Solemnity of the Nativity – Cycle B
Reflecting on Luke 2:1-14
We were arguing when it happened. We were keeping the night watch in the fields. The new hire, the one who just got out of one of Herod’s prison dungeons, started leading the sheep away from the water. But we wanted to spend the night there, drinking wine and telling stories about our good times up north in Jerusalem.
And all of a sudden it wasn’t night, and it wasn’t day. It was just LIGHT, everywhere LIGHT. And this Angel was standing right in the circle where we’d been arguing. We were terrified. Somehow we heard this Angel speak. And our fear just fell away as we heard about this Baby, this Savior, who had just been born just three miles away in Bethlehem.
And then! The sky was filled, from every corner, with these HUGE, BEAUTIFUL messengers of LIGHT. And oh, the music. Try to imagine the sweetest sound you’ve ever heard, coming from LIGHT in every corner of the sky.
Glory to God in the highest! And Peace! Peace! Peace!
We don’t remember running. We couldn’t stop until we found Him. He was there, this heavenly Child, lying in a manger in the back of a barn. We shouted out what had happened in the skies, and what we had learned about Him. And we knelt in front of this Child and His mother. And nothing will ever be the same.
As we left we saw the Beautiful Mother gazing at the Child, and we wondered what she was seeing. She was quiet as we walked away.
What mysteries of your own life do you “ponder in your heart”?
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I have come to light a fire on the earth; how I wish it were already burning (Lk.12:49).
Mystery? Well, my father was in the Death March of Capaz and Bataan and if he had not survived, I would not have been born. I was my mother’s pregnancy of 1944 when he got liberated and Our Lord allowed me to be born in 1945. How do I delve into that mystery? – – – Cris
Thanks for that reflection, Cris.
I was thirty years old when I was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital weighing a whopping 87 pounds and near death. That’s the point at which I realized that life is pure gift. As I look back over my life, I realize that there were many times that I should have died, but I didn’t. When I turned 50, I had a huge party, “Grateful to be 50,” with many friends. In two weeks, I’ll be 63, and I never thought I would live this long. The mystery of life! What a great adventure.
My pondering is, “What have I left to do? Why am I still here?” Every morning, I get up and think, “What a nice surprise!” I hope I am able to surprise God once in awhile by doing something truly good with my time.