"The Holy Family with a Little Bird," Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, c. 1650. Public domain.
Come away, come to Nazareth. Come to the regular practice of the Catholic faith. Come to the fullness of the Catholic life. Embrace Him in your life, not only a couple times a year, but every week; not only at church, but in your home. The practice of the faith is so much more than checking boxes and filling pews. It’s about a relationship, about receiving the gift of the child Jesus and giving yourself to Him as well.
By Br. Stephen Camara, MIC
Read Part 1 here.
Every Christmas, we fondly trace the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. We gaze upon the Infant lying in a manger. It would be wonderful to stay in Bethlehem forever — indeed, many Catholics only come to church on Christmas and perhaps one other day in the year.
But Jesus calls us to follow Him, not only to Bethlehem, but also to Nazareth. By following His journey to maturity as a man, we ourselves grow in Christian and spiritual maturity. We cannot stay infants forever, focused on our own spiritual and material needs. We must grow up with Jesus in order to help those around us get to Heaven as well. This growing up happens in Nazareth, in the Sunday Mass and daily practice of our beautiful Catholic faith.
We need saving
To stay in Bethlehem is easy (if you don’t mind the smell of sheep and myrrh). But Nazareth is not easy; when you come to Nazareth, not all your neighbors will be as nice as Mary and Joseph. You will meet people and sit next to people and eat with people who you find uncomfortable or annoying or outwardly nasty. Yet you’re asked to love them too.
It’s not our lack of faults that makes us the Catholic Church; it’s the fact that we are here, all of us, to love and serve Jesus Christ and be saved through Him. And we need saving: sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in ways we need others to help us see.
This salvation might take us away from Bethlehem for another reason. Bethlehem is the place of Jesus’ birth, but it is not safe for Him to remain in Bethlehem. The false king of Judea, Herod, keeps his watchful eye over the Jews, scanning for threats and squashing them without mercy. Jesus is forced to flee from Bethlehem to Egypt, because “Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” (Mt. 2:13) When he is deceived by the Magi, and cannot identify the child, Herod does not scruple to “massacre… all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under.” (Mt. 2:16) No new king should arise against Herod, even if he were innocent as a newborn babe.
Not yet blazing
Similarly, the Prince of this world is not happy to see the birth of Christ in the soul. As the Gospel warns us, “the thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy,” but Jesus has come that we might have life, and have it more abundantly (Jn 10:10).
When your spiritual life has just been reborn, that is the time of greatest vulnerability, greatest uncertainty, and greatest possibility of loss. You are like a brightly shining candle, but not yet a blazing fire. A forest fire can burn anywhere; a bonfire can burn in a reasonably dry clearing; the home fires can burn in a sheltered fireplace, but a candle must be kept safe from the smallest draft of air, lest it go out.
And there is one who comes to put the candle out. The enemy will seek to destroy the holy innocence of your soul, as Herod destroyed every child in Bethlehem two years and under, in order to destroy the Christ child. The enemy of your salvation, the devil, is “prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
That is what St. Peter tells us in his first letter (1 Pet 5:8-9). He urges us: “resist him, steadfast in faith.” You can only resist him if you are steadfast in faith. You cannot resist the devil very well if you’re only a beginner.
Come to Nazareth
Come away, come to Nazareth. Come to the regular practice of the Catholic faith. Come to the fullness of the Catholic life. Embrace Him in your life, not only a couple times a year, but every week; not only at church, but in your home. The practice of the faith is so much more than checking boxes and filling pews. It’s about a relationship, about receiving the gift of the child Jesus and giving yourself to Him as well.
You don’t get married simply by checking boxes and saying vows. You don’t raise children, or make friends, or even fully participate in work or in enjoyment if your goal is to “get done and get out.” In the same way, if you only pray to Jesus in church, but have not brought Him into your home, then Nazareth means nothing to you. You must live with Him. You must live with Jesus, with the Incarnate Divine Mercy, in your home.
On Jan. 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, take a few minutes to contemplate how the Mother of God received Jesus into her home and heart. How did she care for Him? How did she meet His needs?
And then ask the Lord two questions: how He wants to meet your needs, and how He wants to meet, through you, the needs of those around you.
(to be concluded…)
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