This past week we celebrated the Solemnity of Christmas. Two days beforehand I was the unlucky recipient of a severe head cold, and subsequently dragged myself deliriously through the festivities. A day or two after Christmas (after developing laryngitis), I happened upon the Holy Father’s homily from Midnight Mass [1], and was immediately brought back to the beauty of what I was missing during my battle to stay functional through the holiday.
“Through the course of history, the light that shatters the darkness reveals to us that God is Father and that his patient fidelity is stronger than darkness and corruption. This is the message of Christmas night. God does not know outbursts of anger or impatience; he is always there, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, waiting to catch from afar a glimpse of the lost son as he returns; and every day, with patience. The patience of God.”
God’s patience. God’s patient fidelity. In other words, He is constant, even if we are not. Without question, all of us need to be more patient with God, and more faithful to Him, even if only in small things. But we also need to take this “message of Christmas night” to heart so deeply, that it begins to show in how we treat ourselves and those around us. If we really believed in God’s faithfulness and patience towards us, we would realize that it’s not just for us, it’s for all people, and we would want to share it with everyone, to bring the world these “tidings of great joy.”
I know I need to absorb this truth more deeply because there are times (like if I’m sick) when I feel barely functional or I’m frustrated at my lack of productivity. Sometimes I have a hard enough time being kind to myself, let alone trying to be charitable and patient with anyone else! During times like these, it’s easy for me to forget that despite my impatience, God is still patient. He is still waiting for me to lift my head, to remember His ever presence, to allow His love to rejuvenate me.
“… the love with which, that night, he assumed our frailty, our suffering, our anxieties, our desires and our limitations. The message that everyone was expecting, that everyone was searching for in the depths of their souls, was none other than the tenderness of God: God who looks upon us with eyes full of love, who accepts our poverty, God who is in love with our smallness.”
This is the hardest thing for a perfectionist like me: to let God love me in my smallness … in my lack. Because I don’t like acknowledging that I am small, and if I’m honest, I can’t even imagine the God of the universe loving me without first examining my performance. Yet He does. And not only does He love me, but He loves me with tenderness. He loves you with tenderness.
“On this holy night, while we contemplate the Infant Jesus just born and placed in the manger, we are invited to reflect. How do we welcome the tenderness of God? Do I allow myself to be taken up by God, to be embraced by him, or do I prevent him from drawing close? “But I am searching for the Lord” – we could respond. Nevertheless, what is most important is not seeking him, but rather allowing him to seek me, find me and caress me with tenderness. The question put to us simply by the Infant’s presence is: do I allow God to love me?”
Once we are able to accept the truth of this great love story of Christmas, the truth that God loves us each more than we could ever imagine, only then can we live that love and share it with others, spreading the joy of Christ throughout the world. This week, as we continue in the Christmas season, let’s try to acknowledge our smallness, to allow the Lord’s love to penetrate our hearts, and to reflect His tenderness to everyone we meet.
“The Christian response cannot be different from God’s response to our smallness. When we realize that God is in love with our smallness, that he made himself small in order to better encounter us, we cannot help but open our hearts to him, and beseech him: ‘Lord, help me to be like you, give me the grace of tenderness in the most difficult circumstances of life, give me the grace of closeness in the face of every need…’”
[1] All quotes taken from Pope Francis’ Midnight Mass Homily, 2014. Click here to read the full homily.
Beautifully said…thank you!