22. The miracle of Christmas
The bells were
ringing for the most joyful celebration of Christians, Christmas, and the
hearts of all the people poured out numerous wishes like a fragrant aroma for a
Merry Christmas and many happy years of peace and joy!
The same wishes
were repeated once more, after the Christmas Mass, to the spiritual father of a
group of young children, who were visiting the monastery of the Archangels, up
the mountain, to celebrate the birth of the God-man Jesus Christ.
-May God give
you, my beloved children, many happy and blessed years. I wish you may also
embrace the sweet Holy Infant of Bethlehem, as those blessed shepherds embraced
Him, when they visited Him one cold night in the cave where He was born.
-We would very much
like, our reverend father, for you to talk to us about that night and the
miracle of the birth of our Christ!
-That's right, my
child, you speak about a miracle, because the birth of our beloved Jesus is the
greatest miracle that ever happened in human history. I could even say that it
is not just a miracle but a triple miracle, which made even God's angels admire
the infinite mercy of our Almighty Creator.
-Why is it a triple
miracle? Could you explain it to us?
-The first miracle is God the Father's decision
to send His only-begotten Son to earth to be born as a man, like us, to free
us from the bonds of sin that the cunning devil had tied us with, so we could
return to His fatherly embrace and to the lost Paradise. The second miracle is that God chose a human, a simple and
humble blessed young girl, to become the Mother of His Son and therefore of
God Himself. The third and exquisite
miracle is that God deigns to allow His only-begotten Son to become for
every man who so desires, his beloved Son too, as He was for the Holy
Virgin Mary and the righteous Joseph, our Lord's earthly adoptive father. With
awe the holy angels saw the co-creator of God the Father, our sweet Jesus,
become man and as an Infant be embraced by those simple shepherds, who came by
the Angel's command to see Him in the cave where He was born. These three miracles enclose within them
the most wonderful secret, which reveals and interprets what God our
heavenly Father is for us humans, but at the same time, what He asks us to
become, so that He will be able to enclose us in His divine heart! This alone
has the power to lead us to the highest peaks of holiness and is not asking us
to make excessive struggles for the conquest of virtues.
-Where is this
great secret, holy father?
-It is located in
the Motherly Heart of our God, my
children. We all talk about our God, calling Ηim the Father of our soul. We ignore, however, that
this Father is also for us a tender Mother, Who adores us with much love and
affection. A Mother, Who does everything to make us happy in His divine
embrace. Those people, therefore, who
believe that our sweet God is for us the most sweet Mother and allow our soul
with absolute confidence to rest in His hands to direct it, then we have
climbed the first of two valuable steps which will lead us safely into our
God's embrace.
-What is the second
step?
-To allow our hearts to be like the motherly heart of
our Father God.
To fill it with
love and compassion for all people, friends and enemies. Then we will be able
to become perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.
-Can we humans
become like our God? Is it possible?
-This, my children,
is our Lord's command. To become, that is, perfect in love and compassion, as
our philanthropist Lord is perfect. Regarding your question if this is
possible, my answer is yes. We have this possibility, because we are created in God's image. The only thing we need
to do, with our virtuous life is to be
like Him. That is, to live according to our God's Will.
-But father, isn’t
this very difficult? Doesn’t it require many efforts and exercises?
-Our God would
never ask any of us to do something, if that was too difficult and as a result
impossible for most people.
-So, that is why He
showed us the most simple and easy way to accomplish it.
-And what is this
way?
-To ask Him to give us a saintly motherly heart like
His own, to love all people with the same love with which He loves us all.
-Why, father, do
you strongly emphasize motherly love? What is the difference from any other
form of love?
-Motherly love is the only one that differs from all
other loves in strength and sacrifice. Watch the way a
mother loves her baby and you will understand. Ask yourself, however, which
person on earth you love most and with whom you feel safe and secure. Isn't it
for each of us his sweet mother? Even if everyone is blaming a child, only his
mother is trying to defend and protect it from every accusation. Only a mother
can make the greatest sacrifices to help her child, even if he is the worst
child in the world. She would even give her own life to save the unfortunate
child. In motherhood lies the ineffable greatness of God's love. That is why human motherly love is the most
evident expression of the motherly love of God the Father. Through the
mother's love of her baby, God enables us to understand how much He loves us
all as the Mother of our souls. That's why like a Mother He sent His Son to
earth to become man and suffer in order to save us from sin. But also the love
our sweet Jesus gave to all people exceeded the limits of fatherly love and
showed the perfection of His divine motherly love. When He forgave the
prostitute; when He invited Zacchaeus close to Him; when He accepted the tax
collectors, while others only at the sight of them wanted to stone them; when
He accepted the bandit into Paradise with just "remember me, Lord"
and many others; acting not as a strict Father with His righteousness as a
guide, but as a loving Mother with mercy as His guide, Who wanted to save all
humans from the bonds of Satan. The culmination of His great fatherly and
motherly love is manifested in the words He said to His Father, about those who
crucified Him: "My Father forgive them, they don't know what they
do." As a Father Himself He said: "Father, forgive them." But He
did not stop there, because as a Mother, He also started to defend them by
saying: "They don't know what they do, My Father." His motherly heart
was not simply content to forgive them, but went further and began to defend
them. Our Lord wants us to emulate this love. But how can we achieve such love,
compassion and forbearance, even for our enemies, if our heart does not
resemble that of our Lord? Therefore, my children, let us ask our Lord to grant us this Christmas a motherly heart
like His own.
-Amen, our reverend
father, shouted the young children all together!
-I beg our Lord, my
children, to give us the ultimate gift, that His Holy Virgin Mother and the
righteous Joseph had. God's choice of the Holy Virgin Mary to give birth to His
Son was because she had a clean, pure
and innocent heart, full of love and compassion for all people which approached
God's motherly heart with sweetness and compassion. That's why she was
worthy to become the Mother of God. With the birth of the Holy Infant this pure
heart became, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, more and more motherly, until
our Holy Virgin Mary became a universal Mother, who with strength and boldness
intercedes for the whole world to Her Son and God. For us who are struggling on
earth and for all souls that are tormented in Hell. So if we keep our hearts
pure and full of love towards all people and anxiously ask God to give us His
divine motherly heart, then the grace of the Holy Spirit will flood us, as it
flooded our Holy Virgin Mother and the miracle of Christmas will be born in our
own hearts. Then we will be able to love the divine Holy Infant like our own
Baby and feel the love He has for the world and His concern for the salvation
of all souls. Then we will show love for all our fellow human beings and we can
also anxiously pray for the souls that are tormented in Hell, as the Holy
Virgin Mother does. The miracle of
Christmas will begin in our souls from the moment we beg our Lord to give us a
motherly heart like His own!
