In Christmas 1979, The Guidon, Ateneo de Manila’s college newspaper, invited me to write a reflection piece. I remember trying to write it several times, but failed. I guess it was mainly due to stubbornness.
There was one point I wanted to reflect on: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” (Isaiah 9: 1)
The week after Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” I had to write an annual Christmas letter to greet partners in our work with public school teachers, friends and relatives. It dawned on me that Christmas today, 34 years later, carried the same sense of longing and hope as that of the Gospel reflection I wanted to write for The Guidon.
Desire for light
It is a prayer that is in the hearts of many people this Christmas. The prayer is both a confession and an expression of hope. We confess our state of darkness and gloom, thus we feel and express the desire—or the need—for light.
The response to this prayer is the birth of Christ—an angel greeting the shepherds on the first Christmas: “Do not be afraid.”
This was the same greeting Mary and Joseph heard when the angel Gabriel appeared to them to announce the Incarnation of Christ.
Last Sunday I had my partner “choir” of two, Jampao Reyes and Mike Shimamoto, singing in our Masses. We have a little group called Companions on the Road to Emmaus or Core. Since it was the last Sunday of Advent and a few days before Christmas, we “un-liturgically” sang “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
Faithful presence
The song is a reminder that the joy and merriment of Christmas is about presence: “Here we are as in olden days/ happy golden days of yore/ Faithful friends who are dear to us/ gather near to us once more/ Through the years we all will be together/ if the fates allow…”
It evokes the grace of the faithful presence of friends. This is Christmas. This is the mystery of the Incarnation.
Christmas celebrates the event of God-with-us: “I call you friends”; “Remember, I will be with you always until the end of time.”
It is the eternal friendship that is simple presence—pure presence, faithful presence.
Five years ago, I was in an airport waiting for my flight and spotted a little girl with her family. She must have been two or three years old.
She was running all over the place, but constantly looked back at her family—each time the gaze of her father and mother met hers, giving her the approval to go on in her adventure.
A couple of times she wandered too far into the crowd. When she looked back and did not catch a glimpse of her parents, there was a tinge of panic in her face.
But her dad was quick to make his presence felt by coming into view. Then the girl would show a sign of relief and continue her adventure.
Watching her and her family for close to 30 minutes, I was fascinated by the consistent dynamics between the child and parents. This reminded me of the essence of presence—the presence of friendship, care and love.
This is the presence that tells us not to be afraid. It gives light to our days. It assures us that someone will be there—like God is with us.
In a meeting I had with a health foundation and a non-Catholic church group, the latter emphasized how its members have learned the wisdom of “working with” communities, as opposed to “working for,” and going beyond “working in.”
The church group members recalled an experience involving a P2 million project to build two deep wells to provide for the water needs of the community.
A month after the project’s completion, the well started to run dry. Nothing was wrong with how it was built, but the community refused to pay the electric bill.
Freedom of choice
The community did not have any sense of ownership of the project. It was P2 million down the drain. The church group pointed out, this was because they did not “work with” the community.
The wonderful grace of Christmas is that it reminds us that our God is a God-with-us. It renews our relationship with this God who shares in our human situation—“in all things but sin”—and gives us freedom of choice. It is this choice that makes us take ownership of the story of Christmas.
It is our choice to look back and catch a glimpse of this God-with-us and hear in our hearts, “Do not be afraid.”
It is our choice to embrace the light that shines in darkness, in the land of gloom. As the song goes, “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough, and have yourself a merry little Christmas now.”
The choice to embrace the light is a choice to be a light for others. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 5: 8: “For you were once in darkness, now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness, righteousness, and truth.”
Christmas will always evoke the memory of that 3-year-old child wandering around the busy airport. Christmas will always be a season of grace to allow the little child in us to wander and to wonder.
It is only the childlike who hear the first message of Christmas, “Do not be afraid.”
Rejoice! In the midst of challenges, rejoice! The light has overcome the darkness. Have joyful Christmas!
