Nativity

«This first census was made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone went to be registered, each in their own city. Joseph also, from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, went up to Judea to the city of David, called Bethlehem: he belonged to the house and family of David. He had to be registered with Mary, his wife, who was pregnant “(Lc 2, 1-5). Christ really existed, he is real, it is not a legend, an idea: “He is noted in the imperial registers, he belongs to the horizon of our world. The incarnation also means leaving a trace of ink in the imperial archives “.
It may seem a coincidence, but “the birth of Jesus in the city of David is placed within the framework of the great universal history”. Luke says again: «While they were in that place, she gave birth to her first-born son, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the accomodation”(Lc 2, 6-7).

The event par excellence takes place: the Son of God is born.

Our attention, in the ample and delightful Lucanian narration, is captured by Mary, who guards within herself, meditates in her heart the events that unsettle – in the most positive sense of the term – her existence as a woman and, through her, the destiny of all humanity: the Savior has come. “On the poor manger in the Bethlehem cave, there is already this cosmic splendor: here the real firstborn of the universe has entered among us”

An apocryphal text that will be taken up again in the 13th century by the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Varagine and which will attract a large following among artists. Luke recounts how Joseph went with his wife Mary to the city of Bethlehem in Judea, to register for a census ordered by Emperor Caesar Augustus.

The woman was pregnant, she gave birth to her son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the accomodation. There were numerous shepherds in the region, who were warned by an angel about the birth of the savior in the city of Bethlehem.

In the Gospel of the Pseudo-Matthew, it is told how Joseph was going to Bethlehem, taking with him the bride who was expecting a child, when they were stopped on the street by a beautiful boy, who urged Mary to enter a cave, where she gave birth to her son. Joseph went away to seek for help and found two midwives, one of whom asked to take the baby in her arms, while the other had a paralyzed hand for doubting the mother’s virginity, although was healed once she touched the baby. In the painting, we find a third version of Jesus’ birth, with Mary who took refuge with the child under the shed of a stable, together with an ox and a donkey, while two women look after the same child giving him his first bath in an ancient tub.

Here Giotto reinterprets an ancient story, and does so in the name of beauty.

Written by Prof. Elvio Lunghi

God manifested himself in Christ and, a few centuries later, Christ manifested himself in another man, another “little one“, who will once again change the fate of humanity. «Little one», thus Francis wrote about himself, in his Testament, in which he blesses and invites his brothers to follow his path: «And whoever observes these things, let them be filled in heaven with the blessing of the Most High Father, and on earth may them be filled with the blessing of his beloved Son, with the most holy Paraclete Spirit (term with which the evangelist John indicates the Holy Spirit, nrd) and with all the powers of heaven and with all the saints. And I, little brother Francis, your servant, for what little I can, confirm to you inside and outside this most holy blessing. Amen”.

Here is the “school of St. Francis”, here the role of the Nativity scene returns, as a “sweet and demanding process of transmitting the faith. Starting from childhood and then in every age of life, it educates us to contemplate Jesus, to feel God’s love for us, to feel and believe that God is with us and we are with him, all children and brothers thanks to that child, Son of God and of the Virgin Mary. And to feel that happiness lies in this ». It is God who made his dwelling among us that night.

However, we are not always able to grasp the importance of the embrace that the Lord offers us.

It is Pope Francis who reminds us that “from the Franciscan origin, the Nativity scene is an invitation to” feel “, to” touch “the poverty that the Son of God chose for himself in his Incarnation. And so, implicitly, it is an appeal to follow him on the path of humility, poverty, spoliation, which leads from the manger in Bethlehem to the Cross. It is an appeal to meet him and serve him with mercy in the most needy brothers and sisters ».
Let us learn from Mary and Joseph: let us place ourselves with faith at the service of God’s plan. Even if we do not fully understand it, let us entrust ourselves to his wisdom and goodness. Let us first of all seek the Kingdom of God, and Providence will help us ».
A final suggestion is related to the chapel of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where upon entering we are called to lower down. There is in fact a small door that invites us to bow our heads. Thus also the mystery of Christmas invites us to bow our heads: every reason, faced with this mystery, gets shattered.