Our Saviour is born

Christmas Time starts today. It is an important time, for us Christians, surpassed only by Easter. It is special because we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the mystery of incarnation, when God became man like us. What a great gift! In his love, God chose to become flesh and blood and live the life of a human being. It is truly a great miracle, which happened once, since Jesus was only born once, however, during each mass, God gives us his body and blood, and he becomes part of us. 

The Christmas season starts with the Christmas vigil mass, and it ends with the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. The Church gives us this time to help us reflect on the importance of Jesus in our lives, and if we have moved away from him, we invite him once again, to be born in our hearts. We also reflect on the reason why Jesus became man, which was, to save us. 

During his Christmas homily, last year, Pope Francis said, “This is the message: God does not rise up in grandeur but lowers himself into littleness. Littleness is the path that he chose to draw near to us, to touch our hearts, to save us and to bring us back to what really matters.”

For this special day, we have more than one Gospel reading, today we will reflect on Luke’s Gospel, which is read during the mass at dawn. (if you wish to see the reflection on John’s Gospel, visit/)

Today’s pericope is short and simple. Nevertheless, it gives us a lot to ponder upon. Who were the shepherds? They spent their lives with the sheep, they were not wise. They lived a simple life. Surely, they did not know how to behave in front of important people, let alone in front of God. However, this was the least thing on their minds after the angels spoke to them, instead they said, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” Do we ever feel hopeless when we need to pray? Maybe we are afraid that we are not using the right words, or we doubt that we know how to address God. Let us learn from these shepherds; in their simplicity, they approached God, without any pretentions. 

What was the work of these shepherds? To care for the sheep. Scripture does not describe exactly how many of them went to Bethlehem, however notwithstanding the number of shepherds who went, after the angels spoke with them, they were more concerned with going to Bethlehem, rather than caring for the sheep. How many times, have we found ourselves in similar situations? Both situations are important and necessary, and we are confused which to choose. For example, what are our choices on Sunday? Do we go to mass, or do we catch up on the housework which we did not manage to do during the week, or else we take the children for their activities? These are all necessary, however, where God is concerned, nothing else is comparable. 

“When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.” The likely probability was that these shepherds had no training of how to make known this message, but this did not hinder them. They did not keep to themselves what they saw and heard, instead they went to tell others. How do we behave? Could it be that there are times that not only we do not bring Jesus to others, but instead we do the exact opposite. For example, we are shy to say a prayer before starting a meal in a restaurant, or else we join and agree with those who say that the catechetical meetings for children are unnecessary, or we may even mention the Lord’s name in vain, so that we imitate language used by others!

The shepherds hastened. What is our hurriedness? During these days we have a lot of commitments: dinners, parties, outings, buying of gifts, meals, visits to relatives and friends. Could it be that all this haste, makes us forget what we should in fact be celebrating? That God is with us. God was born as one of us. We forget what the angels said, that God was born to bring us peace? Were do we search for peace? Where do we search for Jesus? The shepherds “went in haste” and after searching, they “found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.” They did not give up, they searched until they found him. This is what the shepherds teach us. 

The fact that God chose the shepherds and not some theologians, shows us that God wants to save everyone, his message of love and salvation is for us all, no matter who we are. At the same time, God also wants us to know, that if he does not differentiate among us, neither should we. We are to care for everyone, we are to help everyone, without prejudice because of race, social standing, or belief.