Preparing the Manger

Mangers, barns and stables are fascinating places where every dimension of life and death are played out, children find them exciting places of discovery and wonderful places to play but for farmers they are places of hard work, anxiety and struggle.  Within such buildings the new lamb is born and sick sheep are cared for, animals are sheltered and the harvest is stored, grain is stacked and eggs are collected.

But mangers and barns and stables are also filled with the grit and the stench that are part of life; they are among the messiest and dirtiest of places, where old, tired and useless things are put aside.

And yet, at the first Christmas, God transforms a cave, used a manger in a small town, into the holiest of shrines, the most sacred of places.

In so many ways, our lives are mangers or stables, filled with every joy and pain and tension necessary to grow, to heal and to mend, to fulfill our dreams and hopes.  Jesus was born in a Bethlehem manger bringing light and life into the mangers that are each one of us.  In Jesus’ birth every human heart becomes a sacred place where God is born again and again and again.

Make a place for the Child of Bethlehem in the Bethlehem of your own heart in this Christmas season and throughout the New Year.

A blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Brother Daniel Casey, FSC
Vice Chancellor