Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-6; Jn 1:1-18
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who announces peace, bearing good news of salvation.” We can say that the first image we get from the readings today is of a Pilgrim from Heaven—a messenger of Good News with beautiful feet!
You know, the lowest and dirtiest part of a pilgrim’s body is his feet, which are probably calloused, bruised, and covered in blisters, right?
But here’s a paradox: those same ‘pilgrim’s feet’ stand out for their beauty. Right away, we can picture the tiny feet of a newborn baby, which ‘melt our hearts’ when we see them. In their frailty and smallness -and beauty- they bring good news of salvation. And what kind of Good News, what kind of salvation, can these baby pilgrim’s feet bring us?
Actually, these tiny feet remind us that we can be made pure again—that there’s hope for us to return to the purity, the spotlessness, and innocence of a child. I don’t know if you’ve ever had this experience, but touching a baby’s little feet awakens a deep sense of innocence in our hearts. It’s actually really moving! It kind of dissolves our corruption!
So, the prophecy of Isaiah today speaks of a Beautiful Child, who allegedly needs to be carried around, who needs to be comforted and cherished all the time, but in reality, it is He who carries the world on His shoulders, He comforts His people, He redeems Jerusalem, doing for us what we would never be capable of doing for ourselves.
And wherever this little boy’s feet tread, the earth beneath them becomes a Paradise! So, my friends, let the beautiful feet of this beautiful child tread on the hardened ground of your heart! Wherever He walks, ugliness is changed into glory.
The ‘gentle force of gravity’ of this Baby’s footsteps has the power to turn our desert into paradise. So, let Him stroll through your heart bringing the glad tidings of Christmas, the good news that you can be born again. He was born for you. We need to let Emmanuel walk down the roads of our inmost heart, changing our course.
For me, it’s intriguing (it’s actually fascinating) that God chose to come into the world not during the daylight of summer, but at night, in the heart of a cold winter night. It’s as if He wanted everyone who’s frightened, whose hearts feel frozen, and who live in darkness to know that He came for them.
If you feel spiritually cold and numb, If you feel like you can’t fully enjoy this Christmas, then this Christmas is for you! Not even the barriers of darkness and coldness could stop Him! Jesus Christ, the One-Day-Old Baby bursts into our darkness and fills us with light!
Still following the reading from Isaiah, one of the things this Pilgrim from Heaven comes to reveal is that “Your God is king.” There’s a Christmas song from the 90’s with lyrics that go like this: ‘Mommies and daddies always believe / That their little angels are special indeed / And you could grow up to be anything / But who would imagine a king?’
And if this is true for any child (except for those literally born in Buckingham Palace or descended from still-powerful monarchies like the Japanese or Spanish thrones), it would be almost impossible to recognize a king ‘wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger’, with no room for Him at the inn! You just can’t picture a king in that situation!
But here’s the thing: this King chooses to come into the world—not in fancy outfits or sitting on a golden throne—but rather poor, so that those who feel miserable won’t feel embarrassed in His presence. In His presence we can simply be who we are! We don’t need to feel ashamed of being poor before a God who makes Himself poor! We don’t need to pretend to be anything other than ourselves.
He is the King of all nations, who has bared His Holy Mighty arm in the sight of all the nations, but He’s also an innocent, humble ‘pilgrim kid’, with gentle feet that softly step over the ruins within us and rebuild our lives! He has the power to restore Zion. So, whatever is devastated within us, just as Jerusalem was, can be repaired by His power.
At Christmas, we can draw close to the King with our own set of wreckage and debris, our ruins, whether we’re from a low social status, like the humble shepherds of Bethlehem, or high-level Wall Street execs, or even a ‘little drummer boy’ with our ‘rum pum pum pums’!
Since this Baby came all the way from Heaven to Earth, we all can have access to God! ‘Today, in the city of David, a Savior has been born FOR YOU, Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign FOR YOU: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger’, as the poorest of all the babies in the world! We can go off to the manger carrying our brokenness and let Jesus’ tender little hands mend what is damaged in us!
Let the hands of this Divine Child fix you! Let the feet of this Child tread through the desert of your heart and turn it into a paradise. Let Him restore your innocence!
St. Therese wrote a play at the convent in Lisieux and even put together a full production with the sisters (yes, she was like a little Spielberg-nun). The play was called ‘The Angels of the Crib’ (a must-read for this Christmas season, BTW).
Long story short, the play features some angels who highlight qualities of Jesus as Savior. There’s the Guardian Angel of the Baby Jesus, who protects Him from dangers, but also the Angel of the Holy Face; the Angel of the Passion, who announces the death on the Cross; the Angel of the Resurrection, who announces the joy of His victory over death, and the Angel of the Eucharist, who tells us that Jesus will remain with us in the Sacrament until the end.
But then there’s this tough guy, the Angel of the Last Judgment, who shows up to ‘bring the chills’, to strike fear into us. He says we should tremble because God’s wrath is coming to take us down us for all our grave mistakes and sins!
But in the end, the Child Jesus looks at Him and says: ‘Great Angel, turn aside your sword. I am the Messenger of Peace. This is how I’ll judge the human race. Jesus is my Name. I grant them Boundless Grace, for them I died, and I AM LOVE. The blasphemies of faithless lips are silenced by one glance of love! This Life of mine, I give them, and they and I shall be one!
And the angry little angel can’t help but say: Before You, Divine Child, I bow lowly. In awe, as I see Your love so endless. I’d gladly die like You on Calvary. How great the joy of men!
Great is our joy, for the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We saw His glory, grace, and truth! The accusing angel bows before the beautiful and merciful feet of our Savior. May our hearts also bow and allow themselves to be trod upon. Amen!
San Damiano Mission, Brooklyn
Shalom New York
@shalomnewyork
Fr. Cristiano Pinheiro C. Bede, ShCC
