Christmas Reflections

It may seem strange to have a Christmas reflections post come after Christmas, but in the Catholic Church, the Christmas liturgical season goes from Christmas Day until the Baptism of the Lord (Jan 9th this year). And historically, Christmastide didn’t end until February 2nd at The Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas. You might be thinking “Wow, that’s a really long time! I don’t want to keep celebrating the Christmas season all the way up until February!” And I hear you, but we live in the era of holiday creep and our culture starts Christmas celebrations rather early by historical standards. Traditionally, the start of the Christmas celebration was much closer to Christmas and not all the way in November. So really, I am posting about Christmas during Christmas!

Anyway, onto my thoughts.

Christmas morning my husband and I went to Mass at our local parish. During Mass, I love to fix my eyes on the crucifix during the liturgy. That particular Sunday, as I was looking at the crucifix and thinking about the nativity scene, the subject of the day’s gospel readings, it occurred to me that before he was even born, Jesus chose to suffer on our behalf. Now, this wasn’t really a brand new thought. I’d been aware of it before. Of course, Jesus choose to be born and to die on the cross. But I don’t know that the gravity of that had really sunk in before. The profound nature of what that means about his love for us.

So here I am, sitting in the pew, thinking about how Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, existing with the Father before the beginning of time itself, voluntarily chose to humble himself and take on human flesh. Now, before we ever get to the matter of his torture and death let’s just reflect for a moment about what he choose for himself. He choose to take on the regular sufferings that come with human existence: pain, hunger, exhaustion, cold, heat, and let’s not forget temptation to sin. Wow. But of course, we know he doesn’t stop there.

Not only does he choose to become human, but he chooses to become human so that he can suffer torture and die horrifically on a cross. He chooses to suffer for our benefit. Now, I’m sure all parents can relate to being willing to suffer on behalf of their children. But if you had the choice and the power of God would you willingly suffer or would you arrange things in a way that would spare you from suffering? I would. Who wants to suffer if they don’t have to? And that’s the thing. Jesus didn’t have to. He chose to. More freely than any of us choose our suffering because he did have the power to end his own suffering at any point he wanted to. And yet, out of complete obedience and love for us, he didn’t. This is so profound.

I know this may sound more like a Good Friday reflection rather than a Christmas reflection but I don’t think they are mutually exclusive. For, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states, ” ‘All that Jesus did and taught, from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven,’ is to be seen in the light of the mysteries of Christmas and Easter.”¹ And there certainly isn’t an Easter without a Good Friday.

This is why I love reflecting on the crucifix. It reminds me what love is. That love, genuine love, is willing to suffer on another’s behalf. And Jesus was willing to suffer so much out of love for us. How many times have I not wanted to do something for another person simply because it would cause me the extremely mild suffering of an inconvenience? Too many times to count. Reflecting on Christ’s incarnation and suffering helps me curb that selfishness. When I feel that selfishness creep up I ask myself, “Am I loving this person like Jesus would want me to?” And if I’m honest with myself, the answer is probably “no” and I need to do a course correction so that “I don’t really feel like it” becomes “I’ll do that out of love.”

Some of us may be called to endure suffering similar to Christ’s through martyrdom. All of us, however, are called to endure the small sufferings of everyday life out of love for our fellow humans. Things like filling up the Brita pitcher even though I don’t feel like it. Putting that shopping cart where it belongs. Picking up my trash I just dropped in the parking lot. Christ was willing to suffer tremendously to reconcile the human race to God. Am I willing to suffer even in the smallest way to show love to those around me? I’m working on that answer always being yes but I’m not quite there.

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