Witness of Francis
Francis enters from the back of the room in Franciscan garb just as the community finishes song #9: O Little Town of Bethlehem. He begins talking without any introduction.
Did I hear someone singing Christmas carols? I heard your voices all the way in Heaven. Boy, do I love Christmas. It is a special time, a sacred time. You know, something extraordinary happened to me one Christmas almost 800 years ago. Let me tell you about it.
The year is 1223. The place is Greccio, Italy. It is close to Christmas, a feast that has great deal of emotion for me because of the special love and tender devotion I have for the Christ Child. My heart would “melt with love” at the thought of the Lord of Lords being born in a poor stable. I saw Christmas as a feast of gentleness, humility, generosity and above all poverty.
This Christmas of 1223 I decided to help people experience the true meaning of Christmas. I felt like people had lost the meaning of Christmas. It was as if Christ was “asleep” in their hearts. Did they understand the gift of God’s love wrapped in humility and poverty? I decided to replicate the original scene of Christ’s birth.
Greccio is on a high hill and there are many caves, so we cleaned out one of the caves, set up a manger, filled it with straw and brought in an ox and a donkey. I wanted everyone to “feel” and “experience” the way God entered our world.
On Christmas Eve the people of Greccio made their way up the hillside with their torches lit against the dark night. At midnight, I began preaching on this great gift of God. As we gazed upon the empty manger the miracle occurred before us.
In the manger appeared an infant that was in a deep, deep sleep. Just as he seems to be in the hearts of so many. I approached the infant and picked him up. He woke from his sleep. I held the infant close to my heart and prayed that this infant would be awakened in the hearts of all believers.
All those who saw the miracle were touched by God’s love and the flame of God’s love seemed to burn brightly in their hearts. Christ was no longer asleep in their hearts but alive, filling them with joy.
I felt that for a few hours the rich, the poor, the humble, and the proud understood the depth of God’s love for each of them. The night’s solemnities drew to a close and everyone went home aware of the true meaning of Christmas.
Since then, the custom of putting a simple nativity set in churches and homes throughout the world became popular. But it is not enough to just look at the infant Jesus asleep in the manger, Jesus desires to be at the center of our life, alive and present.
He is not an infant to be admired once a year but:
- our food for the journey
- our light in the darkness
- our ship on the storms of life
- our daily companion.
Christmas is not a season of the year but a yearly reminder of Christ ALWAYS being with us.
Questions: In your Christmas song you sang the words: “BE BORN IN US TODAY”. What do you have to let go of in your own heart so that Christ can be born again in you today?
(as Francis leaves the area he turns and says) Oh, who am I? I am Francis of Assisi.
Quiet time: Soft music: Away In the Manger.
Song: Away in the Manger
St. Francis of Assisi1