Inbox Inspiration: December 25, 2019: Christmas

Christmas

Dear Friends, 
The creche or nativity scene has a certain magnetism to it.
It is human, warm and comforting.
It has a way of drawing us close to Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
At the same time, the creche is also godly and divine.
It lifts us up to God and who God is and what God is like.
The nativity scene speaks to the core of who we are.
It touches our soul, our deepest self in a way that maybe nothing else does.
And it does this because it speaks of love, the love for which we all yearn.
The creche communicates the unlimited love of God for us.
It expresses, in a way that words fail to do, that “God is love” (I John 4:8).
Without words, it speaks that great verse of the gospel:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16).
In doing this, the creche touches our soul and invites us to love –
to become persons of love.
A plaque near the entrance to the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem has these words:
“We are hoping that: If you enter here as a tourist,
you would exit as a pilgrim.
If you enter here as a pilgrim,
you would exit as a holier one.”
So, this Christmas, be aware of the creche, the Nativity scene.
Let it touch you so much that you will become a pilgrim or a holier pilgrim –
confident and assured of God’s love for you,
inspired and moved to become the loving person that God has made us to be.

“Unto to us a child is born.” Alleluia.
Father Michael Schleupner