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Mother Teresa (known today as Blessed Teresa of Kolkata) told the following story: "Once, I picked up a child and took him to our Children's Home, gave him a bath, clean clothes, everything - but after a day, the child ran away. He was found again by somebody else but, again, he ran away.

"Then I said to the sisters, 'Please follow that child. One of you stay with him and see where he goes when he runs away.' And the child ran away the third time. There under a tree was the mother. She had put two stones under a small earthenware vessel and was cooking something that she had picked up from the dustbins.

"The sister asked the child, 'Why did you run away from the home?' And the child said: 'But this is my home, because this is where my mother is.'"

In reflecting on the mystery of our Lord's birth, I am reminded of the lovely and deeply affecting words recorded in St. Luke's Gospel: "She [Mary] was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her baby to be born, and she gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them to lodge in the house" (Luke 2:6-7).

Our blessed Lord's first earthly home was little more than a cave, a most unsuitable place for the birth of a child. But, as Mother Teresa clearly notes in her anecdote, "Home is where the mother is." A mother brings life and joy to even the darkest places, making them far more attractive than one can reasonably imagine.

In truth, should any of us wonder that the birth of Christ is one of the joyful mysteries of the Rosary? After all, Christ's story makes little sense apart from the presence of His saintly mother. Can we not appreciate why so many of the world's greatest artists represented Mary and her divine child on canvas? The image of a mother and child never ceases to touch the hearts of the faithful and even capture the imagination of those without the gift of faith.

Celebrating the Christmas feast is a sacred and long-standing tradition. For Catholics, the home is a domestic church, a place where the extended family breaks bread. It is the mystery of Bethlehem (which means "the house of bread") in our midst. It is my hope that you and all your loved ones experience the joy of Christmas in the home where so many warm memories are born and cherished.

(Father Yanas is pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Troy.)[[In-content Ad]]

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