I’ve always liked Christmas and looked forward to celebrating it, except perhaps for the year my father died. That year there were so many memories that brought sadness, memories of past Christmases and of all the joy that we shared. His death was still too recent, the pain too fresh to allow for a joyful celebration. Christmas still evokes so many memories: hanging up our stockings for Santa, visiting the crib on Christmas morning, getting something new to wear, watching my mother light the candle in the window on Christmas Eve, the smell of mince pies just out of the oven, the bustle of people out shopping, going carol singing with a group of friends, the turkey dinner on Christmas Day. The sights and sounds and smells of Christmas are so wonderful, even still!! Christmas Eve is my favourite time. Everything is ready and now the waiting is near an end. During the days of Advent, anticipation has been building, and as the babe is carried in procession to the crib on Christmas Eve, the sense of joy and celebration is palpable. Many voices ring out the notes of the Christmas carols as we proclaim that Jesus the Christ has been born. But after the joy and celebration of Christmas Eve Mass, I like to sit quietly in candlelight before the crib and just open my heart to the wonder of it all. With Mary and Joseph, I gaze upon the figure of the newborn babe and ponder the mystery of his arrival in the world. With the shepherds, I visit in the night and offer the babe the littleness of my life. I sense the love that surrounds that little family in Bethlehem and feel myself drawn into it in a most mysterious way. I am reluctant to leave, for there is something here that holds me and draws me more deeply into the mystery that is Christmas. The mystery of Christmas is the mystery of love: Love so passionate and strong that it broke the boundaries of time and space and took flesh among us. Such love is hard to comprehend but once embraced, changes our lives utterly. Jesus is that love incarnate, enfleshed, made real in the world today in the lives of all who follow him. So this Christmas, let us spend a little time visiting the crib and pondering the mystery of God’s great love, allowing our hearts to be touched and changed by its power. May the peace and joy of Christmas be in your hearts and in your homes. Amen. Margarita Bedding Parish Pastoral Minister Droichead Nua December 2004 |