The Baby's Smile

The Baby’s Smile

“A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” John 16:21

We are in the last few days of the year. Most of our thoughts on Christmas is that it is over. Yet, for Joseph and Mary the tasks of nurturing the newborn baby Jesus have only just begun. There is an old saying that the first act of a baby is to smile. Well, that is after all the needs are met. After it is well fed and has been changed, and has slept enough; and when the baby finally has enough coordination and control, after the rooted distinctive innate behaviors that we can speak of, the first thing that we can ascribe to a new born baby is the “smile.” I am not talking about the very young baby that is sleeping and what looks like a smile that flits across the face, or when they sometimes smile “into space.” I mean, rather, when a baby is old enough to finally focus its eyes long enough to look into its parent’s eyes, and smiles at him or her. This is the act of smiling at another human being. It is so astonishing that everyone gathers around and exclaims, “Look, the baby is smiling at you!” Thus, this smile has meaning. It is not “a mere reflex,” because it has purpose and takes place in a context.

It was a very large, impressive waiting room filled with the newest furniture and stocked with the latest information. On this day as with most, it was packed as people were waiting their turn to see their physician. An elderly lady sat in the corner of the waiting room crying. The hopes and fears of all her years mounted in her mind, she was crying openly. There was, in that same waiting room, a toddler, playing with toys. Seeing the woman across the room in tears, the kid climbed down from his chair, toddled over to this stranger, and touched the lady on her cheek and “smiled.” The woman smiled back. No words were needed. Without a doubt a smile needs no words to communicate, that “something is shared with another person.” It comes with an expression that “it’s going to be all right even when everything seems wrong, it will be all right.”

Imagine then the smile of the infant Christ, expressing joy that has come into the world. Pope Francis said, “there is a direct thread joining the manger and the cross,” the cross connects to Bethlehem too. Imagine through Mary’s tearful eyes that Our Lord looked down from the cross and smiled at her. Let’s imagine that she saw, in that smile, the smile of her infant child. The meaning of both smiles would be the same, “it’s going to be all right even when everything seems wrong, it will be all right.”

Prayer: Help us, to share the Good News of Christmas in that Christ has entered into our frightening world. Give us the grace to show a gentle smile to those around us. Thank you for climbing down from your throne in glory and touching us with your smile and says, “it’s going to be all right even when everything seems wrong, it will be all right.” Amen.