Dialogue with the Baby Boy

Christmas Homily 2024

“Come to me,” said once the Messiah, “Come to me, all of you who are wearied and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus calls us all, on this holy night, to gather around the manger: “Come to me.” If Jesus had known that, besides the Shepherds, so many other people were coming, he would have been born in a bigger place, a bigger barn perhaps, the size of this church. He would have been right here, where the altar is. And “all we like sheep,” would have come to the center, to the front.

Perhaps there were no sheep in the stall of Bethlehem, but let’s pretend there were a few. They were probably sleeping, but let’s imagine that a sheep woke up with the noise and decided to get a midnight snack. She went to the manger and, behold, food was gone and there was a human baby. The sheep was coming to the manger looking for some comfort, but all she found was a little baby, sobbing with cold.

“Come to me, all of you who are wearied and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Like that sheep, we may look at this Baby with a little bit of confusion. “I am wearied and carrying heavy burdens, and are you going to give me rest, Baby Boy? I was looking for something else… How are you supposed to help me?”

Jesus could not yet talk on this holy night. But I think I know what He was thinking, so today I will make Him speak to one of us who, as He requested, has come to Him.

- How are you supposed to help me, you, a little Baby?

- What do you need?

- I am so stressed trying to make ends meet… I need money, Lord!

- That makes two of us. Actually, three and four, with mom and dad. But if you stay with me, you will have everything you need. I won’t make you rich, but it is better to be loved than to be rich. The worries about money make people forget Me. I do not forget them: I became poor to come closer to them. Stay close to me: together we will make ends meet. My Mother and Joseph will help you too.

­- That’s very nice of you, little Lord Jesus! But I come with another, deeper burden. I feel like a failure! I am too far from God. My life is so real, so far from what the movies show… I am tired of trying to catch up with what the world expects from me, and I am not sure I can do what You expect from me. I am a failure to You and to the world!

- Hold on to that. Now, could you please change my diapers?

- Well… yes, I can do that for you, if your Mom doesn’t mind.

- (Mary nodded, and Jesus continued) Yes, She is fine. And, before that, please, could you throw a couple of sticks in the fire? Joseph is asleep, he had a long night, and it’s getting colder. Could you do that for me?

- Sure, my Lord… but what do you mean?

- If you try to please the world, you will always be tired and will never succeed. I, instead, never ask more than what people can give. Come to me, take my yoke upon you, and you will find rest for your soul (cf. Matthew 11:28-30). The world may make you believe you are a failure. You will never be a failure to me, because I made you and I do not make junk. You are the only reason I became so poor and I am going to die on a cross. I know you are worth it.

- About that, Lord… How can I come to you now, when I have committed so many sins… I even find it difficult to come to church sometimes. I am a sinner! What place do I have by your crib?

- I came to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance (cf. Luke 5:32). I came for you. And I left my forgiveness in the church, so that when the priest forgives, it is I who forgive (cf. John 20:23; 2 Corinthians 5:18).

- But, Jesus, I don’t like my priest!

- And what can I say… I am sorry that you feel this way, precisely in the place where I would like to soothe your wounds. The priest is also my sheep: he is not perfect and may sometimes make you feel uncomfortable. This manger is also uncomfortable, but you found in this manger the Son of God. Give your priest a chance. Do not look for the man in the confessional, look for Me and you will find Me. I like humble, lowly places. Even in your priest, with all his poverty and his defects, you may find, at last, the peace that you have desired for so long.

Tonight, we have come to the manger to find peace and joy. Peace is found in this Baby God, who does not ask from you except what you can do. Joy is find in Him, in His love, because He came to release you from your burdens and anxieties. What we need in our lives is not power, or health: we need the love of a harmless Baby, we need someone in need of our own love, to make us feel, for once, not only that for someone we matter, but that we matter for God Himself. If we matter for God, if God loves us, then everything is fine and we can rest.