Born Into Simplicity

Dear friends,

Next Wednesday night will be Christmas. Christmas is one of the most cherished and intimate times of the entire year. But at the same time, it is one of the busiest and most outward-focused times of the year. My hope is that we can successfully reconcile this paradox so that we can experience the true meaning of Christmas.

Jesus was born into simplicity, into humility. He chose the humble servant of the Lord and the honest worker from Nazareth to come into this world in a small town. Jesus revealed himself to the shepherds, to the pure of heart, to those who lived in the sincere pursuit of truth and in the simplicity of everyday life.

Now, following this logic, if Jesus came to us through simple gestures, we too can draw closer to Him through what is small and almost imperceptible. Therefore, I would like to invite you to take advantage of these joyful Christmas days to live intensely each simple gesture, each everyday encounter, each small greeting, each detail… and to use them as a means and instrument for encountering the Lord, for encountering Emmanuel, God with us.

In this way, the hustle and bustle, the outward appearances, the countless Christmas gestures we see and hear in our homes, shopping centers, and on the streets… will become opportunities for deeper reflection. The Christmas of lights and busy streets will be an expression of the Christmas of the heart and the intimacy of prayer, and at the same time, it will invite us to go deeper, to live in the essential truth that Jesus brought us: God became man, assuming our human condition, and from then on, humanity is the Son of God, sons and daughters in the Son, where men and women acquire divine qualities.

I invite you this week to try to find some time to pause from our many activities, to be still for a moment, and to imagine the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph on their journey to Bethlehem. Let us imagine the journey, the weariness, but also the joy, the wonder, the concern, and the longing to find a place to stay, and so on. The Nativity scene helps us a great deal with this. Let us seek to enter into the true meaning of Christmas, the Christmas of Jesus, to receive the grace of this feast, which is a grace of love, humility, and gentleness.

A Blessed and Holy Christmas to all.

Fr. Lalo Jara, OFM
Pastor, Mission San Luis Rey Parish