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----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Raymond .....
From: Raymond .....
Sent: Sunday, 25 December 2011, 10:21
Subject:
Subject:
CHRISTMAS 2011
When we consider all the characters involved in the Christmas Story we find first, of course, The Divine Infant, Jesus himself, the focal point of it all. Then there is, Mary his Mother and Joseph, his foster father. Then, outside of the Holy Family, we find the Shepherds, the first to learn the glad tidings; and then there were the Angels, who first proclaimed these glad tidings. Then, there were the Magi who came from some distant lands to worship the new-born King. Then unfortunately, we have to a knowledge the presence of the tyrantHerod and his soldiers, and this brings us lastly to the Holy Innocents and their weeping Mothers. This pretty well sums up, as far as I can remember at the moment, all the characters in the great Christmas drama.
Next, we can consider that this point in time is the culmination of centuries of revelation gradually unfolding the plans and purposes of God; his plans for taking his own place to come and live among us and his plans to bring our human race into a share in his own divine life. So it follows that all these different characters, as they come into contact with the Divine Child, must represent the different responses of a complete cross section of humanity to God’s unspeakable gift. There is something universal in time and space about the story of Christ’s birth. There is something universal in the significance of each of the characters we find involved in it. The Shepherds are the most easily recognisable. They representing the poor and the simple; all the have-nots of this world; the weak and the helpless. In these poor and simple shepherds we see a living commentary on the Bible. In so many of its stories it reveals that God resists the proud and draws near to the humble. The Magi represent all those who have not had the fullness of revelation but who come close to God and find him through the uprightness and innocence of their lives.
The Holy innocents are representative of all those who, through no fault of their own, suffer at the hands of the wicked. But, perhaps, and even especially because of their obvious lack of personal merit, they represent the ultimate nature of God’s grace – it is, in every case, whether in them or in us who have had to fight the good fight – it is ultimately in every case an absolute free gift of God. The great sorrow and weeping of their Mothers of the innocents reminds us that all things, no matter how tragic, and painful, are caught up in God’s plans and purposes. “All things work together unto good for those who fear the Lord”, even the doings of the Herods of this world.
The presence of The angels, who appear so often in the infancy stories, tells us that Jesus is Lord, not only of men but also of angels and both they and we are called to be one great heavenly kingdom; one great family of God. Both our destinies and theirs are inseparably intertwined.
Joseph, in a way, represents all of us, taking our own little part in God’s plans; following blindly the paths his Providence opens up before us. We all walk in ways that are above us and beyond us to comprehend. And finally, we come to Maryherself. She stands, alone and unique, in the greatness of her response to God’s intervention in her life. We can only guess at the purity of insight she had into the import of the angel’s message. We can hardly imagine the greatness of her faith, her astounding faith in the reality and truth of God’s promise that was being made to her; we can only wonder at the depth of her humility before the greatness of what she was being called to.
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