It’s such a simple and profound joy that You, Lord incarnated Yourself in man in a small and poor manger, on a Sunday morning.
And Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth to You and bowed to the ground. And You were surrounded by a lot of angels and the three shepherds who had been announced by Archangel Gabriel had come to You . And miracles took place in the entire world and in the same hour in the cave water sprang from stone, in Rome it sprang out of the earth a spring of oil, on the sky three suns showed up and everyone marveled because Messiah had come.
Every year I am so often asked this question: What are you doing on Christmas?
I realize that looking back I knew the answer. It was the time for gatherings, one day spent with the friends, another one with the family. It was the time for gifts, that pleasure of wandering through stores in a rush with curious eyes, with Christmas carols aired from loudspeakers and ribbons on boxes. It was the time for dinners in the family, so many traditional dishes were waiting to be praised, an exhibition with a tasting, what sweet delights!
It was also the time for Christmas carols, for receiving the big and small carolers and for showing our gratitude and maybe even for joining them in their singing as when we were in our grandparents’ village and went caroling with our parents from house to house until nightfall. There were some years when there was much pain around the tables with less chairs, because of the parents who went abroad.
I knew the answer anyway. I had a program, in the long run that holidays fulfilled its aim, it was a disconnection from a too fast pace, a delight of the hearts, above the ordinary. However somewhere underneath, there was raising another timid and restless question, a question without answer: But what is Christmas in fact, where is all this joy coming from? And I stopped from everything, watching the glittering lights from the Christmas tree, surrounded by the scent of oranges, maybe in this way I might feel what Christmas truly is…
What about these people who don’t have any friends or relatives, who don’t have any home, any Christmas tree, what means Christmas for them ?
This year I don’t know what to do on Christmas. I have no more plans for celebration. I simply want to be there and enjoy the moment, because I found out that this is the only thing I have to do: to thank You, my Lord for coming into the world because this is how it starts the salvation of man!
It’s such a simple and profound joy that You, Lord incarnated Yourself in man in a small and poor manger, on a Sunday morning.
And Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth to You and bowed to the ground. And You were surrounded by a lot of angels and the three shepherds who were announced by Archangel Gabriel had come to You . And miracles took place in the entire world and in the same hour in the cave water sprang from stone, in Rome it sprang out of the earth a spring of oil, on the sky showed up three suns and everyone marveled because Messiah had come.
It is the joy of salvation, it is the beginning of the sacrifice on the Cross, it is a Sunday resembling that of the Resurrection, and this is the one I want to share with you for this is Christmas.
And there would be something else. I found that among the first people who celebrated Your Birth there were some who died burnt in a church from Nicomidia. It happened in the third century, in the time of the pagan emperors Diocletian and Maximian, when the Christians were persecuted. On the same note, later Oliver Cromwell, who was a military and political leader, banned Christmas, considering it a pagan tradition. The English Parliament announced its official decision in 1644. While I, we have the whole freedom in the world to celebrate Christmas! I don’t live in a country where faith and the joy, the great gift of praying are banned. There are no soldiers around the churches with burning torches and I don’t need to hide, to say in a whisper where I am going. So I am going to thank you my Lord and to sing and to write for you who love Christmas and for you who maybe haven’t known it yet that we wouldn’t have existed if Christ hadn’t been born and if He hadn’t taught us how to be.
Source: doxologia.ro
