Two days before Christmas, and it's all finally come together. A half-day of work tomorrow and then the holiday break. The suitcases are packed. The packages are wrapped and ready to be transported to family. The house is cleaned. The cookies are made. I can now sit back, listen to the holiday songs on the radio and breathe a happy sigh of relief and contentment. This happens every year. No matter how much I say I'm going to keep ahead of the craziness as the holiday season approaches, I'm always pulled into it. It's nice to be able to sit back now and watch all my efforts pay off and look forward (hopefully!) to the smile on the faces of my students, my family (both of them, now), and my friends.
On a completely unrelated but interesting topic: I did an activity today with my kids where we compared Christmas around the world. This not only provided a "fun" twist to a lesson on main idea and details, but also allowed me to sneak in that little moral lesson about respecting and understanding individual differences among people and cultures (my kids really got this message when we watched Twas The Night Before Christmas and summed the story up to a fat guy, in a red suit, who jumps down chimneys). One detail we learned today was that the Spanish hold the cow sacred during the Christmas season because they believe that the cow (cows?) in the barn where the Holy Family celebrated the first Christmas breathed over the Baby Jesus and kept him warm during the cold night. As I was walking around, I overheard one of my boys protest this fact as they were reading, saying that that's not true, that the Baby Jesus was "wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger." Ever concious of seperation of church and state (and the child's parents), I didn't argue with him, but left him with the question of, "Yes, but who else would have been in the stable that night?"
Several years ago, I heard a sermon around this time of year. The sermon centered around the concept that, during this admittedly magical time of year, we tend to glaze over the human aspects of Christ's birth in our eagerness to celebrate the miracle. While Mary became pregnant through Immaculate Conception, there's no evidence (that I'm aware of) that the physical birth of her Son was anything other than HUMAN. Which means, Mary probably had the back pains, small bladder, and swollen ankles that every other pregnant woman throughout history has experienced. It also means that the birth of Christ was likely a painful, messy and lengthy(?) affair. I think we tend to gloss over all that because it tarnishes our idea of a "miracle." And yet, everyday children are born in this same painful, messy, and lengthy way, and we still consider these children miracles. Is the birth of Jesus any less a miracle because he was born like any other child?
I guess, in the end, I prefer to think of Mary as going through the process of giving birth to her Son the same way woman have for centuries, and will for centuries more. It seems more real. It seems yet another way God was trying to show us that He was giving us a Teacher who was both Divine AND human. So why, and when, did we stop celebrating the "human" part?
Thursday, December 22, 2005
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4 comments:
Maria--
Just a clarification of the catechism: Christmas celebrates the VIRGIN BIRTH [Jesus conceived in the womb of a virgin by the Holy Spirit]. Immaculate Conception pertains to MARY's conception in the womb of her mother, Anne. The dogma is that by a singular act of Grace [unmerited, yet given nonetheless], Mary was free from the stain of original sin [Immaculate] from the moment of her existence in her mother's womb [Conception]. It is celebrated every year on December 8th. Mary's birthday is celebrated every year on September 8th.
The fully Human/fully Divine is a Mystery. Fully human means the straw was prickly, the surroundings were probably cold, the beginnings, being in the food dish of the barn animals [manger], were humble. Being fully Divine, He loved us enough to humble Himself to do this. Some Franciscan theology teaches that the mere Incarnation could've been enough to save us...God becomes man? How humiliating! How ennobling of mankind! And, yet, the Sacrifice of the Cross, bleeding out the very last drop of Precious Blood, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that his Love for us is true. Sacrificial and true.
Merry Christmas and safe travels.
I might add:
The Annunciation [visit of Angel Gabriel to Mary in Nazareth] is celebrated in most years on March 25th.
The Church knows how to count 9 months for both Jesus and Mary. The third example is The Birth of John the Baptist being celebrated on June 25th. [Elizabeth, Mary's kinswoman, was in her sixth month when Mary conceived Jesus].
John the Baptist, being born after the summer solstice, has his days ever-shortening. Jesus, being born after the winter solstice, has His days ever-lengthening. Gives a new meaning to John's statement of "my light must diminish so His must increase".
O.K. Now I'm done. [soap box put away].
I stand corrected. However, my original question still remains...Why do we gloss over the HUMAN and focus only on the DIVINE?
I think it's because you can't focus on both at the same time.
It's just like how you can't see yourself sneeze because you have an involuntary reflex to close your eyes.
But I think that's why St. Francis of Assissi introduced the life-sized Nativity scene...it brings the Humanity to the Divinity.
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