Deep down inside our hearts many of us want proof of God’s love for us. Yet, we really shouldn’t need proof, because we live by faith.
Did you know, there are miracles that took place which involved the infant Jesus? There were two miracles associated with the birth of Jesus.
When Mary was found with Child, the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall name Him, Emmanuel, which means God is with us.” But how could a virgin give birth to a child? The first miracle, which occurred nine months before the birth of Jesus, was that Mary became pregnant, when She conceived in a miraculous manner through the power of the Holy Spirit. At that moment, Jesus, the Son of the Eternal Father, who always existed, took upon our human nature, as He came down from heaven in the Virgin Mary’s womb. What an astounding miracle. God became man in the womb of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
Then for nine months, the Virgin Mary carried the tiny infant, who grew from a fetus unto an unborn child ready to be born. When it was time for Our Lord to be born, the second miracle occurred in the little town of Bethlehem when She gave birth to Jesus. Catholics believe the birth of Jesus was miraculous and not in the ordinary way in which women give birth. Because Mary was not subject to original sin, as a Virgin, She gave birth without any labor pains and in a miraculous manner, without the normal opening of Her womb and so Her virginal integrity was kept. It’s believed Jesus miraculously came forth from Mary’s womb and into Her motherly arms. It was the first time in human history, the face of God could be gazed upon by human eyes. It was the first time God could be physically touched and even held within the arms of His human creatures.
There have been miracles on Christmas in the lives of the saints. For example, St. Francis, St. Clare, St. Faustina and St. Jerome each had a Christmas miracle.
Here is the true story of St. Francis of Assisi: In 1223, Francis made an unusual request to a landowner. He wished to recreate a live Nativity scene of Bethlehem for the townspeople. What better way, Francis felt, to welcome the Christ Child than to actually see, hear, and feel the harsh and poor conditions He was born into. With the permission of the local Bishop, he created an re-enactment of the Nativity of Jesus.
A manger was set up in a cave on the hill, fresh hay was scattered around, and a donkey and ox were brought up to complete the scene. A simple altar was erected beneath it, and he laid a wax figure of the Holy Infant.
Francis, who was a deacon, assisted at the Midnight Mass. When St. Francis was standing near the priest by the altar, at the moment when the bread totally and completely changed into the Body of Christ, as the priest said the words of Jesus at the Last Supper, “This is my body, which will be given up for you”, there in the arms of St. Francis appeared the baby Jesus for all to see. The baby Jesus smiled at Francis and stroked his cheeks that were wet from weeping. Francis sighed deeply and was overcome with joy. From that time on people began to build small nativity scenes to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Just as St. Francis created a nativity scene.
St. Clare started a cloistered religious order of nuns, who would follow the life of St. Francis of Assisi. One Christmas night, Clare was too sick to attend Christmas Midnight Mass. All the other sisters, except Mother Clare when to the chapel to Mass. As Mass began, suddenly in the room of St. Clare there appeared to her the Mass on the wall. She was able to see the Mass, to listen to the sisters sing Christmas hymns and heard the sermon of the priest. After Mass, when the sisters returned to Clare’s room, they wanted to console her, because she was unable to attend Mass, but she confided everything she saw in her room and told them the words from the priest’s sermon. That is why today, she is the patron of television.
Once during Midnight Mass, St. Faustina had a vision of the birth of Jesus and this is what she saw, she said, “When I arrived at Midnight Mass, from the very beginning I steeped myself in deep recollection, during which time I saw the stable of Bethlehem filled with great radiance. The Blessed Virgin, all lost in the deepest of love, was wrapping Jesus in swaddling clothes, but Saint Joseph was still asleep. Only after the Mother of God put Jesus in the manger did the light of God awaken Joseph, who also prayed. But after a while, I was left alone with the Infant Jesus who stretched out His little hands to me, and I understood that I was to take Him in my arms. Jesus pressed His head against my heart and gave me to know, by His profound gaze, how good He found it to be next to my heart.”
In the Monitor Journal this past week, I put an article in the paper about St. Jerome and the Child Jesus. Jerome (327 to 420) lived as a hermit and worked in a cave next to the cave where Jesus was born. He was asked by the Pope to translate the bible from Greek into Latin, the common tongue of the people at that time. It took him more than 40 years.
Then, one Christmas night Jerome was praying in the holy cave. How often he kissed the sacred Crib where the Savior of the world was born for us. But all of a sudden, Oh wonder! Oh love! The night was illuminated with ravishing brightness, it shone like a radiant day. The Divine Child was there, extending His divine arms to His faithful friend. “Jerome,” He said to him, “Oh, see My poverty. To your God who begs, what present will you give? Jerome: “To You, O King of love, my heart, my goods, my life!” Jesus: “That is not enough, give Me more.” Jerome: “All that I have received from your blessed hand, all that with your grace I have been able to do for you, all my works, Lord, my tears, my prayers, my long nights of study, and my days of pain…, everything is yours, Jesus, take it for you alone.” The Divine Child: “No, I want more.” Jerome: “What is it, my tender love, that you are still waiting for? I have given You everything, I have nothing left… Speak, what do You want? Do you want me to pour at the foot of your altar, drop by drop my blood in the golden chalice?” Jesus: “No, My son, if I have left the splendors of My Heaven, it is not that I need the treasures of mortals, but I hunger to pour into souls the gifts of My love, the treasures of My grace. Destroying every obstacle, I want a divine fire to ignite them forever: Give Me your sins so that I may erase them.” Jerome was shocked. "But," he asked, "what would You do with them?" Jesus: "Give Me your sins, in order that I may pardon them all." The generosity which Jerome had shown Christ on His Birthday was more than repaid by the loving rapture he experienced upon hearing those merciful words. Jerome: "O Divine Infant, You make me weep for joy!"
Jerome died in Bethlehem, with his head in the manger where Our Lord was born. His body is now kept in the Church of Saint Mary Major in Rome, where Our Lord’s crib is also kept.
One Christmas Midnight Mass in a rural country parish in the United States, a parish priest elevated the Host after the Consecration, when the bread truly became the body of Christ, suddenly the priest saw the Host disappear and in his hands was the Divine Infant Jesus wrapped in a blanket. The Divine Child turned His face toward the priest and smiled and then turned His face toward heaven, and at that moment, red and white rays came forth from the Child’s chest and went forth up into the sky and to the heavens. It was as though His Divine Mercy illuminated the world. Then just as the vision began, suddenly the Child was gone, and the priest once again had the Host in His hands. Only he saw the vision at Mass and was taken by it all, he began to weep for joy inside his heart.
Today, let us give thanks to God for the gift of the miracle of the miraculous conception of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us give thanks to God for the miraculous birth of Jesus, which kept the Virgin Mary free from pain and virginally intact. As well as all the Christmas miracles of the Child Jesus.
Let us turn to the Virgin Mary and ask our Mother to increase our faith and to acknowledge God’s love for us, which we are able to behold every time we come to Mass when Jesus comes in the Sacred Host to give us His love. Teach us not to forget that the infant Jesus is proof He loves us and the small white Host is truly our infinite, eternal and omnipotent God.
Oh what astounding miracle, greater than all the miracles-when Jesus, through the hands of the priest makes Calvary present on the altar as bread and wine are changed into His body and blood. Is there any greater miracle on earth, than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Jesus Christ truly present in the Sacred Host? Is there is any greater proof that God loves us-- is that He gives Himself to us in Holy Communion?
