Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
What I'm most grateful for this Christmas is that I am celebrating the Eucharist with you, the people of God of Good Shepherd Parish Community.
We all know that beyond the sights, sounds and smells of the season, beyond the exhilaration of family and friends together, is the fact of what we are celebrating: God has so loved us that he sent his only Son to be our Savior.
For two thousand years, our Catholic faith has been centered on the Eucharist, the enduring sign and reality of the presence of God, through Jesus His Son, in our midst. As the beginning of St. John's Gosel reminds us, the eternal Word of God has taken on our human flesh -- our human nature fully -- and has made his dwelling with us.
One of my favorite images of the nativity dates back to the earliest centuries of the Church. It's a relief carving in marble that was unearthed on the Greek Island of Naxos, and dates to about 390 A.D. To me it speaks more eloquently than any other "nativity scene" of the reality and meaning of Christ's coming.
In the very center is the manger, in reality the trough from which the animals feed. Lying alone in the straw (you can even see its texture in the 1600-year-old weathered marble) is a little bundle with only a head showing. The infant's body is tightly wrapped in bands -- that's the meaning of "swaddling cloths." An ox and a donkey and two trees, a highly stylized palm and fig tree, are the only other figures.
The animals and trees represent all of creation, worshiping the bound-up Lord of the Universe, who bound himself by taking on the imperfection of our human nature. He has become one of us, so that we can become one with Him. And the feed-trough is not just a practical necessity of being born in a stable. It's an unmistakable sign of his relationship to us. In the Eucharist, he is our food, our nourishment , our sustenance.
As we celebrate today, let us not lose sight that all our gifts take their meaning from the One Great Gift, the gift of Jesus Himself.
May God continue to bless in abundance all those you love. Merry Christmas.
Fr. Tom Welbers
P.S. If you'd like a better, higher resolution copy of the picture, just sent me an email at thomas.welbers@gmail.com.
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