I got the sweetest card from my cousin Matt and his wife Heather. There is a picture of their three stunningly beautiful children sitting on a donkey. The quotation asks us to consider the 90 miles Mary rode (and Joseph walked) to get to Bethlehem. The funny part was how sore Mary’s “bum” must have been. She was at the end of her pregnancy, tired, sore, hungry, dirty and then she goes into labor. This was a woman of faith. Did she grumble? Was she short or ill-tempered with Joseph? Was she disappointed in him and the inability to find her a decent place to give birth? Hopefully not. If she was, hopefully Joseph forgave her quickly when the Son was born and all were safe.
Christmas is a time of anticipation. We wait. Children wait for presents. We wait for packages. We wait for family or guests to arrive. Then Christmas arrives. There is a flurry of activity. Lots of noise. Lots of excitement. A big giant mess. It is our modern world but it can also serve as a symbol of our Lord’s birth. There is sacred in the ordinary.
With Christmas, I enter a new cycle of my faith….a new birth. I can wonder at its joy. Be awestruck. Be mesmerized. I can grow in my faith. If I simply nourish it, feed it and love……it will grow. Like a newborn infant, my faith will thrive.
Joy to the world the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepared him room, and heaven and nature sing.
I shall pray for my family, friends, parish and my faith community…that the joy of this Christmas season will grow in each of them.