The practice in hospitals today is that when a baby is born, the family gathers in the mother’s room to hold it. Until recently, newborn babies were kept isolated from everyone. After they were born and bathed, they were taken from their mothers and put in little bassinets or beds, arranged in rows with the other infants. And most importantly, behind glass.
None of this holding the baby or letting family members touch the infant. Family members who were permitted to visit were obliged to look at the baby through the window and would make all sorts of funny faces and ridiculous gestures to try and attract the attention of the baby. One of the challenges was to be sure that you were trying to attract the attention of the right baby.
So, why am I a talking about visiting babies?
In celebrating the birth of Jesus, we don’t precisely re-enact the birth, but rather re-enact the visits people and even angels made. The Gospels mention the angels singing praises “Glory to God in the highest,” the shepherds silently watching over the Lamb of God and the wise men from the East bringing precious gifts. Most likely there were animals (they were in the area where the animals were kept) and possibly curiosity seekers who wanted to see this baby who was attracting so much attention. And then there might have been people who just wanted to see a new baby.
Today in this church we are making our visit to the Child Jesus. If this newborn baby were only like the billions of other babies who have been born into the world, we would probably be making ridiculous gestures and strange sounds over the baby. But this baby is different: He is God. How do we approach God?
Do we approach the Child God as if we were approaching a fearsome King or Judge with attitude of caution and mistrust. (This is a baby right now, but will become an all-powerful adult who will eventually be ready to punish us for every misdeed.) We are making a visit in a stable, but act as if we were in a courtroom, expecting to be judged. Our attitude is one of guilt and fear, searching for ways to prove to this Child God that we are worthy of his love and mercy. We don’t focus on the baby, but on ourselves—hoping that we make a good impression.
This is the wrong approach. Instead of trying to convince God that we love Him, let’s focus on the love that He has shown for us.
Love then, consists in this: not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and has sent his Son as an offering for our sins (1 John 4:10)
Pope Francis on many occasions has urged us not to approach God as a judge, but rather as one who loves us, who wants to help us.
In our prayer, let’s not waste our time trying to convince God of how good we are, of how we love Him. The Lord knows what is in our hearts. Instead, let us take the words of Deuteronomy to heart: “You must be altogether sincere with the Lord, your God.” (Deut 18:13). This means that letting God know who we really are; This means being able to identify our own feelings and not being afraid to show God when we are tired, afraid, happy, lonely, confident and strong, weak and hesitant. We do this instead of trying to make a good impression. After all, God knows who we are.
The ridiculous gestures we make in front of other babies may be the way to go.
