George Pattery, S.J.

Not so long ago, the German Bishop’s Conference sent out their Christmas greetings for that year with the following note: This year for X’Mas, let us do what God did: BECOME HUMAN!
Becoming human is the mystery of X’Mas. Are we not born human? Yes and No: yes, biologically we are born human; No, in reality we begin to grow human from birth to death. Christmas is the festival of becoming human, as divinity chose humanity for its cradle.
What does it mean to become human? AS Mario de Andrade, (San Paolo, 1893-1945) wrote:
“I want to live next to humans,
very realistic people who know
How to laugh at their mistakes,
Who are not inflated by their own triumphs
& who take responsibility for their actions.
In this way, human dignity is defended
and we live in truth and honesty.

It is the essentials that make life useful.
I want to surround myself with people
who know how to touch the hearts of those whom hard strokes of life
have learned to grow with sweet touches of the soul”.

To be human is to accompany the excluded, imparting a sense of belonging;
To be human is to appreciate the dignity of your neighbor beyond caste religion and nationality;
To be human is to be at the service of the hungry and the naked;
To be human is to belong to the earth as our common home;
To be human is to experience the vulnerability of the little ones, devoid of ‘power, status and riches’;
To be human is to falter and yet to start again;
To be human is to rejoice in just being humane.
To be human is to relish silence, forgiveness and friendship.
To be human is to-be-with-the other.
The essentials that make Christmas.
Mary and Joseph, refugees in Bethlehem, knocking on the doors of the local residents, searching for a place, are the X’Mas people; the forlorn folks like the shepherds form the X’Mas crowd; animals below and the stars above crafted the X’Mas stage. These essentials made X’Mas unique.
Who are the X’Mas people today? The migrant labourers who walked for days on, along the national highways at the declaration of the pandemic lockdown with four hours’ notice, and the refugees at the borders of European nations seeking asylum continue to be the X’Mas people for our times. There is no place for them, at the borders and peripheries of nations and cities.
Where is the X’Mas crowd? The pandemic warriors like the health workers and researchers constitute the crowds of this year’s X’Mas. Mostly unknown, unrecognized yet quite visible at critical moments are the health warriors.
How does the X’Mas crib look like? The eco-sensitive seekers and climate change warriors are fashioning a new tent for X’Mas of our times. To become human means walking with the migrants and refugees, supporting the health warriors and joining the eco-prophets and with them shaping a new X’Mas song: ‘we are healthy and peaceful when all are healthy and peaceful. No one is safe until all are safe.
Johannine prologue speaks of ’the word made flesh’. This ‘en-fleshing’ of the word entails embracing the world and its realities; irruption of the Spirit into the material realm. It’s not just an act of the past alone, but a continuum, evolving into a future that is beyond our imagination. Christmas is this en-fleshing process in everyday lives, the fusion between the divine and the human, spirit-in-matter quest, and enabling its evolution into a magnificent future. That is the good news that the shepherds heard from the angels – the song of peace on earth for those of good will.
X’Mas is the advent of a new birth of the universe, of millennial journey from the big bang to the length of time for the creation of the universe — the galaxies, suns and planets; the time for the shaping of the Earth; the appearance of life, from protozoa to dinosaurs to the humans.
The advent of Christmas denotes the birth of human possibilities, of the infinite galaxies birthing infinite possibilities, in the shape of a refugee child – Emmanuel – ‘the infinite with us’. Not the survival of the fittest, but the self-donation of the infinite to the finite, in the vulnerable self-limiting Babe who nurtures the original grace, not by chance, but by the audacious ‘fiat’ of a village girl. And yet, even on X’Mas night, women are not allowed in the sanctuary; the refugees are blocked at the borders; climate change and the pandemic have not motivated us to be Fratelli tutti. The Babe is in our midst in order to dwell among us, facing us without curtains. The veil of power and status is removed; we are in the crib of humanity, to care for all.
Christmas parties as usual?
What do we hear these days? The defence budget, armament industry and trade of every country have increased in spite of the pandemic; Ballistic missiles with nuclear heads are sold and bought in global markets. Every nation invents its enemy, identifies them without fail and wants to eliminate them. Hyper-Nationalism, brute majoritarianism, pliable media and an obliging religious leadership – shape the Christmas menu for our times in this part of the world, while many hundreds die of real hunger around us; X’Mas parties continue as usual!
There are signs of hope: Evangelii Gaudium, Laudato si and Fratelli tutti envision an imaginative future; A Sikh Gurudwara is kept open for Muslims to pray; global efforts are on to mitigate hunger-death especially in Africa; #Blacklivesmatter and #Metoo movements find global resonance; a fragile nun kneels in front of the arrogant army in Myanmar seeking reconciliation; Royal couples in the U.K. and in Japan relinquish wealth and honour for a happy married life. In these and numerous other ways ‘the good will’ of Christmas carols can be perceived. Angels continue to sing for us: Peace on earth to all of good will.