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| Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C. |
Christmas is not merely a commemoration of the birthday of Jesus
Christ. There is a personal and salvific significance in this event. It is the
answer of God to the eternal longing of the human heart for heaven. It is at
Bethlehem that heaven descended on earth to become a reality for the entire
human existence.
Gazing upon the manger, the novelist Hemingway
wondered if what had happened at Bethlehem was birth or death. If it were birth,
it should have been the beginning of life growing into full glory. However what
really took place in the manger was the complete emptying of divine glory,
signalling in fact, the beginning of the end of life. The Son of God had shed all
His divinity to take on the human form. The Almighty had chosen to become a
most helpless baby. The eternal God has chosen to be confined by the
vicissitudes of time. The Creator has opted to become the created. This
decision of God’s, St. John calls, Love. "God so loved the world that He
gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life."
(John 3:16)
Behind this Divine descent into the
earth, there was a purpose that everything on this earth may have the Fragrance
of God. No wonder had Jesus asked us to pray and the only prayer He had taught
us was for everything on this earth to reflect the heavenly reality - "Let it be
done on earth as it is in heaven."
The Divine Light that shone on the
earth was eclipsed by the rebellion of man against God. Darkness spread as a
result. There was darkness in the heart of man who lost even his self-esteem.
Man was going into hiding, lost in shame and a sense of inadequacy to present himself
before God. There was darkness overwhelming man’s relationship with his
companion and he started fault-finding and distancing himself from her. Material
nature was in revolt against man becoming oppressive, denying him even the
fruit it would yield as a matter of course, exacting from him sweated toil to
feed himself. The earth was giving forth thorns and thistles hurting his
existence. Humankind was languishing oppressed by this darkness.
Jesus started His public ministry
inviting everyone to the Kingdom of God, promising that God would wield
authority over everything affecting humankind. All that man was called to do
was repent which meant turning over to God, surrendering his life. When a
paralytic was brought to Jesus (Gospel of Mark Chapter 2), the Lord asserted for everyone to hear “that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” (Mark 2:10) He publicly absolved the
sins of this man and gave him healing, asking him to get up and walk. That is
what Jesus did with all cases of oppression and different illnesses when those
affected turned to Him. When the elements of nature rebelled and rose as a
storm in the sea, He brought calm with a Word (Matthew 8:26). The ultimate act of Jesus to redeem human relationships restoring
love, was the washing of the feet of the disciples during the Last Supper (Gospel of John Chapter
13), thereby washing away all stains of
hatred and pride, dissension and discord accumulated over the centuries in the
human heart. He gave the command of love initiating a new warmth in the human
family saying, this would be the seal of their connection with God. “I give you a new
commandment: As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. It is by
your love that all will know that you are my disciples.” (John 13:34-35)
Wherever Jesus went and in whatever He
saw, He perceived the reflection of the Father's Love. He looked up to see the
birds in flight freely over the horizon and He was reminded of the Supreme Love
of the Father for every man and woman. It is the Father who feeds them, He
pointed out, reasoning that, if the Father was so concerned about these birds
how much more He should be about us. In the lilies of the field He saw the
fruit of the Father's caring gaze. So meticulously were these flowers arrayed,
that even the grandeur of King Solomon’s attire could never match the splendour
of these. It is the Father’s Caring Providence that fashions them so beautifully.
How much more He would be mindful and caring towards His children, Jesus
reasoned (Matthew 6:26-30). He was instructing
men and women of all times in the way to life - freed of all stresses and bondages
by trusting in God’s Loving Providence. This in no way meant that one could
afford to be lazy or irresponsible. In fact, in the parable of the talents, He illustrates
with emphasis that laziness is wickedness and that everyone is compelled to
hard work and be responsible in the degree of the capabilities given to him (Matthew 25:14-30). Yet one cannot let the beauty of life be lost in the scorching
heat of the earthly rat race. Rather, the focus of life should lead us to be
enthralled by the captivating Love of our God.
When a woman had invited Jesus home
for a meal, He had observed her kneading flour in the kitchen after adding a
pinch of leaven to the mass of flour. His perception was that even as the
leaven transformed the flour so would His Father’s Love permeate the hearts of
all men and women slowly but surely (Matthew 13:33). This
was the certitude in His Heart that the transformational Love of the Father would
prevail and usher in the whole mankind and the world into the Light of the Kingdom
of His Heaven. Sharing this assurance to the disciples, He bid them to continue
to proclaim the Love of the Father and become agents of God’s Kingdom. As the
leaven works in the dough, so should the Love of God in our hearts do, becoming
a power that would transform our generation.
As Jesus stepped out and was passing
by a farm in the Judean countryside, He saw a farmer sowing seeds in the
routine of his field work. He observed that while some seeds fell on the
ploughed field and ground made fertile, some seeds went to waste, falling on
the wayside amidst thorns and thistles and on rocky ground (Gospel
of Matthew Chapter 13). It struck Him to point out the parallel that the
Word fails to touch and transform some because the disposition of their hearts was
inappropriate. However, there was His prompt reassurance that God’s word would
surely find receptive hearts.
Even in life’s certain seemingly
negative realities, Jesus could discern God’s Passionate Love which would not forsake
humans in their folly but draw out of these dark experiences the Grace of the Father’s
Redeeming Grace and Goodness. One can sense the Lord’s immense Mercy stretching
out to embrace the wretched sinner in the cry of the Father, “How
can I give you up, or deliver you up, my people? My heart is overwhelmed, my
compassion is stirred.” (Hosea 11:8) Jesus speaks of a judge who
so unmindful of God and of neighbour, used to be ruthlessly unjust but relenting
to a hard-pressed widow’s persistent pleadings, gave her justice just to be rid
of her nuisance. Narrating this parable, Jesus concludes how much more
attentive the Compassionate, All-Loving Father would be to those calling out to
Him in their distress. (Luke 18:1-8)
There was nothing in this world that could
remain impervious to the Love of the Father. Jesus notices a parent indifferent
to the son. He would then go on to describe that however wicked a father might
be, he would never give the son a serpent when the boy would ask for a fish, or
a stone when the child hungers for bread. From such a situation Jesus raises
our attention to the generous Love of the Heavenly Father who waits to give His
very Spirit to His children (Luke 11:9-13).
The sole intent of Jesus was to mould the
vision of His disciples in such a way that all that they saw when they looked
around would raise their hearts to rest on God’s Love. He was impressing upon the
disciples the one truth that no human situation, however hopeless it might seem,
should drive them to despair; rather their hearts must be able to perceive
God’s Hand moulding it to usher in the Kingdom of heaven.
The youth at the time of Jesus, as at any
other age, would have been up to rebellion, insistent on their way in life and often
rushing into disaster. Jesus gave them a new hope in the Love of the
Father. However devastated by their
sinful ways, the Father, Jesus assures, would be waiting to receive them and
restore to them all that they had lost, as His Grace alone could do. That is
the message in the most-loved parable that Jesus had narrated of the Prodigal
Son (Gospel of Luke 15). Even
in man’s rebellion of sin, God’s Love would not abandon man. His Heart is in
search of those lost, just as the Good Shepherd goes after the stray sheep to
bring it home to the celebration of heaven. His Love does not take offence and cannot
remain indifferent to the plight of the rebellious. His Heart cannot rest even
if a single person were to be lost in sin and grief.
Just as no aspect of human existence would
remain excluded and set apart from the Father’s all-embracing Love, so would
every strain of human sickness and suffering be embraced by His mission on
earth. During His pursuit to bring about the Kingdom of God on this earth, the
Lord would prophesy twice that when He is lifted up on the Cross, He would draw
all men and women to His kingdom (John 3:14,15; 12:32). The misery of suffering resultant from sin in every moment of human
history enters Him and is told on Him. He took it all upon Himself. When He was
betrayed by Judas, all the agony of human deception coursed through His Heart. The
grief of every human person devastated by a trusted friend’s betrayal or a
spouse’s unfaithfulness would break the Heart of Jesus at that very moment.
When He was condemned most unjustly by Pilate what Jesus suffered in His Heart
was the desolate pain of all men and women in history who were unfairly treated
and punished. When He offered Himself to be flogged at the pillar, what bruised
His Body was the sum total of pain borne by the sick and the suffering. When He
carried the Cross on His shoulders, what weighed His Body down was the burden
that was and would be carried by every human person traversing this valley of
tears. The moment of the Passion and the Death of Jesus contained in itself all
the agony and isolation of death that every human must face. The Lord chose to be
one with every human person of every generation by identifying Himself with every
strain of suffering they had to endure. Salvation flowed out from that moment
of Calvary over the length and breadth of the history of humankind. That was
the moment of the realization of the prayer that Jesus led us to say - Father, Thy
Kingdom come!
Before Jesus would ascend to His
Father, the disciples seek to know from Him the hour when the Kingdom of God
would be established on earth. Jesus, however, would respond that what was
achieved by Him was to be completed by their witnessing, “You
shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
(Acts 1:8) He would clarify that this ministry of spreading
the Kingdom of Heaven all over the world was to be carried out in the Power of
the Holy Spirit. The disciples took up the task that is the task to be
continued by everyone who believes in Jesus.
Let Us Pray
O
God of Heaven we welcome You to this earth and to our hearts and homes. You
love us so much You could never abandon us in the darkness of our foolish ways
and helpless pain. You come to save us. Because of Your Love and Compassion for
us, Heaven has come down and Glory fills the earth. Give us the Grace that even
when everything seems to go wrong, we may be firm in the confidence of faith
that You are there with us and You will turn everything for our good.
As
we bow before You to adore Your Loving Kindness to us, we pray open our eyes
that we may see the Wonder of Your Love that fills the earth. Open our hearts
to receive everyone with love and honour as You did. We pray that in our hearts,
our lives and this earth, Your Perfect Will shall be accomplished as it is in
heaven. Come, Lord Jesus! Come!
Amen
