Out of the Silence……
Out of the Silence……
We are now in a period of preparation for Christ’s coming into our lives. In the midst of this pandemic, we have to keep our silence to hear and listen to God’s invitation to welcome Christ into our hearts in the spirit of the Christmas season. In the restricted atmosphere of this Christmas season, we have to face the challenge of focusing our minds and our hearts on Christ who is supposed to be at the center of our Christmas madness. Focus on Christ requires some form of silence, a stillness and a solitude that disposes our soul to the promptings our God’s spirit. This silence and stillness can make us listen more to the meaning of the celebration of Advent and Christmas.
For a lot of people, especially those who are victims of violence and abuse, Christmas may not really appeal to them as a gentle scenery of the Baby Jesus in the manger with shepherds, angels and kings with exotic gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh in the background. Such Christmas story is so sanitized and so secure for their own appreciation when they have to deal with abusive situations, violent struggles or emotional distress.
But there is the other side of the Christmas story that can relate with people who are dealing with abuse and violence. This other side of the Christmas story speaks about the painful processes required to come up with gentle scenery. The gentle scenery was brought about, as it were, by the agonizing experiences of the main characters involved in the history of our salvation. The immediate preparation for that gentle scenery involved John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness, who lived in self-sacrifice and eventual martyrdom. It took exceptional courage for Mary to accept the mother of the Savior as well as for Joseph to take Mary as his wife. The aftermath of the gentle scenery was even more disturbing. Then Holy Family had to flee to Egypt as King Herod ordered his army to slaughter all children under age two in Bethlehem in a murderous search for the Child. The violent events in the Old Testament, including the murder of the prophets, remotely preceded the realization of the gentle scenery. Like the pangs of birth, the Christmas story was marred with bloody circumstances and a history of violent events, courageous acts and difficult decisions.
It is tempting to escape from this other side of Christmas which Scriptures confirm as real and must be acknowledged. Our tendency to evade the darker side of the Christmas story also speaks of our tendency to hide the harsher reality of our lives. Such denial of life’s uglier side has contributed to the deafening silence about abuse and violence in our communities. It brings about scapegoating and false sense of self-righteousness.
As we prepare for Christmas, let us learn to experience not only its gentleness, peace and joy but also its aspects of fear, insecurity and violence. We have to feel for ourselves the mixed emotions of Mary, her fear and anxiety as well as her faith and courage. We have to feel Joseph’s hesitation as well as his decision to take Mary as wife. We have to feel the predicament of the Magi, their fear of Herod as well as their determination to follow the star.
Christ’s birth does not save us from the harsh realities of life. But He equips us with the grace to face our fears and frustration in the faith that love can overcome hate, that goodness can overcome evil, that life can and does overcome death. The birth of Christ overcomes the darkness of sin and death…