“And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” – Lk 2: 1-14
The focus in today’s reading is “the baby Jesus” which reminded me of the tradition in my parish church as a child of the Christmas procession. In the darkness of the church, singing “Silent Night, Holy Night” the angels, shepherds, and the Holy Family processes in to present the newborn baby to the Pastor who placed it in the manger, where all our hopes, dreams, prayers, and petitions were placed before the newborn King. Even the hardest of hearts is open to the peace and tranquility that only a baby can bring to us. We experience the baby year after year and it never gets old.
This same baby becomes our Eucharistic Lord on the altar day after day. We, as Xaverian Brothers, Associates, and coworkers in our ministry, make the Eucharist the center of our lives. We become the bread that is broken and shared with each other and those whose lives we touch.
This Christmas Day may we all meet in spirit at the manger and as we gaze at the baby in swaddling clothes, the baby who becomes the Eucharistic presence in our lives, may we remember each other in joy, peace, and love.
Brother William Ciganek, C.F.X