Padre’s Points to Ponder – December 19
As this bulletin will serve for both the 4th week of Advent and for Christmas Day, my heart is drawn to reflect on the manger again…as it waits to receive the Newborn King.
After St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother were denied room anywhere else in Bethlehem, they approached the livestock barn, very likely an expanded cave-like area hewn out of a large rock face. Aside from perhaps a few animals, their feeding trough, and some scattered straw, it was empty.
That emptiness was not an accident, nor a lack to be remedied…it was a readiness. The manger, a simple feeding trough, waited in silence to receive the Bread of Life. In its poverty, it was ready to receive unimaginable richness.
So it is with the mystery we approach at Christmas. God does not arrive with noise or force. He comes where there is space, where the heart has been made still enough to receive Him. The manger reveals a pattern of God’s action: He fills what has first been emptied, He dwells where humility has prepared a place.
Advent is the Church’s school of this holy preparation. Through prayer, repentance, and watchful hope, the Lord gently hollows out our hearts, not to leave them barren, but to make them capable of bearing His presence.
This same mystery unfolds at every Mass. As the manger once bore the Body of Christ, so now the altar holds Him under the humble signs of bread and wine. And as we come forward to receive Him, we ourselves are drawn into that mystery, called to become a dwelling place for the Lord who desires to rest within us.
As Christmas draws near, we may feel the urge to fill every space with activity and expectation. Yet the manger invites us to another way. It teaches us that the miracle begins in emptiness, and that when Christ comes, He does not simply fill the space: we are changed by His presence.
May Jesus Christ, the King Who Was, Who Is, and Who Is To Come fill your hearts with consolation, renewal, and undying hope as you celebrate His birth.
Praised be Jesus Christ, the Newborn King, now and forever!
Blessed Mother Mary, St. Joseph, and you holy saints, pray for us!
Merry Christmas!
Fr. Michael Silloway
Pastor