The birth of Christ - Stable and Signs,

The birth of Christ

We have all read many times that Our Lord was wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger, and we may have wondered exactly what these are. I post here an answer to some questions on the birth of Christ, which contains a number of very interesting observations from Pope Benedict.

 

I take advantage of the occasion to wish you and your loved ones a very happy and holy Christmas and a New Year filled with God’s blessings.

 

I have three questions on the birth of Christ.

1.    Why do we say he was born in a stable when the Bible doesn’t make any mention of this?

 

2.    What are swaddling clothes?

 

3.   And what exactly was the sign announced by the angel of a child wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger?

 

 

The birth of Christ has a number of extraordinary aspects and your questions touch on some of these. The first is that the Son of God, the King of Kings, was born in such humble surroundings. Surely God in the flesh should have been born in a palace, a castle, or at least a dignified inn. And he should have been laid in a bed or a cot, not in a manger, a feeding trough for animals.

 

But God’s ways are not man’s ways, and God clearly wanted it to be that way in order to teach us something. From the humble circumstances of Christ’s birth we learn, in the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, that “To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom. For this, we must humble ourselves and become little” (CCC 526).

 

And from the poverty of the stable we learn that the possession of material wealth, with all its attending comforts, is not as important as the possession of God. Mary and Joseph, while poor in the material sense, were truly rich in having the very Son of God, the King of Kings, in their family.

 

A Stable?

Returning to your questions, why does Christian tradition, and even the Catechism, say that “Jesus was born in a humble stable” (CCC 525) when nowhere in the Scriptures do we find any explicit mention of it?

 

Indeed, St Matthew limits himself to saying that “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea” and, significantly, when he tells of the arrival of the magi he says that “going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother” (Mt 2:1, 10).

 

The reference to a house can be explained by the possibility that after the birth in a stable, Mary and Joseph were finally able to find a house in which they lived at least until the presentation of Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem forty days after his birth.

 

St Luke doesn’t mention a stable either but he does say that after Jesus’ birth Mary wrapped him in swaddling cloths “and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7).

 

Since a manger is a feeding trough for animals it has always been assumed that Jesus was born in some sort of stable.

 

The Manger

Pope Benedict XVI, in his book Jesus of Nazareth – The Infancy Narratives, comments on the significance of the manger:

“The manger is the place where animals find their food. But now, lying in the manger, is he who called himself the true bread come down from heaven, the true nourishment that we need in order to be fully ourselves. This is the food that gives us true life, eternal life. Thus the manger becomes a reference to the table of God, to which we are invited so as to receive the bread of God” (p. 68).

We might add that the name Bethlehem means precisely “house of bread”.

 

Presence of Animals

But why do we associate the birth of Christ with the actual presence of animals, in particular an ox and an ass?

Pope Benedict XVI, acknowledging that the Gospel makes no mention of animals, writes:

“But prayerful reflection, reading Old and New Testaments in the light of one another, filled this lacuna at a very early stage by pointing to Is 1:3: ‘The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand” (ibid., p. 69).

 

Swaddling Cloths

And what are swaddling cloths?

In ancient times, as often seen in icons of the nativity scene, the newborn child was customarily wrapped round and round with a narrow band of cloth like a mummy. It was thought this would help the limbs to grow straight.

Pope Benedict comments:

“The child stiffly wrapped in bandages is seen as prefiguring the hour of his death: from the outset, he is the sacrificial victim… The manger, then, was seen as a kind of altar” (ibid., p. 68).

The swaddling cloths can be seen too as a reference to Christ’s kingship and his descent from King Solomon, the son of King David. Solomon, in the book of Wisdom, writes: “I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths. For no king has had a different beginning of existence; there is for all mankind one entrance into life, and a common departure” (Wis 7:4-6).

 

A Sign

Finally, why did the angel say to the shepherds, “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12).

Certainly a baby lying in a manger would be a sign, since this was most uncommon.

But probably, since the angel mentioned the swaddling cloths specifically, this too must have been part of the sign.

 

So there is much symbolism and much to be learned from these simple aspects of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem.

 

Source: http://fatherfladerblog.com/2013/12/

 

 

Scripture John 4:5-9
Jacobs Well
[5] So he came to a city of Samar'ia, called Sy'char, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
[6] Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Evangelise
[7] There came a woman of Samar'ia to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." [8] For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
[9] The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samar'ia?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.



Comment
Jacob’s Well
The first form of water is the spring (the well), water that bursts forth fresh from the earth. The spring is origin, beginning, in its as yet unclouded and unspent purity. The spring figures as a creative element, as well as being a symbol of fruitfulness.

Immediately after the conversation with Nicodemus, we meet Jesus at Jacob’s Well. The Lord promises the Samaritan woman water that becomes in the one who drinks it a source springing up to eternal life, so that whoever drinks it will never be thirsty again. In this scene, the symbolism of the well is associated with the history of Israel. Earlier, at the calling of Nathanael, Jesus had revealed himself as the new and greater Jacob. In the vision, Jacob had seen the angels of God ascending and descending above the stone he was using as a pillow. Jesus prophesies to Nathanael that his disciples will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending above him. Here, at Jacob’s Well, we encounter Jacob as the great patriarch who by means of this well had provided water, the basic element of life. But there is a greater human thirst – it extends beyond the water from the well, because it seeks a life that reaches out beyond the biological sphere.
Source: from Chapter 8 of Pope Benedict's "Jesus of Nazareth"


Evangelise

The meeting of Jesus and the Samaritan woman is one of the great stories of the gospels. It is the meeting of a noted man and a nameless woman with a past. It is the meeting of two individuals who represent two worlds, two peoples, two traditions, two sets of needs, two sets of hopes, and in a special way two sets of prejudices. It is a meeting across the divide of history.

Long standing and deep rooted conflict is resolved at the level of personal contact. Notice that interaction and reconciliation take place in the ordinariness of everyday life.

The well in those days was the focal point for the community – it was the only source of water. Today it could be outside the school at 9am or 4pm, it could be the pub on a Saturday night, it could be the gym.

Jesus and the Samaritan woman did not say “we will wait for the right time and right place”; they tackled each other there and then. We may have a tendency to avoid friends and neighbours when we fall out with them, or when we do bump into them we barely speak. The challenge for us is to follow the example of the woman in today’s Gospel, and to engage in conversation those we do not see ‘eye to eye’ with, to respectfully question and most importantly to listen to the other.

Source: http://www.meathdiocese.ie/pastoral/lent2008/Third_Sunday.html

John 8:31-36 The Truth Will make You Free

John 8:31-36
Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to any one. How is it that you say, `You will be made free'?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Comment: Reject greed and exploitation

The world had "grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and the pain of false promises", and I urge you to seek the true, the good and the beautiful.
Delivering his first major speech in Australia, the Pope also lamented the advent of television and computer entertainment exalting violence and sexual degradation. "I ask myself, could anyone standing face to face with people who actually do suffer violence and sexual exploitation 'explain' that these tragedies, portrayed in virtual form, are considered merely entertainment?

"Do not be fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the god, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth. Christ offers more. Indeed, he offers everything!"

In his address to pilgrims, as he warned against secularism and relativism and said something sinister stemmed from the fact that freedom and tolerance were so often separated from truth. “This is fuelled by the notion, widely held today, that there are no absolute truths to guide our lives. Relativism, by indiscriminately giving value to practically everything, has made experience all important," he said. But this led not to genuine freedom but to moral or intellectual confusion, lower standards, loss of self-respect, and even to despair. While secularism presented itself as neutral and inclusive, in reality it imposed a world view, he said.

"If God is irrelevant to public life, then society will be shaped in a godless image, and debate and policy concerning the public good will be driven more by consequences than by principles grounded in truth."

Source: POPE Benedict XVI – one of the many 2008 World Youth Day addressess to pilgrims

Luke 15:13,17-24 Prodigal Son

Luke 15:13,17-24
Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. …..

But when he came to himself he said, `How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, `Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry.

Comment
The Pope met young people with histories of drug addiction and other problems, who are following the "Alive" rehabilitation program.

The Pope then referred to the personal life stories of many members of the community, who made "choices that led you down a path which, however attractive it appeared at the time, only led you deeper into misery and abandonment." And he acknowledged their "courage in choosing to turn back onto the path of life."

"Dear friends, I see you as ambassadors of hope to others in similar situations. You can convince them of the need to choose the path of life and shun the path of death, because you speak from experience. All through the Gospels, it was those who had taken wrong turnings who were particularly loved by Jesus, because once they recognized their mistake, they were all the more open to his healing message. It was those who were willing to rebuild their lives who were most ready to listen to Jesus and become his disciples. You can follow in their footsteps, you too can grow particularly close to Jesus because you have chosen to turn back toward him."

Source: speech by Pope Benedict XVI - World Youth Day 2008

Romans 8:18 Suffering

Romans 8:18
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.


Reflection - No Suffering, No Love

God has so loved us that he gave himself up for us: This is the message of the Cross, 'mystery of death and of glory.'"

"The cross reminds us that there is no true love without suffering, there is no gift of life without pain,"

We have two treasures of the Christian faith: the Holy Spirit and the cross."

The Spirit opens human intelligence to horizons that surpass it and makes it understand the beauty and truth of God's love revealed, in fact, on the cross.
A love of which no one will be able to separate us, and that is experienced by giving one's life as Christ did.

Source: Pope Benedict XVI - General audience at the Vatican - SEPT. 17, 2008

1 Kings 19:4-5 – Elijah, Arise and Eat

1 Kings 19:4-5 – Elijah, Arise and Eat
But he (Elijah) himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers." And he lay down and slept under a broom tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, "Arise and eat."
Comment - 'Where is God? - Seeing God

God speaks even when he doesn't say anything, Benedict XVI told 500,000 young people in reference to the "dark night" of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Mother Teresa's spiritual suffering was one of the topics covered by the Pope on Saturday night, during his question-and-answer session with 500,000 youth in Loreto, Italy.
The session, held in the esplanade of Montorso, was part of a two-day encounter of Italian youth with the Holy Father.
A young Italian woman, Sara Simonetta, explained to the Pontiff that she believed "in the God that had touched my heart, but I feel a lot of insecurity, questions, fear."

"I feel human solitude, and I would like to feel God close. Holiness, in this silence, 'Where is God?'" she asked.

Benedict XVI responded that "we all, even though we believe, experience this silence of God."

"A book was just published on the spiritual experiences of Mother Teresa, and what we have known is now more openly presented: With all her charity, her strength of faith, Mother Teresa suffered the silence of God," he said.

The Pope was referring to the book "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light," written by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, postulator for the cause of canonization of the founder of the Missionaries of Charity. The book, published 10 years after the nun's death, is a compilation of her letters and writings.

Benedict XVI continued: "On one hand, we have to endure this silence of God, partly in order to understand our brethren who don't know God."

On the other, he said, "we can always yell out again to God: 'Talk, show yourself!' And without a doubt, if the heart is open, we can discover the great moments of our life in which the presence of God is truly perceptible, even to us."

Seeing God

The Pope explained how it is possible to see God.

Before all, the Pontiff said, "the beauty of creation is one of the sources in which we can touch the beauty of God, we can see that the Creator exists and is good, that it is true what sacred Scripture says in the creation account."

Second, he explained, it is possible to perceive the divine presence "listening to the word of God in the great liturgical celebrations, in the great music of faith."

Benedict XVI then told the story of a woman who converted to Christianity after having listened to the music of Bach, Handel and Mozart.

Third, the Pope told the assembly of youth, one can discover God through "personal dialogue with Christ."

"He doesn't always respond, but there are moments in which he really responds," the Pontiff said.

A last way of discovering God, according to the Holy Father, is "friendship, companionship in the faith."

Benedict XVI continued: "Now, here, gathered in Loreto, we see how faith unites, how friendship creates a companionship of journeying persons.

"And we experience that all of this does not come from nothing, but has a source, that the silent God is also a God who speaks, who reveals himself, and above all, that we can be witnesses of his presence, that our faith truly brings about light, even for others."

The Pope added: "On one hand, we have to accept that in this world, God is silent, but we shouldn't make ourselves deaf when he speaks, when he manifests his presence on so many occasions, above all in Creation, in the liturgy, in friendship within the Church. And, full of his presence, we can also give light to others."

Source: VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 4, 2007 (Zenit.org)

Rev 12:9-11 – Dragon Thrown Down

Rev 12:9-11 – Dragon Thrown Down
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world -- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.


Comment
"Take Heart, It Is Love That Wins in the End!"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the time when St John wrote the Book of Revelation, this dragon represented for him the power of the anti-Christian Roman Emperors, from Nero to Domitian. This power seemed boundless; the military, political and propagandist power of the Roman Empire was such that before it, faith, the Church, appeared as a defenceless woman with no chance of survival and even less of victory.

Who could stand up to this omnipresent force that seemed capable of achieving everything? Yet, we know that in the end it was the defenceless woman who won and not egoism or hatred; the love of God triumphed and the Roman Empire was opened to the Christian faith.

The words of Sacred Scripture always transcend the period in history. Thus, not only does this dragon suggest the anti-Christian power of the persecutors of the Church of that time, but also anti-Christian dictatorships of all periods.

We see this power, the force of the red dragon, brought into existence once again in the great dictatorships of the last century: the Nazi dictatorship and the dictatorship of Stalin monopolized all the power, penetrated every corner, the very last corner. It seemed impossible in the long term that faith could survive in the face of this dragon that was so powerful, that could not wait to devour God become a Child, as well as the woman, the Church. But also in this case, in the end love was stronger than hate.

Today too, the dragon exists in new and different ways. It exists in the form of materialistic ideologies that tell us it is absurd to think of God; it is absurd to observe God's commandments: they are a leftover from a time past. Life is only worth living for its own sake. Take everything we can get in this brief moment of life. Consumerism, selfishness and entertainment alone are worthwhile. This is life. This is how we must live. And once again, it seems absurd, impossible, to oppose this dominant mindset with all its media and propagandist power. Today too, it seems impossible to imagine a God who created man and made himself a Child and who was to be the true ruler of the world.

Even now, this dragon appears invincible, but it is still true today that God is stronger than the dragon, that it is love which conquers rather than selfishness.

SOURCE: EXTRACT FROM POPE BENEDICT XVI'S HOMILY 15 AUG 2007
Zenit.org