Merry Christmas, everyone! When I was a child, I remember one Christmas when my parents bought me a gift and I wasn’t happy with it; I wanted something else or something better. They were quite angry that I was ungrateful with what I had been given.
I see this attitude play out in my life: I’m not always happy with what God gives me. I want certain things (rest, order, spiritual results), and, even when He gives me a certain amount of these things, I’m not fully happy, I’m still impatient. For some of us, our reaction is envy: We already have a pretty good life, but are sad that others have or get more. For others, because life isn’t the way we want, we focus on ourselves.
Today, on a scale of 1 to 10, how joyful are we, 10 being overflowing joy? At staff meetings, we ask each other this question, and Deacon Andrew says, ‘10. Always 10. I have God, family—enough.’ Last December 8, Deacon celebrated his 10th anniversary of ordination and, even though he’s tired and has sciatica, he never complains but is satisfied. If we aren’t a 10, what would make us a 10? The question on which we’re really focused is: Is what Jesus has given enough for us?
When we look at the Gospel, our Mother Mary and St. Joseph are happy with what God has given them even though they have very little: “The time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Lk 2:6-7). Let’s picture this:
No shelter, giving birth among animals, placing her baby in a wooden or stone structure used to feed animals. But it’s logical to assume she’s a 10 in terms of joy because she has God, her husband, and her baby. Have you ever been so full of joy that nothing could take it away? When you saw your children for the first time? Were you a 10 when you first fell in love, got married, got divorced? Just kidding.
On December 14, Tim Chan found, he says, ‘pure joy’ in Jesus.
Tim will need to go back to that moment of ‘pure joy’ when he’s down; he’ll need to recognize that Jesus is still with him when he doesn’t feel it. This is something we all need to do. Because of human nature and suffering, we can’t be a 10 all the time; Jesus wasn’t joyful when Lazarus died. But Christmas celebrates that God has reached out to us, to share our suffering and bring us back to the joy of being with Him, and so we can respond in faith and love.
One reason why God came as a baby is because babies don’t tell us to be joyful. They slowly open our hearts to joy, if we allow them. I recently read about a woman named Kyra and her husband. When she was eight-months pregnant her father-in-law died. A few weeks later, her husband lost his job. Even before this, he wasn’t fully supportive of the child. But once their daughter came, she became his world; he never put her down. Kyra said, “He would come down in the middle of the night when she’d fuss, and he’d never come back. He would just cuddle up with her… and I don’t think he knew he needed it… That was supposed to be the worst time in his life—you lost your big job, and you lost your dad. It was where God pulled the sheet from under him and said, ‘Wake up.’ And he did… It [could have gone] two ways, and he went the right way… He got closer to God and… connected with the baby” (Catherine Pakaluk, Hannah’s Children, 296).
At a later point in the Gospel, the shepherds “went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child… When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child… [That He would save everyone from their sins, bring us to the Father, and there would be peace for those who respond] But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (2:16-17,19). Our Mother reflects on how God has reached out to the world, and that’s enough for her. Sometimes we see this blessing, we come to Mass and receive Him, but that’s not enough. The question I ask myself a lot is: ‘When I’m suffering, is God enough for me?’
In this book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI asked: What did Jesus bring? He didn’t bring world peace, He didn’t solve hunger. At first, I didn’t think the pope’s answer was persuasive so I had to ponder it like Mary. In the end, he wrote: “What did Jesus actually bring? … The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God… and now we know his face… Now we know the path that we human beings have to take… It is only because of our hardness of heart that we think this is too little… God’s power works quietly in this world, but it is the true and lasting power” (44). On an eternal level, Jesus brought reconciliation with God; on a human level, it’s because of Him that we now recognize human rights which can lead to peace and overcoming hunger. The concept of human rights never existed until Christianity.
Last April, I pondered: Am I only a 10 when feeling rested? I told people, ‘What kind of joy is that, if it’s so dependent on external circumstances? I wish I could be a 10 when I’m not sleeping well.’ After a few months, Jesus gave a gift: Sometimes, I was a 10 simply because I was close to Him and able to love like Him despite feeling like I had nothing left to give.
Now, don’t just accept that things are bad in life and never fix them. Try to make things better, but do so from a place of peace. We have so much already! Today, if we want, could we ponder that Jesus is with us, trying to bring us back to the Father and give us the fullness of life? If we’re not ready, He still loves us and will wait until we are.
Merry Christmas!