Welcome home

During this year of the Jubilee of Mercy, the image of a child, born to parents who were driven from their homes compels us all to open our hearts to the One who calls us home again.  Here is the text of the reflection I offered to those who came to celebrate Christmas with us.

Away from home

Earlier this week, various news sources reported that the official number of refugees who have entered into Europe during the year 2015 has already surpassed one million!  One million people who have had to leave everything behind: their possessions, their livelihoods, their dreams – and leaving their homes behind, there is no guarantee of safety, or surety about where their journey will end.  In the last few months, efforts in Canada have resulted in the arrival of relatively few of these refugees on these shores, the beginning of a new life for some of the most lucky ones.

If we could somehow speak with some of those who have been displaced from the security of their homes and their lifestyles, their stories would not be too different, I think, from the story that is recounted in today’s gospel.  As the Roman empire was being established, its first Emperor, Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken, so that he could know how many people lived in the territory that belonged to the Romans, and where they all were.  As a result, Joseph and Mary went from the town of Nazareth - their home - in Galilee to Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem (Lk 2:4) a journey of more than 100 kilometres travelled on foot and on the back of a donkey, in order to be registered, and it was while they were there, that the time came for her to deliver her child (Lk 2:6).

Both Mary and Joseph knew that this was no ordinary child, but I wonder what they must have thought of the fact that there was no room for them in the inn (Lk 2:7).  The angel had told Mary that the child she bore was holy, to be called the Son of the Most High (Lk 1:32-35), yet she was no queen, and Joseph was a humble carpenter, descended from the house of David, but so far distanced from the affluence of royalty as to almost have forgotten his dignified roots.  Like all parents though, they loved this newborn child and cared for him with tenderness: wrapping him in swaddling clothes and laying him in a manger in order to keep him warm.

Today, like the shepherds who had heard of Jesus’ birth and came with haste to find him (cf Lk 1:16), we too come in search of the one who promises the gift of God’s peace.  The story that is told is the fulfillment of the prophesy of Isaiah.  In that little child, lying in the manger, the people who once walked in darkness have seen a great light (Is 9:2): the light of faith, the living presence of our loving God who came to dwell among his people.

During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, this Christmas day allows us an especially poignant moment to appreciate the fact that the grace of God appeared (cf Ti 2:11) in the form of a helpless infant, totally dependent upon his parents for love, for attention and for protection.  They fell in love with him instantly – how could they not – and in time, he would teach them the great power of God’s love, a love that led him to give himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity (Ti 2:14).

God left his homeland in heaven and came to live among us, so that we in turn could learn how to love as he loves, how to forgive as he forgives, and how to take care of one another as he cares for us.  On this Christmas day, let us remember and pray for all refugees: those who have been forced to leave their homelands for all kinds of reasons, and set out on a road that is often filled with questions and doubts.

Let us ask the Lord to protect them, and let us also ask for the grace to recognize the great gift of love that was offered for us when our God took on human flesh and came to live among us.  Let us not be afraid to welcome him into our hearts so that he can show us how to build bridges of peace and reconciliation.  Then this Christmas, celebrated during the Jubilee of Mercy will indeed be an occasion for the long-awaited greeting to be voiced: Welcome home!