Christmas Hangover!

It seems that immediately following Christmas we are plunged back into real life. One moment we are contemplating the birth of a child and then we start to see how this changes the world around us. I think that there are three feasts which bring this reality sharply into view. The first is the martyrdom of St. Stephen. This does not seem to sit easily so closely to the time when we feel most peaceful we are struck by the his words, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit" as he makes his dying breath. It seems to be that the moment which called us to hold our breath took his breath away. The moment was that in encountering the person of Jesus everything changes and he sees himself in a new light. This is not just about sentimental thoughts or pious actions it is a dedication to understand that his whole life only makes sense in the person of Jesus.

The second image is that of St. John in which a person understands the contrast between conditional and unconditional love. It seems to show how our lives are caught between two worlds. We want love on our terms compared to an openness and acceptance of surrender to a love which moves us beyond ourselves. This is a place where we are called to allow ourselves to be touched by that liminal space where God meets us and draws us closer. This is a place which often captures us between what we know and what seems unknown. There is an attachment to have Christmas on our terms rather than the detachment which draws us deeper to see Christmas through God's eyes which draws us more deeply into a relationship which allows us to be our true self. It provokes us to discover someone who enables us to live in the way which brings life for ourselves and for others.

Then comes for me the hardest feast in this season which is the Holy Innocents. While as adults we can make decisions where we are willing to sacrifice our own good for the good of another this seems to express the total injustice in which we can encounter the seeming victory of the powerful over the powerless. The place where it seems that might is right and where success is seen by keeping yourself in control. The shock and horror of the suffering of innocents strikes us to the core of our being. It has been seen in the results of young children who have been abused and had their innocence stolen from them. It happens in times of war when children are robbed of home and security, It happens in decisions of life and death where the needs of the adult are considered greater than those of the child. We are shaken not just by the indignity, the indecision and the indifference to their lives but also by our ability to rationalize the distance that we can place between one life and our own. We are moved to cocoon ourselves for fear that the harm that is caused will pass us by and we can return to our normal lives.

Yet this is at the heart of Christmas. The birth of a child seeks to bring salvation to our world and disturbs us to see the world through God's eyes. St Stephen reminds us that we are called to be open to a way of life which can speak out and lives life in a way which glorifies God. St. John reminds us that we seek to live a unconditional way of loving which surrenders ourselves to God so that we can become our true self. The Holy Innocents remind us that this love sees all life as valuable and that we need to speak for the powerless rather than for the powerful. That we become voices for the hidden truth of the Gospel that all creation is called to sing of God's glory and not our own. This should always be at he heart of our way of life, that in encountering the mystery of the incarnation we allow Jesus to be at the centre of our lives and our prayer. To live in a way which radically transforms us and challenges the view that can so often place ourselves at the centre. May we prayer that God's heart may draw us into the mystery in which we contemplate his love with our lives.