Servants of Charity

Encounters in our life can be very surprising and heart-throbbing. Though at times some encounters may not be very pleasing, but at the end they all teach and mold us; in a way, they enrich our lives. That is why we say anything that happens in life has a purpose and meaning and it is our duty to find it out.
When we are busy making plans and preparing for the great event of Christmas in this new Liturgical Year with the season of Advent, mother Church is reminding us of the encounters we need to have or, even better, what this season stands for. We are living in the intermediate period between the Paschal Mystery of the Lord and the final Glory in the Second Coming and we do not know when this could happen. So first and foremost, this season is a sign post for the encounter that we will have at the Second Coming. Secondly, this season reminds us of our encounter with the Lord today through the sacramental life, the life of faith in the Church. Thirdly, this stands for the encounter with the Child Jesus at Bethlehem.
Amidst all preparations stands highlighted throughout the world the depiction of the Nativity at Bethlehem in the form of a crèche or crib. This could be seen in our homes, schools, offices, work places and churches. Not only children and youngsters, even adults are very much interested in having the crèche in their vicinity. In a way we feel that God is born in our house, I have God at home. Our Pope, in his recent apostolic letter Admirabile Signum, highlights the nativity scene as the living Gospel to all of us. He encourages all to continue this tradition and further to get into the sentiments of St. Francis of Assisi who began this tradition in Greccio in order to relive the Bethlehem event in his time.
When we go near the crèche and see the new born Child, the immediate reaction is to fondle it and caress it and to talk to it and to listen to its giggling and to see the smile on the face. When we lift up the great Omnipotent God in the form of a vulnerable child, we understand how far, to what extent love can go. Genuine love will not be afraid to bend down, to become one among the loved like our grandparents stooping down like animals that we may take a ride on them, even though it may be hurting them. When we touch the child, we feel the poverty God took upon Himself and the path of humility, poverty and self-denial as the only tools for our redemption. When we go into the crèche with all our golden ornaments and costly attire, the child in the manger with simple clothes, would be laughing at us saying, “Why have you spent so much to come and meet Me? Your outfits may not suit My manger. ….I am simple.”
 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!.

Fr. Ronald J, SdC

Provincial Superior