For the past five years, I have kept a Nativity set up for prayer. I have started adding small little things to this set over the years. There is a Lego figurine adoring our Lord. It is a simple thing, but it was given to me as a gift for celebrating a wedding with a couple. A photograph of my niece stands next to the display, reminding me of the time my niece asked me how I knew Jesus. I have a couple other odds and ends that get put up in this scene.
When people see my additions to the set, they naturally think I am a bit odd. For years, I have relished in that oddness, because the Nativity stands as one of my favorite prayer encounters. When prayer is dry, when I need to take some time to remember some significant moments in my life, I turn to my Nativity set. A simple gesture that helps me to pray.
On December 1, 2019 Pope Francis issued the Apostolic Letter Admirabile signum. This letter addresses the importance of the Nativity scene in the Christian Tradition. He speaks of the history and spiritual significance of this venerable tradition. He makes one point in this wonderful letter that helps me to feel a little less odd about my adding of pieces to the Nativity. Pope Francis writes: “Children – but adults too! – often love to add to the nativity scene other figures that have no apparent connection with the Gospel accounts. Yet, each in its own way, these fanciful additions show that in the new world inaugurated by Jesus there is room for whatever is truly human and for all God’s creatures. From the shepherd to the blacksmith, from the baker to the musicians, from the women carrying jugs of water to the children at play: all this speaks of the everyday holiness, the joy of doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way, born whenever Jesus shares his divine life with us.”
During the Christmas Season, it is important for us to hold on to those Catholic traditions that are meant to assist us in our prayer. Maybe it is time for us to reconsider some of the simple, yet beautiful traditions that we do each year. If you were to add another figure into your Nativity set, what would it be?
