Gazing Anew at Familiar Christmas Images

By Sister Marianne Burkhard, OSB

When I think of Christmas as a child in Switzerland, I see lots of images – opening the small doors of my Advent calendar to reveal a new tiny image every day, the Advent wreath, the nativity in our hallway that was not set up until the last of school around December 20 or 21, our Christmas tree that I did not see until Christmas eve, and being with Girl Scouts in the darkening snowy woods – putting some candles on a young tree, singing Christmas carols in the grand silence of nature.

Christmas is a feast of images – familiar and beloved. But the more I sit in the dimly lit monastery chapel in the evening, the more I see behind the familiar nativity scene the tremendous, almost incomprehensible miracle that God, the creator of heaven and earth, chose to be born as a little child to show us that his kingdom is truly "among us."

And I marvel at the shepherds—not just seeing and hearing the angel choir, but then immediately hastening to Bethlehem to see—and when they saw the child, they believed!

God gave them the grace of faith that they, the least among the people, were the first to hear the 'good news.’

And I love the three kings, probably astronomers, non-Jews, coming from the East, trusting the prophecies of Isaiah, setting out on an arduous journey, not finding the future savior in Herod's palace, but realizing that the child in the most modest hut is indeed the prophesied savior.

Just like the shepherds, they bend down, adoring the miracle whose full meaning they only sense, but will have to learn to uncover over their lifetime.

And where am I? where are we? Do I, do we appreciate what a tremendous, almost incomprehensible miracle this is?

Let us gaze anew at these images and fathom the ever deepening mystery of God's love.

A God who became like us, sharing our loves, joys, frustrations, hopes, hates, despairs, pains, and deaths – all to help us understand that he loves us, wants us to let him be part of our lives and assures us that – with him as companion – we will find our ways through our deepest pains and darkest hours.

Like Mary let us ponder all these things in our hearts, willing and ready to let Christ's grace deepen our faith and expand our hearts in love.