“Now he comes to be born in the narrowness of our lives, to be incarnate in us, to give his love to the world through us, through our flesh and blood. That is one meaning of the Incarnation.
The reason why we are where we are this Christmas, in this house, family, office, workroom, hospital, or camp, is because it is here in this place that Christ wants to be born, from here that he wants his life to begin again in the world.
The reason why we are with these particular people is because it is precisely to these people that Christ wants us to give his love. This year we are his trustees for these people; he has put his love for them into our hands, into our hearts. We did not choose this place- Christ has chosen it. We did not choose these people- Christ has chosen them.
We are asked one thing: to have the humility and courage to open the secret place of our heart to Christ, conscious though we are that it is as derelict as the stable, and that his light will reveal the mouse and the spider.
It may have been puzzling, even to Mary, how Christ was giving his life to the whole world in the obscurity of Bethlehem, but enough for her that this was his way. It still is, and he himself is the way, the only way to our peace.
Because the Word of God was humble as the bleating of a lamb, lost along the darkness, today the voices of men and angels are a great choir singing in the light, “Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, give us peace.”
–Caryll Houselander
Love Houselander! thank you.
Thank you for this – I love Caryll Houselander and even though I hadn't read this, I could tell it was her writing. She has such a distinct style – robust and strong yet so childlike and tender.
Thanks, Patricia and Lizzie–I love Caryll, too–her voice is distinctive and strong, and she never fails to soften my heart–Happy New Year to you both!