Away from a manger

“Away /from /a manger, no crib for a bed…,” Anne began singing as she exited the Church.
“It’s /IN/, Anne,” her older sister corrected her.
“Away /from /a manger…,” she insisted by singing louder.
“IN!!!” Her sister gritted her teeth.
“I know, but I’m the one who’s away /from /the Manger,” she gently replied.
“!!!”
* * *
Overhearing this simple sisterly exchange, made me see a profound lesson in this simple Christmas carol. It reminded me to ask myself, if this Christmas was spent being IN the manger or far FROM it.
I’m pretty sure that little Anne was referring to her being physically away /from /the Manger, because she was leaving behind the crèche inside the chapel. But from a spiritual perspective, we can ask ourselves how the closing Christmas season helped us to get closer to the Child in the
Manger.
The season of Christmas is the period between December 25 and the feast of the Baptism of our Lord in the river Jordan. Even if classes have resumed and the traffic has returned to its normal pace and volume, we are still actually celebrating Jesus’ birth. This is what a lot of Christians forget and this is why many may also find themselves singing Away /from/ a Manger like Anne.
Being in the Manger is not simply the yearly chore of decking the halls with boughs of holly or hoping to get kissed under some generic mall mistletoe. To be /inside/ the manger means to experience the humble atmosphere radiating from the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Paraphrasing Pope Francis’ reflection on Christmas, he says: “Christmas isn’t about some hero, warrior or emperor. (…) It happens in a family and can only be properly understood within the context of a family.”
From the Holy Family, we gain invaluable and indispensable lessons for the transformation of our hearts and thus, our own families. We have so much to learn about piety and generosity, poverty and detachment, abandonment in God’s hands, serenity and compassion, and much spiritual treats.
But let’s go back to Anne’s version of the carol. I realized that my Christmas was pretty much of being away /from /the Manger. This is the
first Christmas ever when I never got around to sending family and friends a single Christmas greeting card. Yes, there’s text and the ever reliable social-network greetings, but I feel that there is more I can do to make a once-a-year greeting more meaningful.
This year, I also felt that I spent less time contemplating the crèche at home and imagining what and how I would be /in /there. I’m referring to the fatherly advice of St. Josemaría who suggested that during the season of Christmas, instead of praying inside a chapel, one may pray before the ‘chapel of the Belen’ and find himself amongst the other figures.
Doing this annual mode of prayer helps train our senses towards something spiritually palpable. The figurines of the crèche will awaken in us childlike sentiments and longings. These sentiments in turn will help us to foster greater simplicity and docility before the Child-God. They will also give rise to a genuine sorrow, even to the point of tears, when we realize how far away we are /from /the Manger because we have forgotten how to delicately embrace the eternal Child; and are instead clinging to temporal and false material securities and achievements.
Yes, even though the lesson of being /away from the manger/ illumines some hard truths about ourselves, these are still humble and gentle lights inviting us to a constant and genuine conversion.
This is the transformation in the person where God builds and finds His manger in his converted heart. This is the outcome that He actually desires: that by feeling our being away /from /His Manger, we have no other recourse than to allow Him to enter into our yet hard, impure and proud hearts, because only His presence can change all that.
Thus, even throughout the year, from the manger of our hearts, –in the midst of our work, leisure, and social engagements– others will also embrace the consoling light of the Child, Mary and Joseph.

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