How can Jesus be born in our Hearts this Christmas?

By Mary Kaufman at Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction:

Being prepared for Christmas is much more than buying a tree and gifts! While Our Lord wants us to prepare, to prepare our hearts so the outward tasks of the season will be ways we love others, He wants something more. Jesus wants to be born in our hearts this Christmas, for this is our real human destiny: to be alive with Jesus from within!

Servant of God Luis Martinez (1881-1956), the late Archbishop of Mexico City, and talented spiritual director, breaks open this mystery for us by saying, “We not only remember that night in Bethlehem, but moreover, we recognize that this mystery is truly happening in each well-prepared soul through the grace of the Holy Spirit.”  He seeks not only to be “born in the hearts of saints, but also in imperfect souls; where nothing will hinder Jesus from being born in them as long as they do what they can to purify themselves.” His admonition to us is for our hearts to become mangers for Jesus.

Mangers are in stables or rather little caves, which are usually cold, damp places that most people overlook unless they are shepherds or farmers. Where Jesus was born, Martinez described was “not the Bethlehem depicted on prayer cards, surrounded by doves and angels with everything neatly and artistically arranged. Rather it was a shelter for animals, a very common place. He was born in a very poor, very humble, smelly and dirty place. He, therefore, will not mind being born in our poor hearts.” Like seeds that sprout in the dirt, human life and growth can be messy for it happens down in the earth of our everyday life.

Don’t human relationships and family life show us this? In America, as part of Thanksgiving, maybe you gathered with family. Some members are easier than others to appreciate and celebrate with. Some interactions show us our growth areas rather quickly. Think about sitting around the table eating turkey, for if you are like most, you probably saw in yourself, both strengths and weaknesses. Rejoice, oh highly favored one!

Now, what do mangers and hearts have in common? They both need cleaning up. Mangers need to be empty so they can hold what the animals need. Mangers attract. Animals approach a manger to eat, while a farmer/shepherd does too, to drop the sweet hay and grain there. Our hearts need to be empty of self-preoccupation to become quieted by an awareness of our own shortcomings. We have to smell the native aroma of our hearts so we reach towards heaven for our fullness as we live, which is in God and not ourselves.

While we must try as hard as we can to tidy up, what hope do we have to have hearts clean enough to receive the King of Kings on our own efforts? Martinez encourages us “not to worry for, stables may be tided to a certain point, but they cannot be changed into marble palaces.”

What about our imperfections and even our sins? Doesn’t Jesus turn away from us when he sees them? No! The mind boggling gift for us is that Jesus prefers and is attracted to our miseries, and our human condition. Martinez surprises us when he said that Jesus “never disguised His fondness for the most afflicted, for he ate with sinners and had public sinners fall at His feet to wash them. What He did and liked then, He still does today, for He never changes.”

What changed the rough-hewn manger into a resting place for God was that it was transformed by the freely offered love of Joseph and Mary.  We are to do the same: not be embarrassed by our earthiness, but offer it to Him, as “our widows mite” and trust in His providence to us. The Lord rests serenely in hearts that are filled with the smell of two aromas, even though they may have other dust and dirt: the aromas of prayerfulness and of sacrifice. According to Martinez, “we can fill our hearts with these two scents so that when He comes to the small world of our soul, He may find there the scents that please Him.”

When our weaknesses surface, in our attitudes and human interactions, rather than fear we displease him, we trust that He meets us there, for our lowliness doesn’t separate us from Jesus. Only when we exalt ourselves do we run the risk of separating ourselves from Him. When we are in touch with our faults and offer our ordinary struggles to Him in loving trust, our emptiness meets His fullness, and we are moved to adoration and awe.

This Advent, take to heart the words of Martinez, who exhorts us “to embalm our hearts with the aroma of honest prayer and holy sacrifice.” In this way, too, we become able to love other people in our lives who are in the process of becoming. We can prepare well for Christmas, then, not by striving to be perfect, which would only draw us to trust more in ourselves, but by learning to reveal ourselves daily to Jesus, and rest in times of quiet prayer, so He may fill us and move us with the sweet cooing of His heart in ours.