Christmas Message Fall 2024

Reflection: Dec. 24, 2024 

Dear university community,

The Gospel of Luke relates the birth of Jesus by presenting the first Emperor in all his grandeur and immediately thereafter bringing us to Bethlehem, where there is no grandeur at all: just a poor child wrapped in swaddling clothes, with shepherds standing by. That is where God is, in littleness. God does not rise up in grandeur but lowers himself into littleness. Littleness is the path that God chose to draw near to us, touch our hearts, save us, and bring us back to what really matters.

So, as we stand before the crib, we contemplate what is central, beyond all the lights and decorations: We contemplate the child. In his littleness, God is completely present. Let us be amazed by this scandalous truth:

The One who embraces the universe needs to be held in another’s arms. The One who created the sun needs to be warmed. Tenderness incarnate needs to be coddled. Infinite love has a minuscule heart that beats softly. The eternal Word is an “infant,” a speechless child. The Bread of life needs to be nourished. The Creator of the world has no home.

In this awesome truth lies the challenge of Christmas: God reveals himself; God makes himself little in the eyes of the world.

While we continue to seek grandeur in the eyes of the world. God lowers himself while we try to become great. The Most High goes in search of shepherds, the unseen in our midst, while we ignore them and look for visibility. Jesus is born to serve while we spend a lifetime pursuing success.

God does not seek power and might; God asks for tender love and interior littleness. This is what we should ask God for at Christmas: the grace of littleness: “God, teach us to love littleness. Help us to understand that littleness is the way to authentic greatness.”

What does it mean, concretely, to accept littleness? It means believing that God desires to come into the little things of our life, into what we do each day at home, with our families, and here at the University of the Incarnate Word.

It also means God wanting to come in our own littleness: in our experience of feeling weak, frail, inadequate, even “messed up.” This means that, if, as in Bethlehem, the darkness of night overwhelms you, if you feel surrounded by cold indifference, if the hurt you carry inside cries out, “You are of little account; you are worthless; you will never be loved the way you want”, tonight God answers back.

Tonight, God tells you: “I love you just as you are. Your littleness does not frighten me, your failings do not trouble me. I became little for your sake. To be your God, I became your brother. Do not be afraid of me. Find in me your measure of greatness. I am close to you, and one thing I only ask: trust me and open your heart to me.”

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Sr. Walter Maher, CCVI

VP for Mission and Ministry