BEAUTY AND SUBTLETY
A votive manger scene pours out a stream of devotional meanings like a pitcher does water. Miniature replicas of the Holy Family's Bethlehem shelter illuminate sacred stories, religious symbols and--principles of architecture. Crèche displays (Fr.) are designed to be habitable structures, albeit in miniature, and are consciously intended to be aesthetically pleasing.
Whether elaborate or simple, the miniature tableaus of Christmas faithfully depict the beauty and subtlety of the incarnation story. Shining through the dramatic and exciting narrative of Jesus' infancy is the splendor of divine and human personhood. We draw near to God as a child does his father, not as to—
. . . A BLAZING fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers entreat that no further messages be spoken to them. [Heb 12:18-19]
MEDUSA EFFECT
Mindful of the mystery of Christ's incarnation, it is imperative to look beyond the seasonal sculptures and nativity scenes in our homes and the centuries that separate us from 1st century Palestine. For many Catholics, the wonder and awe of the nativity story has faded; certainly indifference and the passing of time combine to create a medusa effect.
The dramatic and potent lives of Mary and Joseph, the infant Jesus, and the magi and the shepherds calcify in their minds. Their relevance disintegrates. (Severed from the vitality of faith, ornamental Christmas nativity scenes imitate this creeping death.) Christians urgently need to rescue Bible stories before they solidify into stately stone sculptures, before they become vulnerable to apathy and religious bigotry.Early in the spring, when the days are quite cool and the nights remain cold, a bare orchard is transformed into a sea of pink or white blossoms--as if showered with the gifts of the magi. The radiant spectacle evokes joy and astonishment from even the most hardened heart. Its loveliness represents an intangible wealth impossible to simulate or appraise aesthetically.
Yet, in the hour of its most dazzling and defiant beauty, the orchard is at greatest risk. One night of killing frost can negate all the possibilities of a fruitful harvest, whether apples or cherries or any other kind of fruit. This fairly common but disheartening occurrence, if prudently applied as a magnifier over the people and events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ, can help us to regenerate the vital nature of the Christmas story; one may better appreciate that the critical concern of the incarnation event "...is that of God himself”. [cf Karl Rahner SJ]
ARCHITECTURE OF FAITH
The nativity of Jesus, therefore, was the miracle of a single blossom on an old tree which had not borne fruit for a long time. Recall the defining message of the prophet Isaiah: "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots" [Isa 11:1] and the apostle Paul: "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong." [2Cor 12:10] What if those who assented to God of their free will had chosen to serve themselves?
A manger scene clearly symbolizes the architecture of faith. By faith Joseph and Mary obeyed God, sojourning to Bethlehem as if in a foreign land--to provide a spiritual inheritance for the as-yet-unborn Christ child. Though citizens of the Kingdom of God, they took shelter in a stable as if stranded between heaven and earth; like Abraham, they "looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God". [Heb 11:10]
Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable to prophesy the birth of the Church on Golgotha--"Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against." [Lk 2:34] Hence the entrance to God's Kingdom is precisely the narrow gate [cf. Mt 7:13-14] of humility and impoverishment, the door through which the Divine Logos (Gk. word) entered the world.
To a cold bitter world stricken by evil's malevolent shroud [cf. Isa 60:2], God offered the quiet, unpretentious flowering of himself. [Phi 2:6-11] For the sake of the infant Jesus, our heavenly Father was never more submissive or dependent upon mankind's free will yes or no response to his loving invitation. This is the fruitful harvest, God's gift to commoners and kings.HEARTFELT ASTONISHMENT
This is what God risked a night of killing frost to win. The astrologers sought out a king. God gave them a child. The magi gave the boy great riches. The God-man Jesus gave the gentiles salvation. A fruit tree in full blossom is nature's epiphany (Gk. to display, to manifest) of beauty--a portrait of extraordinary freshness, a fervent prayer for a bounteous future harvest.
As well, such trees are symbolic of fragile beauty and fervent promise triumphing in adverse circumstances. God's Christmas miracle creates in us a sense of wonder. But awe must yield to heartfelt astonishment that so many people--Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the magi and the gentile world--intuitively grasped the invisible mysteries of salvation and consented (Heb. amen) to play a humble part in God's salvation story.
DAZZLING FRAGILITY
Beyond doubt, God is supremely pleased when a human being responds to his provident plan with a loving, grateful affirmation of faith. As holiness becomes the all-encompassing attribute of the servant of God, love and all other human characteristics become disinterested, that is, dead to self-interest and aggrandizement.
They are consecrated to the greatest good of God's Kingdom. Unlike the orchard in springtime, the hour of the Church's dazzling and indomitable fragility is recapitulated in every generation and in every Christian heart. Let it be said, therefore, that every Christian is obliged to understand that his personal and essential yes makes the Christmas story possible. [cf Joseph Telushkin]
