Human Heart: The Bethlehem of our Time
Christmas is in the air. Parties and gifts are seen everywhere. And if we look at our society more keenly, we can ask ourselves: how is it that it is still shrouded with enormous struggles, trials, betrayals, wars, and the like? We try our best to get rid of them but still find ourselves immersed and entangled in them. This is so overwhelming! This could sometimes lead us to hopelessness and discouragement. This seemingly unsurmountable human vulnerability and fragility, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) calls concupiscence, is deeply rooted in the first fall of man, the Original Sin. God the Father, our Creator, saw all this that his heart was moved with pity and compassion. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (Jn 3:16) because what came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (Jn 1:3-5).
But the compassion the Father has shown us was not duly understood and accepted. He came to his own, but his own people did not accept him (Jn 1:11). Though saddened, God was not disheartened by this human refusal to receive his Ultimate Self-donation through his only Son. Rather, God responded to it with the fullness of love, tenderness, mercy, and compassion because his boundless love and mercy will always be greater than human malice (cf., Misericordiae Vultus (MV), 3).
Let us contemplate the holy face of the baby Jesus in that miserable manger, so innocently blessing his people with his divine presence yet unwelcomed by those who are supposed to be waiting for his coming. He wanted to give light, yet his people preferred to be in the dark.
Tender as he is, he deserves tender caresses, too, from his loved ones, his people. Mary and Joseph protected him from the chaotic city while King Herod was deviously searching for this newborn King. How horrified and pained must the baby Jesus be at the sight of this deceitful humanity!
In this regard, St. Hannibal Mary wanted to return to the past to welcome, console, and comfort him. We will console him console him with our humble care and love, entreating him to be born not only in Bethlehem’s grotto, but also in our hearts (The Father’ Soul (TFS), p. 238).
For this reason, St. Hannibal Mary conceived a very special novena in preparation for the Nativity of the Lord with practices that include short prayers, penances, and good works, etc., each day has its patron saint and a guardian angel (cf., TFS, 238). This is a kind of ‘Spiritual Pilgrimage’ to the grotto of Bethlehem to prepare for what baby Jesus deserves to find upon his coming.
But on the other hand, St. Hannibal Mary knows well that Jesus is not coming anymore as a baby like more than two thousand years ago. He would rather meet us in our daily ordinary lives. And how would that be? Jesus can be met through our neighbors, especially the suffering, in the various events in our daily life, whether at home, office, work, school, in the streets, or wherever we find ourselves, even in the most difficult and sinful situations, he is there to meet us. St. Hannibal Mary contemplates Jesus crying for the sins of his people yet making himself available for the repentant hearts at every moment they ask to return. He prays I wish my eyes were a fountain of tears to bewail together with you and with our Lady in sorrow my sins, the sins of the whole world, and the ruin of so many souls! (Rogationist Anthology [RA], p. 597)
The Church with the Blessed Sacrament, the Emmanuel, God with us, is the most privileged place to find him. He is there truly, really, substantially, sacramentally present. St. Hannibal Mary would like to be with him always. He whispers to his most tender Lord I want to always stay with you and with your most holy mother, keeping and embracing you in pure faith… I wish I were with you in all the tabernacles (RA, p. 597) to console his intimate sorrows.
We know that the best way for us to console his heart is to become truly Rogationists, who have the final goal and purpose of existence, the greatest consolation the Heart of Jesus by praying for more good and holy vocations, propagating the spirit of this prayer and being the first answer to this prayer (cf., RA, p. 225).
Today at this very moment, does the baby Jesus have the first place in our life? Are we ready to welcome him as our God, truly God? Are we ready to let him be born again in the Bethlehem of our heart?
Fr. Marcelino Diaz II, RCJ, is currently the Responsible for the Rogamina Community of the St. Matthew Province in Mina, Iloilo, Philippines. The Rogamina Community aims to follow Jesus’ call for unceasing prayer, especially for more and holy vocations, in the monastic-contemplative lifestyle.