MERRY CHRISTMAS!
We sing of a silent night when Christ, our Saviour is born to be present with us.
The silence of donkey hooves, plodding through the darkness. The silence of Joseph and Mary –a quiet couple, trusting each other to get to where they need to be.
The silence of shepherds looking up at the sky.
The silence of visitors, standing or kneeling in awe at this delicate new king.
After the physical pain and struggle, there is a peace that comes after the birth of a child. This moment of silence and love is the intimate way that God chose to be with us.
I love the silence of Christmas morning, before all the activity of gifts and feasting. It’s a good time to reflect on this miraculous celebration. In the stillness, there is a realization that this marked moment of remembering Christ’s birth has gone on for more than two thousand years and is happening all over the world. Despite all the despair and unrest, the human spirit celebrates and silently prays.
There will be silence this Christmas day. There will be the silence of a farmer, going to feed the livestock as he/she does every day. There will be the silence of displaced families walking to get to safety. There will be silent hospital rooms, prison cells and rooming houses where the lonely sit and contemplate this day. There will be silence on a frozen lake or a forest beginning to bounce back from fire and devastation.
There will be the silence of a new mother feeding her child or an adult child at the bedside of a dying parent.
Emmanuel – God is with us in it all. God is with us in the silence.
Thank you, Lord, for coming to us in the silence and for the gift of your Son on this holy day.
May this Christmas bring a gift of silence to each human heart.
May Christ be born anew in each person, to dwell within us all year long.
Merry Christmas!
Jan Bentham is a retired Religion Coordinator with the Ottawa Catholic School Board. She is a musician, serving in music ministry at St. Ignatius Parish in Ottawa. She currently works at St. Paul’s University with the Catholic Women’s Leadership Program.
