Merry Christmas

Having been sick the week before Christmas, I missed my extended family’s annual Christmas gathering, Midnight Mass, and sleep. Thankfully, I had recently been with those members of my family and still have that happy memory. Also thankfully, I was able to go to Morning Mass on Christmas day. It’s been a bit more difficult, however, to make up for my lost sleep. Physical recovery takes longer for this little, crumpled body of mine.

Jesus Christ was once little, weak, and in great need of sleep too. The Savior of the World was once small enough for His mother to carry Him in her arms — like I am now. The Almighty Word of God made flesh was once so weak that He couldn’t lift up His own head — just as I can not lift up mine. Why would the Creator and Master of the universe choose to become such a tiny and limited little creature?

For love.

For love of me.

For love of you.

Let us truly have a merry and blessed Christmas by reflecting upon the depths of God’s love for us. For He chose to live as one of us, in intimate union with us, now and forever. With the mind’s eye, let us travel back to Bethlehem, two thousand years ago, and, filled with wonder, gaze upon God in the flesh:

“God — who laid the cornerstone of the universe, caused the stars to sing, formed the raiment of clouds, set the sea in its boundaries, and made to leap all of the wild things of Earth — was swaddled and immobilized by a few strips of cloth. O Wonder of wonders. God who placed the planets in their revolutions was placed, a helpless newborn, in a manger of hay to sleep. And sleep He needed, for His small eyelids grew tired as His little muscles whimpered for rest.” (Quoted from my book, It’s Good to Be Here, Sophia Institute Press.)

My little muscles are also whimpering for rest, so I will wish you a Merry Christmas and write again in the New Year.

© 2019 Christina Chase

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Feature Photo by Mindy Olson P on Unsplash