Where the real things are
Opinion
As so many of us come to this Christmas time at the end of a busy year, the Australian cartoonist, Michael Leunig offers a promise that seems so very remote from the world of financial, relational, political and social challenges we’ve needed to engage.
And you will always be reborn
and I will always see the star
and make the journey to your heart:
the manger where the real things are. (Michael Leunig from Poems, 1972-2001)
We are surrounded with economic, political, social and educational experts, all offering their best advice in a time of ongoing change. But Christmas time reminds us again that there is another wisdom, the ancient one of our tradition, that sits beneath this dialogue. It asks us to carry the old hearth fire of wisdoms past, even as we look to make new campfires into the future.
There is a magnificent angel, carved out of stone, that stands level with the great doors of one of the most beautiful libraries in the world.
Head inclined, it is a silent greeting, a gentle nod to those who enter this cathedral of books and learning and story and thought. A benediction of being, a reminder of things unseen, the great communion that surrounds us if only we have a heart that sees.
This sense of being part of something larger, of being knitted into a bigger reality, a layered reality, is central to the Catholic imagination and the way of Jesus. It is a particular understanding of belonging that is at the same time tight and loose – strong and yet vulnerable in the post-modern world where ‘expressive individuality’ rolls against any whiff of traditioning. And yet, the search for authenticity that is the hallmark of our age still asks ‘To whom do I belong?’
Our Catholic schools are underpinned by a theology and spirituality that, at its most transformative, lights up an interior world that opens to a universe of unseen presences and deep wisdom that can carry each child into adolescence, into adulthood, into mature years… into eternity.
Our Catholic parishes, at their most luminous, provide a community that echoes and resonates with God’s presence in the small moments of encounter and in the big moments of sacramental celebration, in solidarity with all that’s good in the world and in just action against what is harmful in the world.
And the nativity stories give us some powerful imagery and metaphors to reflect on our own witness in our own situations, wherever we are.
I wonder where you find yourself among these parts of this ordinary extraordinary story, where we see…
A Star that lights the way…and proclaims by its silent luminous presence, God-with-us
An Innkeeper …. who, reluctantly or not, makes a space for strangers in need
Angels… who dare to speak the good news
A resilient Mother… who, despite everything, holds onto the dream of her precious child
A protective Father …. who calls this child by name and in doing so, gives the child a rightful place
The Magi …. who see the future in the present, and offer their finest gifts
You are a light – a spark of the Divine light, as Pope Francis says, and that light shines most in the small frames of encounter, each day, every day. Each time you cast your light, with the strong sense that you are part of something much much bigger, you rebirth the first light of creation, the first star of Christ’s birth, the light of the journey to the heart…where the real things are.
And so, this Christmas, I invite you to allow these questions to roll around your mind and heart…
Do you believe the Holy Spirit is at work here and now in our lives, and with you?
Will you bend your will into the space in which the Holy Spirit can work?
And can you make room enough for the Holy Spirit to breathe?
Can you be a light to others to show ‘the way’ by your presence?
Can you be other-centred enough to be an angel at the table of another?
Will you be a God-bearer – and despite everything hold on to the dreams of those in your care?
Will you know and call each by name – and by so doing, give them a rightful place in community?
Can you see the future in the present and offer your finest gifts in the possibility of that future?
Can you be audacious enough to be witness to the Good News, in the midst of the old year’s hurts, the new year’s challenges, and all that must be carried?
…YES!!! You can!
Dr Jill Gowdie, Director, Catholic Education South Australia – Catholic Identity and Misson
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