Today, Only The Players Are Different

          As I read the news of late, I cannot help but think that humanity is, now as much as ever, in need of a Savior.  As I reflect on the history of the Church under Roman rule, through Roman persecution, through the heresies and schisms down to this very day, I simply have to shake my head.  The players may be different but the play is the same.

            And yet through it all, there is a fine thread that has woven its way through the ages.  I see the image of Christ on the cross, and I am brought to the image of a newborn infant wrapped against the cold of the night. The Infant King who will become humanity’s Bread of Life is placed in a manger where common animals come to feed.

            The story of our salvation is so common in its very nature that it becomes so extraordinarily uncommon.  I am baffled by the sheer simplicity of God’s coming to us, and yet I realize that it could not have succeeded any other way.

            Woven in our seemingly circular cycle of human history is the story of Christ Jesus, whose story is so out of the ordinary that it must be set above the rest.  To think that the salvation of us in Southern Indiana and elsewhere across the globe rested in the lives of a Galilean couple some 2,000 years ago in a stable in Bethlehem brings a smile to my face.

            As I gaze upon the crucifix, I cannot help but wish to have gazed upon the face of the Infant Jesus in those first moments.  I wish I had been a simple stable hand standing in the corner to take in the scene of Mary, Joseph and Jesus in those first moments of life.  How gloriously simple and yet so profoundly holy must have been that experience.

            My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, as we make our way through the Christmas season, let us not be distracted by the lights and glitter of what society would have us believe is important.  Let us take time – with ourselves and those close to us – to reflect prayerfully upon those first moments of salvation history.  Let us take in the smells and sounds, the crisp night air, the feelings of anxiety followed by the contentment and peace of a safe birth.

            This story is our heritage, and we shall not allow it to be drowned out by the useless noises of distraction.  Let us give thanks for those first minutes of the life of our Infant King and in so doing we will shed new light on the gift of our own lives and how, like this holy family, we can play our own part in this beautiful and remarkable story.  Merry Christmas.