Happiness to the World by Self-Donation: The Reason for this Season
The season is here; the moment has come. What do we hear people say? Happy Christmas…. same to you. Really? Yes, with emphasis we say, happy Christmas. Despite the raging conditions around us and across the globe that seem to tear apart the comforting screen of normality of our being and while we are here on earth we cannot forget to rejoice and be happy. But for us not to individualise this happiness we need to ponder on one of the admirable signs that Christmas is here which is the crib. We have it (the crib) in our homes, on the streets, in the malls and all over the towns and cities.
Concurrently, we have the Christmas lights, the tree, the decorations coupled with the frenzy and flurry of activities all over the places too. However, the community dimension of this season of happiness shifts our attention to the beauty of the crib which makes us reflect deeply and in a particular way: the nativity scene has invited us to “feel” and “touch” the poverty that God’s Son took upon himself in the Incarnation.
Implicitly, it summons us to follow him along the path of humility, poverty and self-denial that leads from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross. It asks us to meet him and serve him by showing mercy to those of our brothers and sisters in greatest need (cf. Mt 25:31-46 & Admirabile Signum). Herein lies within our hearts an attitude towards our neighbours and downtrodden beyond the externalities of Christmas ornamentals, this is the reason for this season, a profound sense of shared happiness with one another, a self-donation.
Fr. Matthew MADEWA
Parochial Administrator, St. John the Evangelist Mongeham & St Andrew’s Catholic Church, Sandwich
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