Is Christ born in your heart?

It’s Christmas! It’s the birthday of Jesus and the Christian world is in jubilation. The Savior is born. But what good was the birth of Christ 2,000 years ago if God is not in our hearts?

In the Philippines, we begin our Christmas celebration in the month of September but we only think of the commercial aspect of it. Of course, Filipinos love celebrations, decorating our homes with Christmas trimmings and listening to yuletide carols. These activities somehow give us a boost. Just knowing that Christmas is coming makes us happy.

But after almost three months of waiting for Jesus’ birthday and after all the parties we go to including the Simbang Gabi where we look forward to the bibingka and puto bungbong – Christmas becomes a routine to us adults. And when Christmas degenerates into a ritual duty, it is time to review our priorities.

As we push our way in the maddening crowd in the last minute Christmas shopping rush and party ‘til we drop I sincerely hope that we don’t lose the true meaning of the season. My dad once wrote about one of the finest explanations of the meaning of Christmas. He reminded us of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), a Bengali poet and philosopher who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913 who said that, “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.” This clearly puts in a nutshell God’s great plan for man’s redemption. As we reflect on this thought, we come to realize that our children bring out the breath of life in us. They bring us cheer and new hope believing in what adults think is impossible.

Remember the unforgettable opening line from Charles Dicken’s “A Tale of Two Cities?” He said, “When Jesus was born it was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” He came into the world as a child to save mankind. He was called Prince of Peace, and yet, from the moment He was born, men were sent to hunt Him down and kill Him.

In the lull between all those almost mandatory get-togethers and the excitement of New Year’s fireworks perhaps this is the right time to think of the simple meaning of Christmas that is devoid of anyone’s personal or political agenda.

Come to think of it. How much of the muddled and hopeless world of today was the era into which the Christ Child was born? Joseph and Mary had journeyed to Bethlehem in a cold windy night. They could not find a place to stay, and so, just like the poor in the streets they sought shelter not under the bridge, not in the streets, not in empty halls of market places nor in the shanties but in a cave. The rest of the story, we all know by heart. Indifference to the downtrodden and greed has long existed. How ironic it is that Jesus was born and raised in the very same places in the Holy Land where so much fighting is happening. Is this all part of a prophecy?

*      *      *

I would like to share a story my dad told me about a visit he made to the Holy Land many years ago. My mom and dad, in their quest to recapture the spirit of Christmas scheduled a trip to the Holy Land for a Christmas season. This visit became a disappointment. They saw that Christmas had been grossly commercialized. In the Shepherd’s Fields, were once the Herald Angels appeared to sing of the Birth, souvenir shops were gouging the pilgrims and cynically exploiting the tourist dollar.

The cave of the Nativity had been overbuilt by an ornate chapel, gleaming with marble and silver. There was no longer any real ‘cave’ but the aspect of a mausoleum. And the priests of the various Christian faiths – Latin (Roman Catholic), Protestant, Orthodox, Coptic, American, etc., were squabbling over which portion belonged to them, in Bethlehem’s holy shrine as well as in the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

In the early times, there were Jordanian policemen (Bethlehem used to be part of Jordan), Muslim of course, guarded the Nativity shrine and the next door Church, to make sure the Christians did not go after each others’ throats! When Israel conquered the area in the Six-Day War, the Jordanian policemen were replaced by Israeli policemen performing the same duties.

Midnight mass in Bethlehem turned out to be chaotic. The church was packed, but a huge crowd outside tried to push their way in, and so fistfights erupted. A woman ran crying out, “My purse. Somebody snatched my purse!” Doesn’t this scene seem familiar to us here in our own country? Susmariosep!

In the chilly night air, huddled in their heavy wool coats, my mom and dad shed tears of frustration. But then, when they looked up to the sky, they noticed the Christmas Star, shining serenely as it did thousands of years ago, and alas, my parents realized that there was an explanation to all that they had seen and experienced. Despair not. Grieve not. Christmas is not in Bethlehem or in any place filled with Christmas symbols and trimmings. Christmas is indeed in our hearts.

My dad always wanted to believe that, “Christmas is not sad, and will never be. Jesus came into a world of sin and woe, of injustice and materialism, just like the very world we live in. He brought with Him hope and joy and – a star shining high above to send its healing light into our hearts, making glad the sorrowing faces of all mankind.”

Let us all join our hands in prayer as we celebrate this very special birth of our Lord Jesus Christ: A Christmas Eve Prayer (by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Loving God, Help us remember the birth of Jesus,

that we may share in the song of the angels,

the gladness of the shepherds,

and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate

and open the door of love all over the world.

Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings,

and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children,

and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts,

forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.