Keeping the Nativity’s star of faith aglow all year long
By Theresa Cavicchio
Special to The CS&T
Each year at this time, reality hits with a dull thud.
Decorations have been taken down and stored away. Living rooms have that bare, denuded look that only the departure of a festive tree can create. Those much-anticipated gifts — the ones that haven’t been returned, that is — have already lost their luster.
Decorations, Christmas trees, and even the most loving of gifts may come and go, and in fact they do, every year without fail.
And now, for people of faith, thought-provoking questions come to mind during the post-Epiphany time in the Church year. What does the Christmas experience offer of truly lasting value? What can we take and keep with us throughout the year, long after Christmas is over?
A look back at some of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus — a series of celestial occurrences in particular — may provide useful insight. As related to us in the Gospel, those events featured one critical, common component — the element of faith. While faith was always present, it existed in varying degrees among the key players.
In the case of Zechariah, the response that he accorded the Angel Gabriel was heavy on incredulity, light on faith (Lk 1:5-25). The news that his elderly wife would conceive and bear a son — who would fulfill an important mission for the plan of salvation — must have seemed too good to be true to Zechariah’s human ears. It was only the subsequent workings of the Holy Spirit in the lives of his family that confirmed his faith in the message he had been privileged to receive.
A more familiar angelic visitation again featured Gabriel in the role of messenger (Lk 1:26-38). At Nazareth, he addressed the incomparable one, who was set aside by her Creator from all time to fulfill the most sacred of life’s roles. All of creation held its breath awaiting Mary’s response. At her whispered fiat, the Incarnation became a reality, giving true life to the greatest example of faith in action of all time. The faith that enabled Mary to voice her “yes” to God was the same faith that would support and sustain her through the soul-piercing sorrows to come.
A third heavenly event took the form of an angelic message sent in a dream (Mt 1:18-25). We can only imagine the troubled slumber of the just man named Joseph, wanting to do what was right by the one promised to him, but who was found to be expecting a child before their living together. Joseph’s obedient response to the angel’s reassuring words proved a testament to the power of his faith to surmount the most difficult of obstacles.
Moving ahead nine months in time, we journey to the hillside outside Bethlehem, its darkness broken only by pinpricks of light in the still, night sky. Imagine the reaction of the shepherds as the very heavens broke out in glory, awakening their hearts in hope at the angel’s message (Lk 2:8-20). Scripture tells us they “went in haste” in response to the news of the Savior’s birth. Surely, their haste was born of faith — the faith of an entire people who had waited, prayed, longed for the coming of the promised Messiah.
While those celestial occurrences involve visits of heavenly beings to humans, our final example is different. That time, the message from heaven was a silent one — the extraordinary star referred to in the Gospel of Matthew, the one the Magi “saw … at its rising” (see Mt 2:1-12).
We do not know enough about the three men we call the Magi to gauge the depth of their faith. Scripture does relate, however, that they were so impressed with the magnitude of the celestial body that had captured their attention that they went to considerable time, trouble, and expense to follow it to its destination.
Although the Wise Men have gained a permanent place in our Christmas manger scenes, we know that they didn’t arrive at Bethlehem on the heels of the shepherds. Their journey was a lengthy one, following their silent guide perched high in the heavens, strong and brilliant, “until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.” If their faith wavered during the long, tedious days and nights, surely it was rewarded beyond measure when, “on entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother.” That gift of faith was far more precious than those they offered to the Christ Child.
The Christmas star serves as an important symbol of faith — the bedrock of our lives on earth and our hope for a future destined for eternity. The silent message of faith placed in the firmament by the Father shone on in the lives of Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi, uniting them as participants in salvation history. We too have a role to play. This message of faith is the thing of lasting value that we can take with us, the star we can keep aglow, not only at Christmas but all throughout the year.
Theresa Cavicchio is a wife and mother. She works in the Religious Education Program for her parish, St. Madeline.