38. December 29

Meditations no. 33 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The humility of the Child Jesus and of the shepherds.

The shepherds said to one another: Let us make our way to Bethlehem and see for ourselves this thing which the Lord has revealed to us.

Once more we travel the road leading to the cave at Bethlehem. We want to have the simple and humble faith of the shepherds who go to adore the Child, and who see that through the tender mercy of our God, the dawn has visited us from on high.

The King of Angels has become a helpless child. We see him lying between an ox and a mule. In contemplating him, St Bernard remarks, let man infer how much God cares for him. Let him know from this what God thinks of him. Do not ask about your own sufferings; but about what he suffered. Learn from what he was made for you, how much he makes of you, so that his kindness may show itself to you from his humanity. The less he has made himself in his humanity, the greater he has shown himself in kindness. The more he humbles himself on my account, the more powerfully he engages my love. “The kindness and humanity of God our Saviour appeared,” says the Apostle.

I see God lying in a place where only animals dwell and I exclaim: Jesus, where is your majesty? My child, have you seen the greatness of God become a child? For his Father is God, and his ministers are the angels. Yet he is here, in a manger, in swaddling clothes … Such is the sign the shepherds are given. St Paul describes it very well. He says of Christ: semetipsum exinanivit formam servi accipiens. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. Helpless, he cannot defend himself. He is a baby who looks like any ordinary child.

We are moved, as were the shepherds, by the great lesson of humility our Lord teaches us even from the cradle. He came into the world in the utmost silence, unknown to the wise and powerful of this world.

Readiness to believe and obey stems from humility.

Kneeling at the crib, after worshipping the Child, we look once again at the shepherds who formed the royal court of the King of heaven and earth. When they are called, they leave their flocks and humbly come to the crib. The angel’s invitation made them forget all about their own affairs, in order to come and adore the Prince of shepherds, who lays down his life for the sheep.

These were the first ones to whom the Saviour’s birth was revealed - perhaps because they were people of lowly condition, and because in God’s eyes it is a title of honour to be little. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes. They answered the call straight away, and in all simplicity they believed the Angel’s words: For to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

The worldly-wise would have argued: How can this be? Would God really be lying in a manger? But the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” Their docility was rewarded: they found God. Those shepherds, St Augustine tells us, were probably uneducated rustics …

and nevertheless God chose them. For he came and “chose what is weak in the world to shame the proud” … so that no powerful person could boast in his pride, and no one who is weak could in his littleness fall victim to despair.

Humility and apostolic effectiveness.

All the characters in the Christmas scene are simple and humble. Ecce ancilla Domini. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, says Mary. St Joseph accepts his own role without a trace of impatience. The shepherds go in haste and feel no disappointment at finding a baby who is just like any other. The Magi are filled with joy at the mere sight of him. And the Child, God himself, becomes tiny in order to show us the way. Won’t we learn to love simplicity, too?

If you want to be humble, says St Augustine, ask the King of heaven, the Creator of all men, who was born among us in order to save us. And our Father invites us to consider our God, humbled, become a slave, emptied, taking the form of a servant in the cave in which he chose to be born. Isn’t it worth making up our minds to struggle for true humility and not stray from the path opened for us at Bethlehem?

Our Father gently reproaches us: You and I are always wanting to stand out, anxious sometimes to go by a path that is not ours, not the ordinary, everyday way.

And now, at the feet of Jesus, this King who wears no external sign of royalty, I ask you: My child, where is the Christ I seek in you? In your pride? In your desire to impose yourself on others? In those little character defects which you don’t wish to overcome? In your stubbornness? Is Christ to be found there? …

You need to have your own personality, agreed. But you should try to make it conform exactly to Christ’s. Your life cannot be like that, all pettiness and silly things. How can someone like you, after giving yourself to God, let life go sour in this way - over things that matter so little and are given importance only by your pride, your high opinion of yourself? How can you hinder God’s grace in that way?

God chose the shepherds to be the first to hear of Jesus’ Birth. They are also his first messengers. They spread the news far and wide. All who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

To reach Jesus, we must follow the humble path which the shepherds took, heeding our Father’s advice:

Say to him: Lord, look at my pride and self-love. Help me to get rid of them for good! …

Here we are, Lord, at the beginning of your life as man on earth, ready to live your life. We want to get to know you, to talk to you, to love you, to imitate you: in a word, to follow you. You and I want to be identified with Christ. And he… just look at him!