For many of us, our childhood memories of Christmas bring back the images of a crib.
Christmas was indeed the special celebration of the child Jesus lying in a manger.
He was held in the arms of his mother Mary under the admiring gaze of Joseph.

To this simple presentation, a more detailed one was often outlined.
More personages were part of the scene: the shepherds and the Magi.
The shepherds were often seen bringing sheep to the new-born.
The Magi, known as the three kings, carried more precious gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh.

Many people would call this a childish representation.
Others would claim that it is all part of a myth.
Some would recognize it as symbolic, evocative…

I would side with this last group – the Nativity scene is truly symbolic and powerfully evocative.
More still, it calls for a deeper interpretation, a search for the hidden meaning…

It even inspires an appropriation of what the personages stand for.
Could it be that there is within each one of us a shepherd?… A Magi?…

Hidden in the depths of ourselves the shepherd –
simple, humble, generous, in contemplation of the amazing reality: God has become one of us, truly so…

Hidden as well within us, the Magi (the Magus, in the singular) –
the wise one, coming from afar, in search of truth and meaning, bent in adoration of the Infant-God…

Both of them, and ourselves, have thus understood something of what is proclaimed in this celebration:
“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us…”    (John 1:14)

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French, at: https://image-i-nations.com/la-nativite-du-seigneur-annee-b-2023-2024/

Source: Images: Photos Public Domain   Aleteia