The first task in preparing a Christmas address is identifying a focus. I have chosen to focus this year on the theme of humility.
The humility of Joseph and Mary and the humble setting of Jesus’ birth are central to the message of Christmas. Joseph and Mary had no great status or wealth in society. When Mary was heavily pregnant with Jesus, she went with her husband to visit his family in Bethlehem. When they arrived they searched for comfortable lodgings. They went from place to place and each time were told there was no room, except for a lowly stable in one of the inns. Without sign of grumble or ungratefulness, Joseph and Mary accepted the stable and shared their lodging with domestic animals. How many of us would accept such accommodation, let alone with grateful hearts?
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The story of Jesus’ birth offers us many different measures of humility. It was not by accident that God chose Mary and Joseph to be the parents of Jesus. It was not by accident that Mary gave birth in a stable. With this story God teaches us that humility starts at home; that the first teachers of humility are parents; and that humility comes from appreciating humble beginnings and the knowledge that we do not need material riches to survive and be happy.
Humility is about a simplicity of heart and a deeply grounded and unselfish sense of goodness. Such values are divinely ordained and essential to life and to understanding and finding vision and redemption.
This year it has been imperative that we focus the world’s attention on doing something real about the negative effects of ‘climate change’ on our small Pacific island nations. Last month I attended a Law, Ethics and Responsibility Symposium held in the Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. I mentioned again Cardinal Maradiaga’s powerful insights into humility, offered to the Vatican’s Conference on Responsibility, Sustainable Humanity and Sustainable Nature, in May this year. They are worth repeating again today. As the Cardinal says:
“I think that we have lost our humility - it is not by chance that the word ‘humility’ should come from the Latin humus, which means ‘earth’ – when we deified ourselves as owners of the planet and turned our backs on our role as God’s stewards on Earth. …An attitude of humility implies simplicity and gratitude. More often than not we are more aware of what we lack than of beauty, friendship, the joy of living and the many other gifts that God has to offer to us. Being wise enough to look upon life and the world around us with gratitude is an incentive for living in a state of joyfulness. …Only through universal unitedness between men, animals, plants and things will we be able to push aside the conceit of our race – which has come to think of itself as the despotic ruler of Creation – and turn it into the elder brother of all of its fellow creatures. The environment cannot be solely a space for either peaceful or violent occupation. It must also be the object of great concern, as it is an extension of man himself, who lives on this planet as our hearts live inside our bodies”.
Today the reality for our kin in Tuvalu and Tokelau and in other small Pacific Island states is that their lands are now becoming part of the sea we all share. The grave injustice of this encroachment falls however, on too many deaf ears. As our Tuvalu kin have said, theirs might be the plight of today, but tomorrow it might also be ours.
The need to humble ourselves is described in the Bible in 2 Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 14. The verse reads: “And if my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land”.
In humbling ourselves and finding our humility we can find redemption and save our lands. Let us not lose heart. Let us pray fervently for hope.
Christmas is a time for hope. It is a time to remember the simplicity of Christ’s birth. In our hope for humility we remember Cardinal Maradiaga’s call “to look upon life and the world around us with both gratitude and joyfulness”.
Let us sing the Christmas hymn and note its words: “Let us sing in joy. Joy in Jesus. Let us proclaim the wonderful news! Behold, the Messiah! It is indeed fitting to be joyful in Jesus!” The foundation of Christmas and of our Christian faith is humility and a never ending hope in God’s goodness and grace.
Merry Christmas.
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