December 24, 2024

Dear John,

This week, we invite you to join our friars in five video meditations on the holiness of Advent and the joyous birth of Christ!

In today's meditation, Murray Bodo, OFM, explains how St. Francis wanted to celebrate the birth of Christ in a new and unique way. From this moment, a Christmas movement began. Click here to watch it.

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SAINT OF THE DAY

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Saint of the Day for December 24:
Christmas at Greccio

(1223)

Listen to the Story of Christmas at Greccio Here

What better way to prepare for the arrival of the Christ Child than to take a brief journey to Greccio, the spot in central Italy where Saint Francis of Assisi created the first Christmas crib in the year 1223.

Francis, recalling a visit he had made years before to Bethlehem, resolved to create the manger he had seen there. The ideal spot was a cave in nearby Greccio. He would find a baby—we’re not sure if it was a live infant or the carved image of a baby—hay upon which to lay him, an ox and an ass to stand beside the manger. Word went out to the people of the town. At the appointed time, they arrived carrying torches and candles.

One of the friars began celebrating Mass. Francis himself gave the sermon. His biographer, Thomas of Celano, recalls that Francis “stood before the manger…overcome with love and filled with a wonderful happiness…”

For Francis, the simple celebration was meant to recall the hardships Jesus suffered even as an infant, a savior who chose to become poor for our sake, a truly human Jesus.

Tonight, as we pray around the Christmas cribs in our homes, we welcome into our hearts that same Savior.

Reflection

God’s choice to give us free will was from the beginning a decision to be helpless in human hands. With the birth of Jesus, God made the divine helplessness very clear to us, for a human infant is totally dependent on the loving response of other people. Our natural response to a baby is to open our arms as Francis did–to the infant of Bethlehem, and to the God who made us all.

Rediscover the spirit of Christmas with New York Times best-selling author Thomas Moore

who turns his attention to the most enduring story of them all: the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.

The Soul of Christmas

Learn more!

MINUTE MEDITATIONS

Advent with the Saints: Francis of Assisi

A fond childhood memory for me is setting up my grandmother’s huge nativity set, with dozens of figures, depicting various crafts and artisans. When I finished, I liked to put my face close to the figures and imagine being in the scene myself. Little did I know I was acting out an impulse of the saint who would also be my spiritual father later in life—St. Francis of Assisi. Every Franciscan’s heart is somehow linked to the nativity scene, in part because Francis recreated “a new Bethlehem” near the Italian hilltop village of Greccio in 1223, in a “living nativity.”

But a deeper connection for Franciscans is the truth of God-become-human. Francis understood the great act of love in the “attitude of Christ Jesus” who did not cling to divinity but emptied himself and took on our humanity (see Philippians 2:5–11). Francis strove to imitate this emptying in all he did.

He left his prosperous life in Assisi and descended to the marshes to serve the lepers. His words and deeds sought to embody the image of Christ, even to bearing the wounds of his Savior. On the eve of Christmas, one does not have to be a Franciscan in fact. In the spirit of the poor man of Assisi, we are all invited to step into the nativity scene ourselves!

—adapted from the book Advent with the Saints: Daily Reflections
by Greg Friedman, OFM

PAUSE+PRAY

The Fresco at Greccio

Reflect

In the little hillside town of Greccio, Italy, St. Francis of Assisi is said to have set up the first live Christmas Nativity, a scene that helped townspeople contemplate the radical absurdity of the Incarnation and the raw humanity of Jesus Christ. The 15th-century fresco that covers the walls where the crèche is said to have been reflects the same humble dimensions of the God who gripped Francis’ heart and imagination.

Pray

An image I cannot stop thinking about: the 15th-century fresco at Greccio—
where Francis created the first Christmas crèche—
of Mary holding her breast for the suckling Christ Child,
portraying the radical humility of you, my God,
the one who took on flesh in the vulnerability of a baby.
I cannot comprehend your ways, my Lord,
this unorthodox descent which saved—and actively saves—us all.

Act

Consider practicing Visio Divina—the reading of a sacred image and its multidimensional meaning—with the fresco at Greccio. The image can be found by searching Google Images—or an image browser of your choice.

Today's Pause+Pray was written by Stephen Copeland. Learn more here!

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