God will arrive at midnight, a culmination of all our expectations. God will come on a little donkey, inside the womb of the Virgin Mother.
God will come this night bearing gifts. He will bring a golden box brimming with Humility and Compassion. Tenderness will hang from his arms. “God will come tonight and tomorrow the Great Day will dawn.
God will come tonight and the house will be full of the fragrance of violets and poppies. God will come tonight and a bolt of lightning will strike the darkness and shine on his face for all to see. God will depart from the East, travel over liberating waters, will greet us this same night and break the chains that bind us.
God will come tonight and pull out our selfishness by its roots and bury it deep within the ocean. God will come tonight and show us the way, and we will follow in his footsteps. It is not long before the Lord will arrive in splendor and might. He will come bearing the colors of Peace and infuse us with Eternal Life. He’s coming!”
Jesus, Child of Bethlehem!
The star that shines brighter than the night
and the snow hangs today outside in the nocturnal silence
over the ramshackle stable filled by the glowing light
and bright smile of a newborn with neither flags nor drums.
But bringing with Him springtime, firewood and wheat,
wealth, happiness, miracles, spume, serenity and dreams
for all of you, God’s beloved,
Merry Christmas!
Adapted from the book Brother Francis of Assisi and the Circular Letter 11 by Fr. Ignacio Larrañaga
