Christmas Tree

Christmas for Christians is a day of gratitude. Gratitude leads us to prayer, where our hearts are filled with wonder and praise. Christmas leads us to the sense of wonder. God presents himself as tiny, fragile, vulnerable, and dependent compared to the strong, muscular, powerful, parenting and patronizing people we are in front of God. We often see parents and friends finding similarities between the child and parents. This child Jesus not just resembles certain features, rather is the ultimate replica of God the Father. This child is not a super child in any way: it cries, smiles, holds our fingers, and kicks legs to show excitement. Christmas makes us wonder in a new way. God so weak and vulnerable is asleep with his creation which is strong and powerful.

If there is no Christmas, we would not have experienced this sense of wonder at all: we would have missed touching his soft little cheeks, fingers and toes; missed to see him sleep peacefully, see him cry, see him reach out to him mom, his confused looks and his innocence. This brings in a great lesson of all time: to reach at the cave of one’s heart, one must become childlike. A child has a great power to make us focus our attention completely whoever we are, whatever degrees we hold. God not only became childlike, God became a child. This proves that God will go all the way, take any risk, sacrifice any level, and give up anything to reach the cave of our hearts.

Concentrate on the Christmas trees: Let us divide the tree into three parts: The base, the middle and the top. The base is well set. Everyone is given the opportunity to witness God’s revelation. God initiated this love. God continuously sends us signals and reveals his heart to us in million ways. The base is so big and large like the heart of God. Our spiritual journey begins when we fully accept and appreciate that we are chosen and loved by God. Gradually we try to understand and feel the importance of God in our lives: thus we begin to respond. Through words (prayer) and deeds (Works of charity). We respond to God’s call by our faith, hope and love. There will be dry leaves and dry branches of our inability to grasp the message of God and also our lack of commitment to live in the presence of God. Continual efforts on our response to God’s love make us grow spiritually and holistically. As we climb higher we become aware that we are so tiny and powerless, so fragile, confused and weak. But that is the moment God comes near to us. We experience the nearness of the Star: The star that shows the beauty of the tree, the star that illumines every nook and corner of the tree, like God fills our body and soul through the Eucharist. That is the message of Christmas: People experience the physical and spiritual nearness of God.

Do I have a Christmas tree? How does it look like? Through my selfishness and irreligious attitudes, I have cut the branches of the base off; I never listened to the revelation of God in my life. I have cut down all the branches in the middle that I vowed never to have faith, hope and love in my life. By cutting down the new growth, I have said good-bye to the Star! Dear friends! God gives us another chance! Look! A new shoot is coming up! And you can’t stop them! Merry Christmas!