Reflection on the Nativity of the Lord

A child is born to us.  Some of you may know that in one of my former lives I was a labor and delivery nurse.  So, this night has doubly special meaning for me.

I think back on all the babies I helped deliver. I had the pleasure of being one of the welcoming voices that celebrated the beginning of the child’s changed experience of life.  It is a wonder-filled experience being present at this miracle of birthing.  For me each birth was always special, every time.

The birth of Jesus that we celebrate every year is, for me, a new beginning. A time to revisit the wonder of my birth. I came into this world the same way as the child we celebrate this night. I began to think, is this not what God has had in mind for me. A common ordinary beginning, just like Jesus, with unlimited possibilities for, like Jesus, being a sign of God’s loving, creative presence in today’s disheveled world. 

I look back on this night with unlimited gratitude. From this humble beginning Jesus, filled with the spirit of God, became for us a guide for living true to God’s presence within us. Such an available guide. There in the market, at the seashore, in the boats, walking the roads, village to town, everyday life, among the people. The teacher, the message, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

On this night so long ago, this birth was the beginning and the whole of God’s message to me, to everyone. Warm in his mother’s arms, secure in the dark of the night, fresh from the enclosure of the womb.  He saw her face, looked into her eyes, reflecting, accepting Mary’s gift of all-embracing love.