Dear Rev. Know it all,

My grandmother used to take us to the Christmas Crib in church and teach us how to pray to the Baby Jesus and ask His blessing.  Now I have a friend who is a member of the First Church of Songs and Wonders Non Denominational Full Gospel Defenders of the Faith Inc. He says that it’s wrong to pray to the Baby Jesus. Jesus isn’t a baby anymore. He is all grown up. Is he correct?

Yours sincerely,

Mr. N. Phanteil

 Dear Mr. Phanteil,

Jesus may be all grown up, but I suspect your friend isn’t. I wonder what he does with the text “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever!” Heb. 13:8. And “Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.” Mark 10:15.  For God, there is no time. It is the same Jesus in the crib of Bethlehem, the carpenter shop of Nazareth, on the Cross of Calvary or in the Upper Room on Easter Sunday. He is eternally the Risen Lord and the baby in Mary’s arms. When we Catholics express our love for the Christ Child we’re expressing profound truths about the very nature of God and of humanity. Is there another religion in human History that believes that God, the maker of all things, the sustainer of the universe is humble and small?  The very sub-text of the Gospel is “Be not afraid.” It is repeated innumerable times in one way or another. God appeared among us first as a baby in order to say in the most graphic way possible, “Be not afraid!” Who can be afraid of an infant in his mother’s arms? God made Himself completely vulnerable in the form of a little child. The All Powerful became powerless, such was His love for humanity! That is what we are saying when we ask for the blessing of the Christ Child. We are asking for the blessing of God who truly loves us and became one of us in all our weakness. In doing so, we confess our weakness and smallness.

We all know that we are called the children of God by adoption, but, in a certain sense, we become the parents of God!!!! As Joseph was asked to be the foster father of God in the form of a helpless child, so too, the very Son of God is placed in our safekeeping. We receive Him in the form of bread placed into sinful hands and we take Him with us wherever we go. We are marked with His holy name and if we live honorable and generous lives, the world will honor and receive Him. If we live corrupt, self-centered lives, He who lives within us endures abuse and shame. We are responsible for the care and keeping of the Holy Name of Jesus, just as surely as Mary and Joseph were responsible for the care and keeping of the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel, the visible image of the invisible God. It is well to have a devotion to the Christ Child as well as to the Crucified Christ and the Risen Christ who will return to judge the living and the dead. All are the same Christ, Jesus of Nazareth and we are answerable to every element of His sacred humanity. Don’t worry for one moment about your devotion to the Christ Child and if your infallible friend troubles you again just tell him, “You can worship God in your way, and I will worship Him in His!”

Sincerely,

Rev. Know it all