This year’s Christmas is a Christmas to remember. Because it is a Christmas like no other, as far as most of us can remember.
For us who came for Christmas Mass in the past, whether on Christmas Eve or on the Day itself, we know what it was like.
We would be sitting side by side, and standing shoulder to shoulder.
Well, this Christmas we are all spaced-out, literally spaced-out, but we won’t be down and out.
Someone, or some people, came out with this rather amusing protocol for the setting up of the Nativity crib for Christmas 2020, and it goes like this:
a. A maximum of 5 shepherds will be permitted in the crib.
b. All will have to wear masks and observe social distancing.
c. Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus will be able to stay together as they form a family bubble.
d. The ox and donkey has to be certified for non-contamination by the health authorities.
e. The Three Wise men will be subjected to a 15-day quarantine, hence they are not present in the Crib.
f. The straw and other decorations must be disinfected with alcohol.
g. All non-essential persons are not allowed to be at the Crib.
h. Pontius Pilate will explain to all authorised participants how to wash their hands.
We will certainly smile at this. Yes, mask or no mask, we will smile because that is what Jesus came to bring.
Whatever the situation is, Jesus came to be with us, COVID-19 or whatever.
Jesus is the Emmanuel, the God-is-with-us, the Word-made-flesh, the Saviour who comes to bring light to us who are now in a kind of land of deep shadow.
The deepest darkness disappears with the faintest light.
Jesus is the true Light that shines through the dark, a light that the darkness could not overcome.
Covid-19 has stopped a lot of activities. But thanks be to God, it didn’t stop Masses from resuming, it didn’t stop Christmas from happening, and it shouldn’t stop us from smiling and giving thanks to God for His blessings!
Come to think of it, the greatest gift that God has given us this Christmas is that we are able to see, whether on-site or online, that our Saviour was born in the little town of Bethlehem.
He was born in the midst of unfavourable conditions, His birth was celebrated in the midst of wars and disasters, and His birth is now celebrated in the midst of this pandemic.
We learn from our forefathers that the celebration of Christmas gave them hope and they survived and lived on to celebrate more Christmases.
We too want to celebrate Christmas, we too want to have that hope, that with the grace of God, we will overcome and look forward to more Christmases to come.
Our homes are now little Bethlehems, and it is for us to make room for Jesus to celebrate His birth.
There are certainly no restrictions for us, to come before the Nativity Crib in our home to contemplate the beauty of our Saviour and to ask Him to bless us with peace and joy.
May we be filled with the wonder of Mary, the obedience of Joseph, the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the determination of the wise men, and the love they had for the Child Jesus.
May we too be filled with that love and may this Christmas, be a Christmas to be remembered.