Bishop Scheuer

Christmas! A celebration (only) for children?

Bishop Manfred Scheuer.

(Bild: Diözese Linz/Wakolbinger)

Christmas is often portrayed as a festival for children, but adults can also gain a lot of strength from the festival. Diocesan Bishop Manfred Scheuer's message on the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ in the stable in Bethlehem.

Children often have something over us adults. They experience the world intuitively. They can linger in the moment and immerse themselves in play. During Advent and Christmas, it is children who lead adults to the manger, who point to Jesus, who awaken in adults a sense of wonder, vitality, trust and faith. Children bring us very close to the events of Christmas, to the birth of Jesus. Quite a few adults feel a longing to experience Christmas as they did as children. Christmas is the festival of children, some say.

The birth of the savior
And indeed, there is a child at the center of Christmas. The birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ, who lies wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger, is announced to the shepherds by the angels (Luke 2:11-12). And what do the shepherds see? They see a newborn child who is brought into the world in wretched circumstances. And yet they do not doubt the special nature of the child. Why not? Perhaps the shepherds felt as many of us do when we see a baby. How gladly we bow down to newborn children! How delighted we are at the miracle of incipient life! Could it be that in these moments we realize how special every life is? That life is fragile and must be protected? That every life has dignity and deserves respect? So we can easily put ourselves in the shepherds' shoes.

The miracle of Christmas
And we can therefore, like the shepherds, understand the miracle of Christmas: just as every person born represents a new beginning, just as every birth of a child brings something new into the world, so with the birth of Jesus, God makes a new beginning in his relationship with us humans. A birth brings new hope into the world. With the birth of Jesus, God encourages us to have faith in the world like a child and to embrace new beginnings. Such beginnings are possible where people are ready for reconciliation. Where they do not only commit each other to the past, but also search together for a new future.

Such beginnings are possible when people learn to see each other with the eyes of God.