where to search for the lord

By James F. Colaianni

The Christmas story reminds us once again it was not man’s idea that the Son of God should be born in a stable. And so the first thing we learn from Jesus’ birth is that the Lord will not always be found where we expect to find him.

We tend to look for him in the nice, the clean, the warm. We expect him to be in churches and in the Bible and in hymns of praise and in Christmas cards which have scriptures verses on them… and if these are only places we search for the Lord, then we’re not looking in the stable.

This reality is expressed with dramatic force in these lines from Michael Quoist’s book called ‘Prayer’ :

I am not made of plaster, not of stone, nor of bronze. I am living flesh throbbing, suffering. I am among men (and women) and they have not recognized me. I am poorly paid. I am unemployed. I live in a slu. I am sick. I live in the streets of Georgetown. I am in prison. I am oppressed. I am patronized. I sweat men’s blood on all battlefields. I cry out in the night and die in the solitude of battle. And yet, I said to them, ”Whatever you do to my brothers, however humble, you do to me.” That’s clear. The terrible thing is that they know it but don’t take it seriously.

picture: christmas tree in our parish office (church of our lady of sorrows, penang).