A Christmas Eve Story
And, for the first time in eight years, I forgot the key to the chapel locker, the locker in which we kept the things we use at Mass. In keeping with the rules, I had brought with me only the wine.
Fortunately, that very day, communion hosts had arrived in the mail and they were on the desk. I could presume that at least one inmate would bring a bible. I found a Styrofoam cup in the garbage-this would be the cup. Toilet paper would be the dish for the bread which we would bless as the Body of Christ.
Initially, I was quite embarrassed about these humble circumstances. But then it hit me. How better to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ. How better to show the meaning of Christmas, not just that Jesus was born, but that Jesus was born poor, and this was only the beginning of a terrible life in which he was to suffer some form of anything through which we might have to pass.
He was born poor.
His parents were not important people.
He lived far from centers of civilization at the time.
His human father died when he was still young.
Supporting his mother, he was an anonymous laborer almost all his life.
As an itinerant preacher, he got a late start.
He had no patron. He got no "break."
When finally he started preaching, he was misunderstood. (The people thought he was talking about an earthly kingdom-and this was all they wanted.)
When finally he started making disciples, he got opposition (from the religious establishment). He was especially opposed by the Pharisees because they were jealous of their power, envious of his popularity, legalistic, and bound by tradition.
He was betrayed by someone he had trusted (Judas).
He was abandoned by the rest of his friends (the apostles).
He was denied by the person he had appointed to lead his Church (Peter).
He was the subject of lies and condemned unjustly.
He was also the victim of apathy (by Pontius Pilate).
He was rejected and scorned by people he had helped.
He suffered spiritually (in the garden).
He suffered physically (on the cross).
Crucifixion was the common form of execution.
On the cross (on which he was naked), he was also humiliated and ridiculed.
Finally, he died; his movement dead, he appeared utterly defeated. But, as it turned out, he was utterly victorious.
Why was Jesus asked to live such a life? So that if we are betrayed, abandoned, or condemned unjustly, we will not feel that we are worthless. So that we would know that God understands anything we ever suffer. So that we would know that, like Jesus, we can conquer any adversity if only by accepting it.
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