A visit to the Crib....
Yesterday, I remained for sometime after Mass to visit the Nativity Scene and or the Crib in the Church and had an overwhelming experience which I want to share to inspire us all. Of all the characters present, my mind dwelt more on the donkey......... a domestic animal misused in carrying loads........ no wonder termed doing  'donkey' work....? not as strong and valued in comparison to the horse....... yet very useful. The Lord Jesus will ride on a colt to enter Jerusalem on Passion Sunday........Then my mind recalled the desert scene when the seer Balaam was knocked down 3 times from his donkey on his way to pronounce curses on Israel on invitation of Barak, king of Moab. In this episode, Balaam's donkey was seeing an Angel of the Lord with a drawn sword blocking his way (Num. 22: 22-36) and wondered what the donkey in this scene was seeing? .........Host of Angels adoring the Baby Jesus?..... If it could talk, what will it narrate to us.....? I looked at Mary and Joseph, wondered  what was going on in their hearts and minds? ... Scripture only stated Mary pondered these things in her heart.........can we enter into this heart treasured with many mysteries........? Joseph, a righteous man as Scripture called him (Mat. 1:11-25).....where will all these lead him.......? dreams that are slowly unfolding before his very eyes .......? What about the shepherds, who have been sent by the host of Angels........did the little lamb they brought recognize the Baby Jesus as the spotless Lamb of God.........?   My mind was racing fast.......... it's too much for one visit........ it has to sink in slowly............so I need to come back, again and again, if necessary ....... I intentionally left out the Magi because on the first day of Christmas, they were not there yet. This first week or the Octave of Christmas can be  a period to travel with them on their journey following the star........ to join them to present our gifts to Baby Jesus on the Feast of Epiphany. As I need to go back it will be worthwhile if others can make some visits in the coming days....... to spend some time.........actively entering the scene and allowing the character(s) to speak to our hearts........smell, taste and feel what is going on ...... no need to rush.....can remain with one character as long as necessary to really be touched .......as this may lead us to discover personally the principal character lying in the center of the crib - the Baby Jesus.

Identity with the weakness of a Baby
In our Churches and homes during this time, the Nativity scene will find a prominent place of display. Some very elaborate and some very simple. In the center of the scene is the crib with the Baby Jesus laying on straw, surrounded by his parents, the shepherds, the 3 wise men and some animals. It will be good to spend some time with  the scene and try to identify self with each of the main characters... placing yourself in the role of each and note what is moving within you........
Look at Baby Jesus......touch his tiny hands and fingers.....his body wrapped in swaddling clothes...... look at his face.....his sparkling eyes........open arms......waiting for your embrace...... and see the weakness of the Baby Jesus.........who has to depend totally on his parents for everything necessary for growth: food, love, warmth, clothes, shelter, protection ....... etc.
In the weakness of a child..... we come to realize the Saving Mercy of God. This weak, helpless child expresses the Divine Love of God for humanity. .....God willingly chose to take on flesh to be born as a helpless, weak baby as an expression of his great love ....... to identity with the weakness and helplessness of each person.
Divine Love is the Christmas Message..... God became man to live among us....... Emmanuel...... God with us......God decided to manifest himself in the helplessness and weakness of a child.......It is as if God can no longer contain his love so this ocean of love and mercy  burst forth to cover us all.......
Examine the realism of our Christian Faith....... God so loved the world, you/me/us, that he chose to become a helpless weak baby to reveal His Divine Mercy.........As we journey through life, in search of  self identity.......we forget how much God has loved and showed us abundant mercy. Keep the Nativity scene in mind as long as you can and return to it many times during this Season to keep company with the Baby Jesus.... Mary and Joseph. ......What can you tell Him .... and what can you bring to him as a gift?.....After all Jesus is the Reason for the Season so let the Baby Jesus be the center of all our thoughts, actions and Celebrations! Have a Blessed Christmas!

This is what we believe.....
Each time we pray the Nicene Creed, we profess our confession of faith in this great mystery of the Incarnation: ........'For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven, and by the power of the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man'....... Jesus is the fulfillment of all God's promises..... He is the sign...... the sign of favour......... the perfect gift given to humanity. .....For God so loved the world.... (Rose, John, Abla etc....) that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life.......Through Mary the promise of Redemption was accomplished. Mary's prompt response of "Yes " to the divine message is a model of faith for all believers. Mary believed God's promises even when they seemed impossible. She was willing and eager to do God's will even  when it seemed difficult. God gives us graces and he expects us to respond with the same willingness and total trust as Mary did. Do we believe in God's promises and do we yield to the graces that accompany them ? .....When God asks something, he also gives the necessary help, strength and the means to carry it out. What is God asking us that seems infeasible? ......We can either yield to his grace or reject and go our own way, doing our own thing(s)
The whole of our Christian life journey is an Advent..... period of grace........ and of favour.  God has already given the sign.........and what do we have to give in return especially at this Christmas?   The only suitable birthday present that is worth giving,  is the gift of our lives. ... The Lord owns everything but with the gift of our free will we can choose or refuse to belong to Him.
This Christmas,  Jesus wants us to present ourselves totally to Him, not in fanciful wraps, but just as we are.....His Precious Blood will wash away the stains or wrinkles....so that our bodies become a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him.... May we be grace-filled as Mary did by accepting his will and plan for our lives. May we all experience a very Blessed Christmas.......our hearts filled with gratefulness to God for the great things He has done for us......Let us echo Mary in the Magnificat.... let our soul magnify the Lord and out spirit rejoice in God our Saviour........With the power of the Holy Spirit and Mary let us enter and experience the Mystery of the Incarnation which is Christmas........'Mary' Christmas

'Are we all not beggars?'....
 We are all in need of  something and have to ask the other one for it as no one is self sufficient. Even though the degree of need may vary yet we are all in need of something. Who to ask is another issue, friends..... strangers...... family........and if all fail ...... a higher power........ God? So at the end of the day, in one way or the other,  we all turn to someone and or God in our moments of need. I had a conversation with a 'beggar' on the street who asked me  a question which set me thinking. He has been prohibited from entering a Chapel, where he begs for alms and that is forbidden in the Chapel. Not happy with this 'unfair' decision, he posed me the  question.......  'is there anyone who does not ask for something from someone? ' ......His question was thought-provoking and I came to realize that we are all beggars but the greatest beggar is God Himself.
It is God who is calling out to us to come to him, ....his heart is yearning for humanity - his creation - to know ...love ......serve and return to him. He cries out to those who are thirsty,  to quench at the source of the Living  Water.....He invites the weary and the heavily burdened to come and find rest in him....He reveals the depth of his love through his open-pierced Sacred Heart from the cross........ see the Heart that  loved men so much........ God is begging for love.......the lover searching out for his beloved........He never stop seeking out the lost....as the Good Shepherd going after the lost sheep........for  we have all gone astray... busy being busy.....   Scripture after Scripture is literally calling us to repent,..... change our ways,  come back to the Lord our God so as not to end in hell .....but to spend eternity with Him in heaven.....When  you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me..... It's God who allows us to find Him even though we may think we are searching for Him. ..... For our sake, He is waiting in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, in the Tabernacle as a prisoner of  Love .......for our  visit to spend just some moments with Him....... He is standing at the door of each heart... knocking....and waiting to come in, if only we will open and welcome him into our hearts/lives........ At his first coming, his parents knocked on so many doors but there was no room....... no space in any Inn for Him to be born....... He is still knocking and waiting to be allowed in to hearts that will accept Him. His greatest gift that he came to give is life, .....eternal life. As Christmas draws near.. .. will He find room/space in our hearts to come and be made flesh........ dwell among us?   By welcoming him .....we can unknowingly welcome the other beggar(s) we chose not to see living all around  us.

Join the Angelic Salutation
- The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary....... And She was conceived by the Holy Spirit
(Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus;   Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen)
- Behold the handmaid of the Lord,........ Be it done unto me according to thy word.
(Hail Mary...........)
- And the Word was made flesh............ And He dwelt among us 
(Hail Mary..........) etc.
   You may recall praying the 'Angelus' in the past at 06.00a.m., 12.00 noon or 6,00 p.m. This Catholic tradition, that has become less popular in our days can become alive during this Advent as I recently experienced the beauty and richness of this simple traditional prayer of the Church.
    The dialogue that is being recalled in this prayer is from the Holy Scriptures, That event brought the 1st Advent into fulfillment. The virgin did have a child as Isaiah prophesied. We are now in the Advent season and we can enter into the spirit of the Angelus.  As we pray those same words they can become alive in our hearts as we discover God's faithfulness, fulfilling his promise to save humanity. Praying it, is like joining the Angel Gabriel, who was sent by God to the Virgin Mary,...... greet her with the words of the Angel Gabriel: 'Hail full of grace....... the Lord is with you......... follow Mary as she entered the house of Elizabeth, who under the power of the Holy Spirit cried out in a loud voice and said 'Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb - Jesus. And how does this happen  to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?......... Blessed are you who believed  that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled......(Lk. 1: 26-45).... Join the Church praying: 'Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour our death, Amen!
   If for whatever reason you have stopped praying this beautiful prayer or have never prayed it, you can experience it anew especially in this season of Advent and thereafter everyday at 06.00 a.m., 12.00 noon and or 6.00 p.m. Join the angelic salutation and experience the joyful heart of Mary, filled with the Holy Spirit........ Enter into the mystery of the Annunciation...... and experience Advent in a new way....... let the joy of Advent ring in your heart.......Have a blessed Advent!

Expectation with a presence.
This weekend we begin the season of Advent, 4 weeks to Christmas but what is it all about?  An expectant mother during pregnancy feels the presence of the baby she is carrying in her womb. She is very aware of it, feels the movement and hears the heartbeat even though the child is not yet born. The period of gestation is not only eating well, rest, exercise, etc. ...  but also period of excitement and wonder as she awaits the coming to birth of the child she is nurturing in her womb. The period of Advent is also like that..... we become pregnant with the Word, becoming more aware of the presence of God in our lives, in the lives around us and in the world where we live. The first Advent heralded the coming of the Messiah and many missed Him because He did not meet their expectations. Since then we are living in the end times when we expect Him to come again, any time. Every Advent is therefore an opportunity to become more aware of His presence so that should He come today we will not be caught off-guard. Like the expectant mother prepares for the coming  to birth of her child, we need also to prepare for the return of the Lord, who is here yet to come again.
Christmas will remind us of the first coming and His coming again. It's a period of grace to wake up from sleep because our salvation is closer than we think. We cannot continue business as usual, ....Jesus, though here is coming in a special way to us at Christmas not in the  physical body but in a very real way. If we are not awake and open  to His coming this Christmas what will make us think that we will be prepared for His final coming? We need to be prepared in the same way for the son of Man is coming at a time you least expect (Mat 24:44). It's time to prepare diligently and open up to Jesus. It's time to meet Jesus as the Saviour now before we meet Him as the Judge.Our entire life is a period of Advent....going about our ordinary job but waiting in expectation with a presence. He who is here is coming again and we need to be busy with the preparation.
Take time each day this Advent  and enter the mystery of the Living Word, ..... Emmanuel...... God with us...............Maranatha...... Come Lord Jesus!