Posted by The WORD in other words (2006) by Fr Fred Mislang SVD
Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord
Sue Monk Kidd in her When the Heart Waits relates a personal event in her and daughter’s life which is as heart-warming as it is inspiring. She writes, “When my daughter was small she got the dubious part of the Bethlehem star in a Christmas play. After her first rehearsal she burst through the door with her costume, a five-pointed star lined in shiny gold tinsel designed to drape over her like sandwich board. ‘What exactly will you be doing in the play?’ I asked her. ‘I just stand there and shine,’ she told me. I’ve never forgotten that response.”
In our Gospel we read, “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all the people. The light shines in the darkness…” Indeed, Jesus was the light of the world that enlightens every one who has come into the world.
That’s what was expected of the little girl in the Christmas play. That was her role: “to stand there and shine.” And she gave her all, all her childlike innocence, enthusiasm, and wonder. “To stand and shine” is likewise expected of us.
Actually, there’s an innate and sometimes inordinate yearning from the heart to give, to move beyond ourselves, to live a life of service. Needless to say, God inculcated into our inmost being that yearning to give. Sad to say, many of us fail to give of ourselves, instead we fill ourselves with our own selves.
Jack Kornfield wrote something appropriate regarding this matter. He said, “We all have, without exception, a very deep longing to give—to give to the earth, to give to others, to give to society, to love, and to care for this earth. That’s true for every human being, even if….it has been squashed or somehow suppressed in some brutal way in their life. But it’s there to be discovered. We all long for that.
You know, there’s a tremendous sorrow for a human being who doesn’t find a way to give. One of the worst of human sufferings is not to find a way to love, or a place to work and give of your heart and your being.”
This is precisely the meaning of Christmas—to find a way to love. God, who is love, love in its highest and purest form, found a way to love, that is, to get out of Himself. Yes, His love overflowed, so to speak, to share His tremendous love no less with us poor, sinful, and weak human beings.
May we who receive this tremendous love of God go out like that little girl, “to stand and shine” with love, by sharing this same love to all our brothers and sisters not only this Christmas Day but every day of our lives. Merry Christmas to all!
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