Awakenings

by Father Thomas Keating

Celebrations of Jesus' Presence

Chapter 23

Christmas

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. "
(Luke 2:8-14)

    All kinds of mysteries come spilling out of the Gospel on Christmas, tumbling and cascading down to every level of our consciousness. Let us join the shepherds and try to enter into their experience. Events and images in Scripture symbolize inner experiences. Christmas is, therefore, an important occasion in our personal history. Through it God awakens us to the divine life in us. We are not only human beings; we are divinely human beings. The angels, by word and action, impressed upon the shepherds the meaning of the newborn child. The liturgy tries to do the same by word and sacrament.

    It is important to realize that the Scriptures are based on a cosmology that taught that everything in creation could be reduced to four basic elements-- earth, air, fire, and water. The sacraments of the Church have inherited this cultural mentality. In our collective unconscious these elements are still powerful, and they are always at work in us. What happened in the fields outside Bethlehem was that an angel of the Lord appeared with the brightness of fire. His appearance was frightening at first. But as he spoke to the shepherds and calmed their fear, the light that accompanied him was suddenly magnified thousands of times, and "the glory of God shone around them." The overload of their senses catapulted the shepherds into a dazzling interior illumination. Then, the angel gave them a sign as in the tradition of the great theophanies of the Old Testament: "You will find the infant in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes."

    Suddenly his voice was magnified thousands of times as numberless angels appeared out of the stars, out of the clear night sky, out of the fields, and out of the ground-- all singing, shouting, and glorifying God! This tremendous overload of their senses stunned the shepherds into an inner harmony and integration. They hastened to Bethlehem to see the promised sign. They found the Christ Child lying in a manger. Did they cradle him in their arms and through that touch grasp the presence of the Word within their hearts?

    Elijah on Mount Horeb experienced an overload of his sense perceptions in the form of a raging fire, a whirlwind, and an earthquake. But it was only in the still small voice that he recognized the presence of God. His was one of the peak experiences of the Old Testament. But it was not the fullness of the Gospel. Something more has been given. Now God has become one of us and is breathing our air. In Jesus, God's heart is beating; his eyes are seeing; his hands are touching; his ears are hearing. Through his humanity, the whole material universe has become divine. Now God is in the whirlwind, in the earthquake, and in the raging fire. By becoming a human being, he is in the heart of all creation and in every part of it.

    On the Feast of Epiphany the liturgy celebrates this insight and sings of the waters of the Jordan sanctified by the touch of the body of Jesus. Every drop of water on earth, as a result of that contact, has become matter for the sacrament of baptism. It has become the material element for the transmission of divine life. Similarly, by eating and drinking, Jesus has made food and drink, especially bread and wine, the means of divine transformation.

    The overload from some strong sense experience that speaks of God not only points to him, but in some mysterious way contains him. Now Jesus can say that whatever is done to the least of his little ones is done to him. Every human person, by virtue of the Incarnation, is Christ.

    Everything in creation has been transformed by contact with his humanity. By his breathing, the atmosphere is sacred. By his eating, food is sacred. Now every sense experience conveys the mystery of Christ. "The Word was made flesh"--made a part of creation, made matter--"and dwells among us." Jesus gives himself to us in everything that happens.

This chapter is taken from the book Awakenings by Fr. Thomas Keating. You can obtain a copy from the Bookstore.  See Awakenings