LISTENING

Read the text below, preferably aloud.  As you hear the word, “listen with the ear of your heart” for a word or short phrase that God has for you this day.

Luke  2: 1-7

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  All went to their own towns to be registered.  Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.  He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

COMMENTS

As I listen to this Scripture passage, I am deeply moved by the simplicity with which Luke shares the story of the setting and birth of Jesus the Christ.

Luke begins with a registration.  In the Roman Empire, such periodic decrees were carried out every fourteen years for the dual purpose of taxation and for discovering who was eligible for mandatory military service.  Since Jews, like Joseph, were exempt from military service, such a registration in Palestine would be primarily for taxation.  The requirement for everyone to travel to “their own towns to be registered” meant that Joseph and Mary had to make the eighty-mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

Biblical scholars have suggested that since the timeframe of the Emperor Augustus and governor Quirinius Luke presents does not agree with historical dates of these two rulers, Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem is a literally device used by Luke to provide a means of getting the Holy Couple to Bethlehem, the “city of David,” where tradition placed Jesus’ birth in the time of King Herod (Matthew 2: 1-6) and also because Micah prophesied that the Davidic messiah was to be born in Bethlehem: “But you, O Bethlehem….from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2).  But such discrepancies take nothing away from the simplicity and depth of meaning of the Birth of the Savior, “descended from the house and family of David.”  For the evangelists in the New Testament, after all, are recording the history of salvation rather than secular or scientific history.  Luke is writing to an audience who knew Augustus as the Emperor of Peace and creator of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace).  To capture the significance, therefore, of Jesus as the Prince of Peace, Luke connects the Birth of Christ as occurring in the time of the Emperor of Peace.

The event of the birth of Jesus itself is reported very briefly in the last verse of this Lucan reading: “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”  The Greek word kataluma is better understood as “lodging area” rather than “inn,” and could refer either to space in a house or the area where travelers and their animals gathered in the open.  Luke gives no details of the surroundings.  Luke does not mention an innkeeper – often portrayed as cold of heart and insensitive in tableaus!  But Luke does record “a manger” – a feeding trough for animals – where our Lord was laid.  Such is the simplicity and humble nature of the Birth of Christ that is placed before us this day.  What word or phrase is God whispering to your heart as you listen to this scripture today?

“A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.”

– Fr Kirtley Yearwood

© Birth of Christ, Donald Jackson, 2002. The Saint John’s Bible, Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota.  Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition, © 1993, 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

MEDITATING

Ruminate on the word you were drawn to in yesterday’s scripture passage (Luke 2:1-7). What does the word or phrase you have chosen mean to you today?

COMMENTS

As I listen to this Scripture passage, the Holy Spirit draws my focus to the short phrase, “bands of cloth”.  Hearing this phrase makes me smile and takes my mind back to the poetic “swaddling clothes” of the King James version of the Bible.  I remember well the excitement I felt as a boy on hearing these words proclaimed in worship!  As I only heard this phrase chanted once a year, these words signaled for me the celebration of the Birth of Christ.  

But what were these “bands of cloth” or “swaddling clothes” referred to in Holy Scripture?  The practice of swaddling meant to wrap the entire baby’s body tightly.  Swaddling clothes consisted of a square of cloth with a long bandage-like strip coming diagonally from one corner.  The baby was initially wrapped in the square of cloth and then the long strip was wound round about him to keep the limbs straight and to protect him.  To swaddle a baby was not a sign of poverty at all, but a sign of parental care.  We read in the Wisdom of Solomon: “And when I was born… I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths.  For no king has had a different beginning of existence” (Wis  7:3-5).

The simple gesture of swaddling strikes at the heart of this Lucan scripture passage for me.  In Mary’s tender arms, in her swaddling, we see the bands of unconditional human love, wrapping around and caring for the divine presence – a model of our life in Christ.

What does the word or phrase that God is whispering in your heart mean for you today?

“A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.”

– Fr Kirtley Yearwood

© Birth of Christ, Donald Jackson, 2002. The Saint John’s Bible, Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota.  Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition, © 1993, 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

SEEING

Return to God’s word for the purpose of “hearing and seeing” Christ in the text. Fix your gaze on the illumination. Ask God to open the eyes of your heart and enable you to see what God wants you to see.

COMMENTS

As I fix my gaze upon the illumination with the eyes of faith, I am initially drawn to Mary’s face, quite clear and distinct in appearance.  Mary is softly and attentively gazing down, as she treasures and ponders all these things in her heart.  But where is the child Jesus?  I look again for the child, and my eyes behold the brilliant gold beaming down from heaven to the trapezoid-shaped manger with the angels singing above, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”  But where is the child Jesus?  I look again with the eyes of faith and discern warmth in the trapezoid manger.

Since moving to Collegeville this past summer, I have discovered a new appreciation and fondness for the geometrical shape of the trapezoid.  The Altar here in the Abbey Church of Saint John the Baptist is trapezoid.  As one enters the main doors of the Abbey Church, walking past the Font and then through the inner doors into the nave, one senses the trapezoid shape of the building with its clean architectural lines and openness.  One’s eyes are immediately drawn by the subtly converging walls to the trapezoid Altar raised on a platform or pavement – the place where God meets humanity in worship.  It is in this simple, yet powerfully shape, that I find joy and peace and thanksgiving each and every day in community and in silent meditation.  It is in this trapezoid shape that Mary’s eyes are lovingly fixed in this illumination, as she looks upon the face of God.  The reflection of the brilliance in the gold, the color used to represent God in The Saint John’s Bible, shines back on Mary’s face, softly and attentively, magnifying the Lord.

Where are the eyes of your heart drawn?

“A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.”

– Fr Kirtley Yearwood

© Birth of Christ, Donald Jackson, 2002. The Saint John’s Bible, Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota.  Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition, © 1993, 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

PRAYING

Pray to God, allowing for the transformation of your being and feelings. Give to God what you have found in your heart.

COMMENTS

O God, you are the source of all life. You sent your son into the world to be the Light that reflects your love, care and compassion for all creation. You enlighten the hearts of the shepherds in their quest to follow the message of the angels, and caused your reflection to shine on their faces as they beheld your glory in your son, the Babe of Bethlehem. You are the Light that shines in the darkness of this world. You are the light that shines into the dark places of our lives. You are the Light that sees us as we are. You are the Light that judges all. You are the Light that illumines and warms our hearts and leads us from darkness into light.

Make that same Light shine out of us into the world, and let our lives be channels of your love, so that in our waiting this Advent, we may fix our gaze on your brilliance and see ourselves as you see us in the truth that reveals your warmth, which leads into the eternal Light, even Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and Holy Spirit now and for ever. Amen.

“A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.”

– Fr Kirtley Yearwood

© Birth of Christ, Donald Jackson, 2002. The Saint John’s Bible, Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota.  Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition, © 1993, 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

CONTEMPLATING

Notice the transforming presence of God within you. Let go of words and images. Surrender all that is stirring, even if only briefly, and rest for a few minutes in God’s embrace.

COMMENTS

My day begins at five o’clock every morning. In the stillness of that hour, I pray the Morning Office, spending time in quiet reflection. I have kept this discipline for more than twenty years. For the past several years, I have used various prayer books and breviaries and other meditation resources in cycles of the liturgical seasons, in an effort to broaden my spiritual encounter with the living God. This practice continues to be very revealing.

Since moving to Saint John’s a few months ago, I frequently join in the monastic community’s Morning Prayer in the Abbey Church at seven o’clock, as a kind of part two to my time alone with God in the morning before beginning the day’s work. This is a treasure and a gift of being here in this Benedictine community.

This week, I have added visio divina toward the end of my morning time of contemplation. As I have sat in silence with the “Birth of Christ”, I have become more aware of surrendering to God in this Advent time of expectancy in which we are bidden to wait for the Coming of Christ. This week has truly been the hinge time of Advent for me, as I have lived with the tension of celebrating Advent with it’s dual themes of the First and Second Comings of Christ. In the first part of this season of Advent, the Church’s focus has been on the Second Coming of our Lord at the end of time when he will judge both the living and the dead. The tension exists because much of our society is already at Christmas – office parties, Christmas musical concerts, family and friends gathering – all in the wonderful spirit of merriment! This is the fast track into Christmas Day!!

Seeing the Word in contemplation on the “Birth of Christ” this week has made me live with stillness into the latter part of the Advent season in which we focus more toward the First Coming of our Lord – the Christ Child, the Babe of Bethlehem, lying in a manger. This is the slow and patient track into the Christmas Season (not Day) – the twelve day feast from 25 December to 6 January, the feast of the Epiphany when we celebrate the Light of Christ coming into the world.

Are you still and patient in this season of busyness? How can we each slow down to enjoy the love and wonder of the Birth of Christ?  May I encourage you to pause for a bit and sit in the quiet of your heart and feel that same Light in your soul that is reflected on Mary’s face and on the shepherds.

“A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.”

– Fr Kirtley Yearwood

© Birth of Christ, Donald Jackson, 2002. The Saint John’s Bible, Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota.  Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition, © 1993, 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

BECOMING CHRIST-LIKE

Return to God’s word. Allow it to transform you. Notice how your faith is being deepened and your way of life motivated.

COMMENTS

Today, we return to reading the text (Luke 2:1-7) for the third time. As we encounter God’s word, we ponder how this text is making a difference in our journey of faith. We gaze in awe at how this “Birth of Christ” illumination is touching our hearts. We wonder about the possibilities this text and illumination together are opening up for our daily living, in other words, how we are becoming Christ-like. Of course, being more like Christ is a life-long process of becoming. We not only strive for that way of living here and now, we also know deep within ourselves that we can always do better. And so, we are not quite there yet, but becoming. This rich honesty in ourselves helps us to become more open to the possibilities of God in our lives.

I began this initial encounter with the “Birth of Christ” this fourth week of Advent with great expectancy, waiting for the Coming of Christ. Perhaps that’s why I was immediately drawn into asking where was the baby Jesus in the illumination. And now, as I have prayed and lived with this text and illumination all week, I am not at all taken by that question. It does not matter anymore. Instead, seeing the Light of Christ reflected on the faces of those at Bethlehem has caused me to look beyond where I expect Jesus to be. I now look directly on the faces of people all around and know that our Lord Jesus is here, reflected in the ordinary faces of those who, like the shepherds, seek him out. Jesus is here – never lost, but always found.

Are you also looking but not seeing Jesus? Where has your life been touched and changed by prayerfully practicing visio divina this week in preparing for the Birth of Christ?

May your life be richly touched and blessed by the Coming of the Christ Child.

“A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.”

– Fr Kirtley Yearwood

© Birth of Christ, Donald Jackson, 2002. The Saint John’s Bible, Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota.  Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition, © 1993, 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.