This Christmas it has been remarkable to hear Pope Benedict speak of Christ’s birth and the virtue of littleness once again (the text from a previous blog was from 2006). It is almost as if Christmas is the ultimate celebration of humility, of littleness, the spiritual attitude dearest to our mother foundress, Saint Jeanne Jugan. Each time our Holy Father speaks in this way Jeanne Jugan is there, kneeling at the manger with all those willing to bend down to draw near to the infant King.

Here is an excerpt from his homily at midnight Mass this year:

“In the child Jesus, God made himself dependent, in need of human love, he put himself in the position of asking for human love – our love. Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity. Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light.…

Today, anyone wishing to enter the Church of Jesus’ Nativity in Bethlehem will find that the doorway five and a half metres high, through which emperors and caliphs used to enter the building, is now largely walled up. Only a low opening of one and a half metres has remained. The intention was probably to provide the church with better protection from attack, but above all to prevent people from entering God’s house on horseback. Anyone wishing to enter the place of Jesus’ birth has to bend down. It seems to me that a deeper truth is revealed here, which should touch our hearts on this holy night: if we want to find the God who appeared as a child, then we must dismount from the high horse of our “enlightened” reason. We must set aside our false certainties, our intellectual pride, which prevents us from recognizing God’s closeness. We must follow the interior path … leading to that ultimate outward and inward simplicity which enables the heart to see. We must bend down, spiritually we must as it were go on foot, in order to pass through the portal of faith and encounter the God who is so different from our prejudices and opinions – the God who conceals himself in the humility of a newborn baby. In this spirit let us celebrate the liturgy of the holy night, let us strip away our fixation on what is material, on what can be measured and grasped. Let us allow ourselves to be made simple by the God who reveals himself to the simple of heart. And let us also pray especially at this hour for all who have to celebrate Christmas in poverty, in suffering, as migrants, that a ray of God’s kindness may shine upon them, that they – and we – may be touched by the kindness that God chose to bring into the world through the birth of his Son in a stable. Amen.”

For us Little Sisters another grace of this season is to witness the elderly of our homes as they realize and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. The infant Jesus is never left alone, as the elderly can be found in prayer before the manger at almost any moment of the day. These seniors are like the elderly Simeon and Anna who greet Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the Temple in Luke’s Gospel. How blessed we are to share the season with these prophets and mystics, these “little ones” who, like Saint Jeanne Jugan, know how to bend down in adoration before the Lord!

And by the way, Happy New year to all our friends and families!