JUST A FEW ARMS AWAY

Thursday in the Octave of Christmas
Lk 2:22-35

Jesus was presented to God. He was presented to His Father. He was Joseph’s and Mary’s first-born Son. First-born sons, according to the Law of Moses, must be consecrated to Yahweh. First-born sons belong especially to God; hence, parents offer a prescribed sacrifice to “buy back from God their first-born sons.

A first-born opens his mother’s womb. The Jews believe that a barren womb is an accursed womb. Life is God’s greatest blessing; life belongs to God – no one can cause it, no one can take it away, no one except God.

God is the Father of Jesus, but He is our Father, too. Jesus, according to the Pauline epistles, is the first-born among the dead. God, our Father, bought us back from sin and death. Jesus, His own Son, was the price He had to pay. The First-born Son became the ransom price!

At the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where I am presently serving, the Christmas crèche at the foot of the sanctuary is just a few arms away from the crucifix. During our Christmas Eve Mass, I was looking intently on the two biblical tableaus: one showing us the humble birth of the Savior and the other reminding us what awaits the newborn Baby after thirty-three years. Then I catch my self whispering a prayer: “Lord, I hope they notice…I hope they really do….” Bethlehem and Calvary are indeed just a few arms away.