Bethlehem is 6 miles south of Jerusalem, that is where the manger was.
Mary did not say, “I am not having my baby here, it only has one star!”
She gave birth to her first-born son. It does not mean that Mary had other children but rather expresses the rights of inheritance as in Genesis 27:36; Deuteronomy 21:15-17, and Hebrews 12:22-23).
The line of the hymn from “O Little Town of Bethlehem” goes:
“Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”
Jesus was born to provide the hope for saving humankind from mortal fear with his peace.
There is a five-step pattern in Scripture, like with the births of Isaac and Samson, and John the Baptist, and we find it in the Christmas story: An angel appears (Luke 1:26-28); reaction of being troubled, and fear (Luke 1:29); angel’s message (Luke 1:30-33); questions asked (Luke 1:34); sign given (Luke 1:35-37).
The sign, in Isaiah 9:5, is the Prince of Peace described as a child born, a son given, who brings peace with end. In Isaiah 26 peace refers to more than the political peace the Assyrians offered client states, the “pax Assyriaca.”
This peace is “Pax Christi,” the peace that come with the Divine Presence, peace with God.
This peace is given to those “of steadfast mind:” “Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace- in peace because they trust in you,” Isaiah 26:3. A steadfast mind in this context means firm confidence, a firm trust in the Lord. The word “trust” is used frequently in the Psalms, fifty-two times) and in Isaiah, twenty-six times. It can indicate confidence in a person, a trusting faith in someone, as well as security and safety. Here it means faith in the one who says to Israel, “let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me (Isaiah 27.5), and “come to me; listen, so that you may live (Isaiah 53:3). source: The Bible Today, December, page. 342.
The shepherds said in Luke 2:15, let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
We, like the shepherds, can come to Bethlehem and behold Christ the Lord for ourselves in the Eucharist. Bethlehem, means “house of bread.” The Lord Jesus is already pointing to the unique gift He gives us in the Eucharist: a real and true Presence at every Mass, in Holy Communion, and in every Tabernacle.
Christmas is about Christ; it’s Christ Mass!
St. Ambrose, “Every faithful soul is Bethlehem…That is true bread which, after it was broken into bits, has fed all.”
God choses ordinary bread to become his body.
The divine is hidden quietly inside the human. The holy is hidden in the physical and the material (Dorothy Day, “Room for Christ, ” and allows Himself to be embraced and consumed in the Eucharist.
St. Luke, in his gospel, mentions shepherds at Christmas because Luke has a particular emphasis on the eschatological reversal of the poor. Shepherds have a very positive portrayal in the scriptures and are often used metaphorically for God and his servant David. While they may have had a humble status at the time of Jesus’ birth, their O.T. heritage is royal and divine. [Source: Why are there shepherds in the Lukan Birth Narrative? By Sarah Harris, Colloquim 44/1; 2012, page. 30.]
Oscar Romero said, “We must not seek the child Jesus in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs. We must seek him among the undernourished children who have gone to bed at night with nothing to eat, among the poor newsboys who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways.”
A lady shared, “In 1968 the Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities produced a remarkable Christmas card. The outside of the card was red-orange, and featured the words of the Benedictus: "From on high our God will bring the rising Sun . . ." Then you opened the card to find a stark black-and-white photograph of a small African-American child caught by a ray of sunlight as he sits listlessly in the shadows of a slum courtyard. Along with the photo was the rest of the verse: "to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death." The contrast between the outside and the inside caused heads to snap back. My husband and I still think it is the best Christmas card we ever received.
In 1969 the card had some words of John the Baptist on the front, in red: "There is One among you . . ." Opening the card, one saw another black-and-white photograph, this time of a young Vietnamese girl with the blank, stunned expression of a child in wartime, and the rest of the verse: " . . . whom you do not recognize."
Source: The two faces of Advent: John 1:6-8, 19-28 by Fleming Rutledge, The Christian Century, December 1, 1999
In conclusion, St. Augustine put it this way: “Be what you see and receive what you are.” Patristic scholar Fr. William Harmless, S.J. suggests that St. Augustine had a deep fascination with the connection St. Paul made between the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist and the Body of Christ we become by consuming the Eucharist.
Pope Francis prays: “I want to come to Bethlehem, Lord, because there you await me. I want to realize that you, lying in a manger are the bread of my life. I need the tender fragrance of your love so that I, in turn, can be bread broken for the world. Take me upon your shoulders, Good Shepherd; loved by you, I will be able to love my brothers and sisters and to take them by the hand. Then it will be Christmas, when I can say to you: ‘Lord you know everything; you know that I love you.
Source: The Meaning of Christmas: Bethlehem Christmas Homily 2019 for the Diocese of Yakima Isaiah 62:11-2; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:15-20 Most Reverend Joseph J. Tyson, Bishop of Yakima, Washington State.
Amen.
