WHO  AM  I 

IN THE MANGER? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Who Am I In The Manger?”

JOSEPH BREIGHNER

I picked up a copy of the Catholic Review magazine yesterday afternoon - before going into the confessional. They were in the back of the church. I got there earlier than usual, so I had time to page through the different articles.  I stopped and read the article by Father Joseph Breighner, “Jeers to Cheers”. Then people started coming in for confession.

I always find Breighner’s writings wonderful. I had heard him speak over at Millersville, a few years back. Excellent speaker.

In the article -  he wrote the following, “As a philosopher put it: ‘We look into other people’s eyes to see who we are.’”

I began thinking about that. I didn’t know people did that. Do I do that? I had to answer: “I don’t know.” Then I added, “I’ll have to think about that.”

So that to me is a good article - a good goal for a magazine article - as well as a sermon: to do some good thinking.

Since it was a Christmas article I thought he was going to say: “People look into the manger to see who they  are.”

It didn’t.

But then I said, “That’s a good idea for a Christmas homily.” I write a Christmas story every year, I’ll do that tomorrow, so I’ll give a Christmas homily today with the title: “Who Am I In the Manger?”

Go up to the manger, the crib, the Christmas crèche here in church or at home or on a Christmas card this Christmas and ask, “Who Am I In the Manger?

THE BABY

The baby is front and center.

The baby is what it’s all about.

Carl Sandburg said, “A baby is God’s way of saying the world must go on.”

 “In Joseph Heller’s novel Something Happened the main character, Robert Slocum, says, `I know at last what I want to be when I grow up. When I grow up I want to be a little boy.’”

Natalie Goldberg wrote, “We never graduate from first grade.”

Doug Lawson wrote, “The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.”   

Listen to yourself at this winter’s first snow fall. See if you still have that urge to throw a snowball at someone. If you don’t, get with it. Remember Jesus’ words, “Unless you be like little children, you won’t be in the kingdom of God.”  Through snowballs, even if you’re in your nineties.

There’s an Iranian proverb that sort of says the same thing, “Children are a bridge to heaven.”

Anonymous said, “Babies are such a nice way to start people.”

So when you see the manger, start with the baby and start to see babies in the light of your life.  What was it like when I was born?  What were my parents thinking and saying and feeling?  See parents caring for their kid and see our parents doing all that for us.

What were my Christmases like? What was my growing up like? Get out the pictures and study them.  Talk to each other about what growing up was like?  Ask those still around, what they went through and if they are much older than me, did they remember what I went through?

So Number 1: when I see the baby in the manger, what do I see in myself and in life?

NEXT: MARY AND JOSEPH

What do I see in Mary? What do I see in Joseph? What do I see in my parents, living or dead?  If I am a parent, what is / what  was / that like?

What’s with Catholics and Mary and Joseph and the Saints?

This is St. Mary’s Parish.  What is that about?

Today’s gospel has Mary going to Elizabeth?  Both are now pregnant. Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

Do we ever say that to our mom for housing us - for bringing us into the world?  When in our life, has our mom felt blessed, for having had us.

So too our dad.

There are a hundred things to think about when looking into the manger - especially about our parents and being a parent.

NEXT:  THE ANIMALS

We might reflect upon the ox and the ass,  the sheep and the birds.

I do a lot of baptisms. I often wonder what kids are thinking when they see what they see.

Have we ever watched a child looking at a dog and breaking out into a smile?

Have we ever felt like an ox, having to do all the work, and nobody even notices - or says, “Thank you Ox.”

Have we ever felt like an ass?

I won’t go further than that.

SHEPHERDS AND KINGS

Sometimes we’re shepherds.  Sometimes we’re kings.

Sometimes we’re called upon to care for others: like grand parenting, babysitting, teaching, being a crossing guard.  Every person should be a waiter or   waitress at some point in one’s life. Everyone should be a volunteer, an usher, a setter up with tables at a parish or a group picnic.

And sometimes we’re king to queen, like at 25^th and 50^th anniversaries or at a retirement party, when we get gifts: a gold watch or perfume or Old Spice.

I like something Ginny Dauses - who is our high school youth minister - says. She likes to say at the end of a high school retreat,  “When the 3 kings finally saw Jesus, they gave their gifts, but went home a different way.

CONCLUSION

I would hope that by stopping to look into the Christmas manger and seeing ourselves in the story, we would go away - and do life in a different way - a better way.