Over the Christmas period, even in countries gripped by the harshest of winters, a spiritual warmth invades our homes.
As at no other time, there is something in the air. An atmosphere that tells of an event. Not everyone talks about it, but everyone feels it. Even people who do not believe in God invent a fable or a character to justify the need they feel to be happy, to rejoice.
Already for weeks – especially in larger towns – streets, shops, and houses have been ablaze with lights and festooned with color.
And then, at Christmas, every heart grows in goodness. The gifts, which many people exchange, are an expression of this.
It is a beautiful custom.
How could we ever think of a year without Christmas?
And yet, we notice that something is missing in our society today… also at Christmas.
All these outward things, the songs, the decorations, the parties are not balanced by profound meditation on what Christmas means. Who are we celebrating? Our children? Ourselves? Who?
Is it not perhaps, Jesus ignored by the majority, rejected by the world, oft-forgotten, who is the focus, the unique and only focus of this great celebration.
Yes, it is He.
And we want to make the figure of Jesus and the contemplation of him emerge above every other kind of display. We want to make his name ring out above every other song, to make his light shine out more than every other outward light.
Jesus, Emmanuel, the God-with-us, explains Christmas.
Yes, because the Son of God, the purest spirit, some two thousand years ago took our flesh, and was born among us, a baby like every other baby.
And he did all of this so that he could share our life, grow, work like us, found the Church, die for our salvation and take us, after this life, to the life he returned to when he ascended into heaven.
Christmas speaks of the love God has for us.
Baby Jesus is the highest gift that heaven has given to earth, this minuscule earth lost in the immensity of space, among billions of stars, but chosen, chosen to be the dwelling place of the true God become a human being.
Christmas cries out to us that God loves us, that God is love.
And we are not genuine Christians if we do not give Christmas its proper meaning, if we do not know how to extract from this enchanting mystery, surrounded by so many outward things, the truth contained within it.
We must echo the angels who announced the news to the shepherds, and not miss any chance to tell our relatives and friends, our companions, the world, that love has come down to earth for each one of us, that nobody at Christmas should feel alone, abandoned, orphaned, and wretched.
Jesus did not come just for one people or another; God became a human being for the whole of humanity, thus for each one of us.
It is, therefore, a celebration for everyone, joy for everyone, freedom for everyone, peace for everyone…
Chiara Lubich
From Christmas Joy: Spiritual Insights by Chiara Lubich, New City Press, pp. 42-44.
