Show Your Creativity, Touch a Life, Make a Crèche/Crib!2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38There was a Canadian couple living in Halifax with three children. Their children grew up to go to universities far from home: one in Vancouver, another in Calgary, and the third in Saskatoon. One Christmas, all the children, one after the other, called their parents to announce that they weren’t coming home for Christmas. A couple of days after the calls of the children, their father called them, one after the other, to announce to them in turns that he was divorcing their mother at Christmas, because he had already filled out the divorce form for the courts. Within minutes, the children called their Dad to promise him to come home for Christmas, hence, he should stay any decision on divorcing their mother up until they all arrive home for Christmas. Their father turned to their mother and said: all our children are coming home for Christmas, and they are paying their way!Making a crib/crèche is like wooing a woman. Not that I have a personal experience, thanks to the Roman Catholic Church’s law on priestly celibacy, but I have been taught the rough outlines of wooing a lady, for the purposes of marriage guidance and counseling. One needs a good storyline to capture the ears of a lady. Her curiosity, when elicited, is a huge sign of prospective success. So, the angel Gabriel comes to Mary with a captivating message – “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” What an intrigue, what a smart way to make a touching application for love. If we remember that the name “Mary” means “beloved,” to be called a “favored one” elicits attention. Oh, I am the beloved, now I am the favored one, she possibly thinks. Wait a minute: what does this mean? Imagine every Christian on earth struggling with the idea of going to heaven and avoiding hell, then, someone comes to say: “The Lord is with you!” At least, one will want to know where the Lord is, so that one could put up the best appearance, best behavior, etc.Before it became part of our Christmas decorations, a crib/crèche is a story, a love story between God and a young lady called Mary. This clearly shows that it is a two-dimensional love story; one dimension is the physical and visible part of the storyline, and the other is the invisible segment of the same story. To have an angel involved in a love story changes and elevates the story from what we ordinarily understand a love story to entail and takes it to the level of Divine romance. So, the angel Gabriel comes to Mary to present God’s proposal to her – if you like, a God’s date with Mary. This sounds like marriage by proxy, a marriage, or relationship that goes beyond just two persons – Mary and God. It is a meeting of two kinds of love, human and Divine. If you recall that the name “Mary” means “the beloved,” then the name “Gabriel” means “God’s strength”. To be in romance with God is to feel the power or strength of God in a special way. Mary, the beloved, and Gabriel, the strength of God, relate to us how God’s love is revealed as strength.Making a crib/crèche presupposes we know what a crib/crèche is. For Mary, the story of the very first crib/crèche God planned wasn’t very clear, she wanted to be sure of what it meant to be “the favored one, the Lord is with you”. She needed to know the parameters of those statements. Just as relationships evolve with more talking and more sharing of quality time, the angel Gabriel explains to Mary how the very first crib would be made: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:30-33).A crib/crèche tells the story of God’s plans for human redemption, the establishment of a new kingdom and kingship. A crib/crèche brings to an end the parochial kingdom of Israel, as Samuel was foretold in our first reading, and begins the outlines of a universal kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. It is about the role of Mary in God’s plans of salvation, the overthrow of human and imperfect kings of old, and the installation of an eternal King, Jesus Christ. God’s courtship of Mary is a request for her cooperation with God’s plans for humanity. It is like the Roman Catholic marriage question: “will you willingly and lovingly accept children from God in your marriage?” Mary’s acceptance of God’s plans or proposal-engagement is not primarily for herself, it was for the future – to bring into the world a Savior, Jesus-Christ. Instead of a house that David proposes to build for God (our first reading), God prepares a human body for himself in Mary. In the place of wars of dominance and superiority (the exploits of King David), LOVE is the language that conquered the heart of Mary and received her willing cooperation or reciprocal love!Making a crib/crèche, therefore, is a question about our willing participation in God’s plans for the world and a reminder of how Mary accepted her role in the redemption of the world. A crib/crèche questions you and me every day: what are we doing about the injustices in the world, beginning with our participation in those injustices? When we look at a crib/crèche, we are reminded that Mary gave up her plans in order to accommodate God’s plans. The story of a crib/crèche tells you and I that we are important in God’s realization of goodness and happiness in the world. Beyond and above the visible crib/crèche in our homes this Christmas, you and I are the living cribs/crèches of today, with the objective of bringing joy to our family, friends, neighbors and the world. The simple “yes” you and I give to the authentic practice of our faith, the quality time we share with those who are lonely and home bound, the little gifts we share with the poor of our community, they all add up to bringing back the original crib/crèche. What we do adds to making the Christmas crib/crèche come back to life again this Christmas, as it was in the very first Christmas.Like our opening story indicates, creativity and smartness are required to realize our heart desires. A father came up with a story to bring his children home for Christmas. You and I must come up with plans to make our families, friends and neighbors to realize that this is Christmas; that Jesus is the reason for the season; that joy is indispensable in this season and period, despite Covid-19. If God shared his Son with humanity, as a gift, it means that the sharing of gifts is intrinsically tied to the Christmas celebration. We may not be rich enough to take care of everyone’s needs, but we can touch, at least, one life. Mary’s life is a sure example of how to share gifts at Christ, gifts without pecuniary involvements – self-gift to others: our presence, words, and chores for others are good enough Christmas gifts!Assignment for the Week:Target a human life/person you will touch positively this Christmas.
2023-12-22