My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Several years ago here in New York, an art exhibit featured Santa Claus on a cross.  The chairman of the Catholic League, Dr. William Donohue, was offended and objected strenuously. The young Italian-American artist who intended to portray the commercialization of Christmas did not get his message across.  Santa and St. Nicholas were not the same person in his artistic portrayal.

More recently, Madonna, the singer, had herself attached to a cross as part of her musical act.  An Italian cardinal objected to her appearance in a concert in Rome for depicting herself in this manner, which seemed to be blasphemous.

These examples reminded me of something similar in my own experience.  For several years I was the chaplain for the convent of the Pallottine Sisters in Union City, New Jersey.  Each day as I came to the sacristy to celebrate Mass, I saw a statue of the Christ Child with His arm over a cross.  I have not seen something similar since. 

That depiction raised the question: Did Jesus as a child know He was to be crucified to save sinners?  Did He truly contemplate the cross from His earliest days?  It is a disputed theological question regarding the consciousness of Jesus.  There are those who argue that because He was God He should and could know all, while others argue that since He was truly human, His human development would have been limited to what He was able to know.  It is an interesting question with perhaps no resolution, but we do know how Jesus embraced the cross when He understood His father’s Will was to do so.

The image of the Child Jesus is one that captivates us; it is the heart of our Christmas celebration.  The baby Jesus in the manger was made part of our Christmas devotion by St. Francis of Assisi in the 13th century.  This great saint who preached freedom from materialism made the manger scene very popular because he wished to portray the poverty of the child Jesus as an example for us.  St. Francis once said:  “How He was deprived of all the comforts most babies enjoy; how He was bedded in a manger on hay, between an ass and an ox.  For once, I see everything with my own eyes.” Francis saw the humility of God and the power of a baby to attract our attention and love. 

St. Clare, the soul mate of St. Francis, understood his spiritual insight.  She said about the Christ Child:  “Behold His poverty, even as He was laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes!  What a marvelous humility.  What a wondrous poverty.  The King of Angels, the Lord of heaven and earth resting in a manger.”

Does not this newborn baby attract us?  The scene touches us deeply; the world rejoices in the birth of any child.  How can we be afraid of a child?  Who would want to abandon a child, as we heard about this week in the Bronx in a park?  We instinctively want to hug and kiss a baby.  We see the hope of new life in every newborn and we wonder, as scripture tells us of the birth of John the Baptist, what will this child be?  We know the Christ Child would become the Savior of the world, the man who would embrace death on a cross to give each of us a chance to be reborn to new life in Baptism.

Do we need, however, to celebrate Christmas each year?  Might not we cancel it for some years to save money and give it to the poor, embracing the true spirit of humility and poverty, which Christmas embodies?  Christ was born over 2,000 years ago and the world received Him not. The continued spiritual birth of Jesus at Christmas gives the world, and us, another chance to accept Him as Savior and Lord.

As we contemplate the manger scene in our Christmas celebrations, we can see it as putting out into the deep.  We need to plumb the depths of this heartwarming scene.  Do we just see a baby, animals, shepherds, wise men, mother and father, or do we rather see, as if in a mirror, the infant who inspires faith, hope and love in us? Do not let Christmas pass without promising yourselves to share faith, hope and love with someone else.  This is why Jesus needs to be reborn each year, to awaken us and to give us new life.

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