the almighty power of God is hidden in the new year, just as it is in the tiny infant. God is fully prepared to wrap our fragile lives and hopes in the warm blanket of his ever present and constant love. With such assurance, we can face the future with generous hope and with light hearts. For we too need to realize that the angels who spoke to the shepherds are speaking to us also when they say, "This will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." Come, let us adore him.
The Gospel passage is part of the account of the birth of Jesus. It recounts two facts in which Mary’s motherhood serves as the framework for important statements about her Son Jesus. The shepherds found the baby foretold by the angels, and his parents give him the name foretold by the angels. The shepherds were guided by God’s messengers to find the child, and his parents were similarly guided in naming him. Both the parents and the shepherds followed exactly the precise instructions received. The shepherds found the Messiah when they met Mary. The fact that the child was lying in a manger did not matter to them. Simple watchful people like the shepherds are not shocked at seeing the Saviour they were waiting for in such a place or in such company. Once he has been recognised by those who are still capable of marvelling at the presence of a God who has become so insignificant, the child is circumcised thus becoming a member of the people he has come to save, and he receives a name that is synonymous with his role. By giving him this name Mary continues to fulfil her vocation (Lk 1,31): naming her Son is part of her God-given mission.
- Read: understand what the text says, focussing on how it says it.
After the account of the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem (Lk 2,1-7) and the angel’s message to the shepherds (Lk 2,8-14), they are the ones who announce what has happened and proclaim its significance (Lk 2,15-20). When they found the baby as had been foretold (Lk 2,12.16), they were no longer mere listeners – they became ‘evangelizers ‘ of the parents of Jesus. As Mary had done earlier, they discovered in the angel’s revelation a task to be accomplished immediately. While the angels were returning to their world, the shepherds set out for Bethlehem (Lk 2,15). They wanted to see what the angel had told them. Without any delay they followed the instructions they had received from God (Lk 1,39) and reached the appointed place. They knew what they were looking for and they followed the directions precisely. However, they found more than they had been foretold. They found the newborn child with his family (Lk 2,16), and, surprisingly, most of the attention was given to his mother Mary (Lk 2,7.19.34-35.48.51). Who could have imagined a Messiah in the form of a baby lying in a manger? The shepherds confirmed what they had been told (Lk 2,17), and they were the ones to announce the news. The family of the Son of God was evangelized by shepherds (Lk 2,18)! They had been enlightened by the glory of God and now they brought that light to where the family of God was dwelling. The general reaction was one of surprise. Everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say (Lk 1,18).
II. Meditate: apply what the text say to life
The gospel recalls the meeting between the infant Jesus and the shepherds, those simple men who, at the word of an angel, left their work and ran through the night to find Mary and Joseph. They were told that they would find “a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2,12), but they first met Mary and Joseph (Lk 2,16)! They had no doubt that, where the mother was, there they would find the baby. They were not put off by a God who wanted to come so close to them that he became poor and weak like themselves. The people put before us by the Word of God at the start of this New Year are some shepherds who went in search of God during the night and fund him in a baby placed in a manger, with Mary who kept everything in her heart even though she did not understand it all. There must be some reason!
It is certainly not by mere chance that we begin the year contemplating the mother of God and the shepherds. God, who became man being born of a virgin, and who allowed himself to be recognised by some shepherds, wants to be as close to us today as he was to his mother. He assures us that we will find him, provided we seek him as the shepherds did on the night of his birth. The same good fortune will befall us if we make use of this new year that is given to us to search for God, as the shepherds did at the first Christmas, and if we become part of his family as Mary did.
The shepherds were able to recognise their saviour, even though they saw him as a newborn child in a manger, and they praised and blessed God. The angels had cut short their vigil that night with news of the birth, and had given them the sign by which they would recognise the newborn. When they recounted what they had been told, all were astonished, including Mary, who did not fully understand what was going on around her. But even though she did not understand, she kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. It seems that God allowed the shepherds to understand more clearly than the mother! While these outsiders express their joy and give praise to God, the mother remains silent, trying to understand in her heart the profound meaning of what has happened. This infant God never ceases to surprise!
The fact is that the closer God comes to us, the smaller he becomes. God draws close to us in strange ways. It sometimes happens that he is harder to find by people who are close to him than by those who have forgotten him. Those who have known God for a long time often find it more difficult to understand him than those who are coming to know him for the first time. We should not feel bad about it if this happens to us, because this is exactly what happened to God’s own mother. Mary had to marvel at what the shepherds told her about her Son, and she must have wondered why God had revealed it to them. Shepherds generally had a bad name at that time, and yet, they were the chosen ones, despite their poor reputation. It cannot have been easy for Mary to allow others to interpret for her what was going on in her own life. Others knew better than she did the significance of her motherhood and the mission of her Son.
We should learn from Mary to allow ourselves to be guided by God in whatever way he chooses, even by people who are not close to God. If we want to be like Mary we need to store up in our hearts the deeds of God that we do not understand. By accepting with love even what she did not understand, Mary remained close to God. She bore him in her womb and held him in her arms, but she understood him only in her heart. She reflected on all that happened, and held it in her heart so that nothing of it was lost, because she did not want to lose her God.
We want to make a good start to this new year in which God will offer us opportunities to draw close to him through the things that happen to us. We need to learn from Mary how to ensure that God is present in our world, in our families, in all our affairs, in our plans and even in our judgments. This means allowing all who come to us to speak to us about God. It means seeing God in all that happens – in the things we choose and plan, and also in the things we fear. It means seeing God in the things that we understand only in the heart. Only in this way will we succeed, like Mary, in being close to God and possessing him in our hearts every day of our lives. Our God becomes a little child, the Son of Mary, to make himself more accessible to us. He does not show himself only to those who are better, and so we all have hope of seeing him one day. He became like us to make it easy for us to find him.
Mary teaches us that God does not come into the lives only of those who seek to understand him in their minds. God dwells with those who already have him in their hearts. The shepherds show us how to find God if we have not yet found him or if we have lost him. They let themselves be convinced by the voice they heard in the night, and they left their flocks to run to the place where God was. They left what they were doing and they found God in a manger. We should not forget that they found the Baby where his mother was, in the poverty of a stable. That was the sign, the only sign, they were given. God is waiting for us in the ordinary simple things of life, but in the place where Mary is.
From the shepherds we learn to find God where Mary is. The Son cannot stay far from his mother. Drawing close to Mary and enjoying her presence in our lives means, as the shepherds discovered, drawing close to Jesus and enjoying his presence too. His birth would have been of little benefit to us if our celebration of Christmas had not convinced us that we need God in our lives. We need this God incarnate who is the Son of God and Son of Mary. The new year that we are beginning will not make much difference to us if we do not take advantage of it to allow God to become one of us once more. We can do this if, when we feel the absence of God, we set out without delay to search for him where we know we will always find him – close to his mother. It does not matter if our search leads us to the most unlikely places, as the shepherds were led to a stable. If Mary is there, Jesus will be waiting for us there. The closer we come to Mary, the closer we will be to her Son.
May God, the Son of Mary, grant us this new year to search for him if we have lost him, to come closer to him and become his friend. If we already know him, may we find joy in his presence as those simple shepherds did. Coming close to God is deserving of our best effort. We will succeed in staying with him, if, like Mary, we have him living in our hearts.
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