Christmas - and standing on one's head
By Horacio de la Costa, S.J.
(These are excerpts from a homily delivered by the late Fr. Horacio de la Costa, SJ, at the old Ateneo de Manila College of Law chapel in the mid-1950s)
Christmas is when we celebrate the unexpected; it is the festival of surprise.
This is the night when shepherds wake to the songs of angels; when the earth has a star for a satellite; when wise men go on a fool's errand, bringing gifts to a Prince they have not seen, in a country they did not know.
This is the night when one small donkey bears on its back the weight of the world's desire, and an ox plays host to the Lord of heaven.
This is the night when we are told to seek our King, not in a palace, but in a stable.
Although we have stood here, year after year, as our fathers before us, the wonder has not faded, nor will it ever fade; the wonder of that moment, when we push open the little door, and enter, and entering find in the arms of a Mother, who is a Virgin, a baby who is God.
Chesterton said it for all of us: "The way to view Christmas properly is to stand on one's head."
Was there ever a house more topsy-turvy than the House of Christmas, the cave where Christ was born?
For here, suddenly, in the very heart of earth, is heaven; down is up and up is down; the angels and the stars look down on God who made them and God looks up at the things He made.
There is no room in an inn for Him who made room and to spare, for the Milky Way. And where God is homeless, all men are at home.
We were promised a Savior. But we never dreamed that God, Himself would come to save us.
We knew that He loved us. But we never dared to think that He loved us so much. As to become like us.
But that is the way God gives. His gifts are never quite what we expect, but always something better than we hoped for.
We can only dream of things too good to be true; God has a habit of giving things too good to be false.
That is why our faith is a faith in the unexpected, a religion of surprise.
Now more than ever, living in times so troubled, facing a future so uncertain, we need such faith We need it for ourselves and we need it to give to others.
We must remind the world that if Christmas comes in the depth of winter, it is that there may be an Easter in the spring.
I love God’s surprises. They’re not always pleasant or easy, but they’re always purposeful and overflowing with love.
Yesterday, I joined Charivari’s caroling with a lil prayer in my heart: that the Lord use our voices and our songs to bring Christ’s story to other people… that every note we sing, every word we utter be in praise of Him… that through our songs, other people will remember what Christmas is truly about.
Last night, I came home with another prayer in my heart – one of incessant gratitude for the overwhelming grace I have received. In a most unexpected place and time, I sang of Christ’s story to a family who reminded me of what Christmas is all about. In a sense, it was like witnessing, before my very eyes, that first Christmas morn. When all that was needed was love. When all that was important laid in a manger. In his frailty, he held the hope of his family. In his heart, he held theirs.
I was a humble witness to the strength of a man who, in an instance where the easiest recourse was despair, had it in him to sing praise and say that indeed, there is reason to go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.
I was a humble witness to the love of a man who, in that instance where the source of his joy seemed in a place he could not be, had it in him to cradle her head and to unceasingly coax her back into his arms.
In that small space, I was God’s humble beloved… I was welcomed into a home where He dwelled and with the tears that threatened to flow, I continued to sing in praise of Him who truly is Emmanuel.
