And Worse, No Baby Jesus!

The Chinese novices decided to go home early because the day was long and we were all tired. We just had two sets of Christmas parties: one for the parish kids and the other, for parish staff and volunteers. In between these two we had home visits. We, Filipino novices, since we had host families in the apostolate area, decided to stay for a few more hours.

Our Chinese brothers arrived home very exhausted and famished. They went straight to the refectory to partake of their Christmas meal. They found out that our kitchen staff went home to their respective families to celebrate the Christmas eve. While we were feasting with our host families, the Chinese brothers cooked instant noodles to satisfy their hunger and before getting a much needed rest. Having eaten they went up to our chapel to pray.

They decided to spend a few minutes to venerate the Baby Jesus in the creche inside the chapel. To their dismay, they found Him missing! A Chinese novice put it poignantly: "We were so hungry. It was cold and dark and quiet here. While in the neighboring houses in the subdivision they were so happy and noisy. And worse, we have no Baby Jesus!"

Because of our impatience to rush to our Christmas parties we have forgotten to place the Baby Jesus in his crib as we would traditionally on the eve of Christmas. From this sharing we can learn a very simple truth: without Jesus, no matter how many gifts we give or receive, no matter how much we eat, no matter now loud we greet each other, no matter how many lights we put around our house and no matter how warm we embrace each other, our Christmases will be quiet and dark and cold.