Growing up, my sister and I looked forward to setting up our Nativity set with great joy! It was, and continues to be, a tangible way for me to enter into the Incarnation. At some point we decided to wait until Christmas morning to place Baby Jesus in the manger as the Magi were still making their trek across the room, slowly moving day-by-day until arriving on The Epiphany of the Lord.

In Italy ‘il precipe’ (Italian for creche or Nativity scene) is the main focal point for Christmas, like the tree is here. They can be very simple with just the ‘main characters’ or grow to elaborate presentations including many different people and animals from Bethlehem and its marketplaces.

Since my childhood I have learned that St. Francis of Assisi created the first crèche to remind the people of his time of the profound gift of “God with us”, Emmanuel. A baby. Helpless, dependent, crying to express his needs – and growing as we do into a toddler, a child, an adolescent, a teenager and a young adult. How often do we pause to really take that in? Have you ever thought of Jesus as a teenager? What an incredibly beautiful gift of Love that our God has lived as we do.

In the hustle of the season I invite you to pause, welcome the darkness of the coming winter, light a candle and take time to really reflect on what the Nativity means to you. How will you let Christ dwell in you as he did in the manger? Let us prepare our hearts to welcome Christ into our lives and our very beings, each and every day. And perhaps you will place yourself somewhere in the Nativity this year.

Christ brings us: Hope. Peace. Joy. Love.

Will you accept the invitation to take time each week to ponder each of these gifts?

Where do you have Hope? Where do you need Hope? When are you Hope?

Where do you have Peace? Where do you need Peace? When are you Peace?

Where do you have Joy? Where do you need Joy? When are you Joy?

Where do you have Love? Where do you need Love? When are you Love?

– Adele DiNatale-Svetnicka