Preparing for the Birth of the Christ Child
John Michael Talbot

Brothers and Sisters,

Peace and Good in Christ!

This Advent is whirling past me, and Christmas draws ever near. Am I am ready?

We started Advent with a wonderful retreat from Fr. Bruno Barnhart OSB Cam. Then it was right out to Nashville for recording the rhythm sections on the next electric project. We came home to the various community activities for this time of year like Christmas caroling, a special monastic family dinner, and then the more earnest Christmas preparations of Late Advent. This all culminates with Midnight Mass and a huge dinner on Christmas Day for community and our dearest friends. On Christmas Day Viola and I drive to Texas for her family Christmas and a family reunion. From there we drive straight to Nashville to mix the new project. Whew! You get the drift. Like many of you, we are very busy this time of year.

But even in the midst of this I have found myself a bit weepy this year, especially while listening to beautiful classical Christmas music. Somehow it stirs something very deep in me both melancholy, and joyful, and filled with a deep inner peace. I have been like this around Christmas from my earliest days, even as far back as five or so years old. What is it that makes me this way?

I believe that it is something archetypical about Christmas, indeed about Jesus himself. The belief that divinity can be found in the midst of our sometimes most fallen humanity, that good really does triumph over evil, dark over light, love over a world torn apart with egoism, self obsession, and even hate. It reminds me that everything can be all right if we just turn to the love of God as revealed in the Christ Child, Jesus.

I believe it is a time of family. This has such significance in today's climate of broken families. How many of our families are not broken? Mine has certainly not been exempt. To see Joseph, Mary, and the little Christ Child in the manger evokes memories and hopes of the warmth a security a good family can bring. I find myself remembering the many wonderful times in my own family; My deceased mother and father, to whom I owe so much in return for their many sacrifices for me; My sister and brother who brought me great companionship as a young child, and who encouraged me as I grew to adulthood. How can I ever repay them? Truth is, I cannot. Only God can.

Yet it is also a time I recognize the great sadness that humanity and each of us personally has brought into this world. This makes me long that the goodness and love of our Christmas celebration could permeate every person and situation of our crying world. Can't love find a place in this world, or is the law of brute power still what decides who wins the day? My God, I certainly hope not, or I have little place in this world of ours. I wait for the perfect love, joy, and peace of heaven.

Personally I have failed in so many things; in my personal faithfulness to my call from God, to my family, community, and to my friends. Yes, despite what I thought to be my best efforts and intentions I have still failed. Things that I once had great optimism about in my youth are now seen under the seemingly harsh light of day in this not so perfect world. Yet this light is not so harsh when seen as a friend that brings to light how human and frail we really are, and how we all need forgiveness and grace. For these and so many other things I can only cry, "Lord have mercy." Because of my faith I am assured that He does.

Christmas even permeates nature for me at this time of year. The sleeping mode of nature under our northern hemisphere weather speaks of a Reality so deep that it remains waiting in a mere moment in time in what for us seems a long time indeed. I certainly need more patience.

The newly fallen snow covers us, stilling the activities and muffling the sounds to remind us that we must take seasonal time for silence and stillness to hear the Word of God, and to see His action in this world. The snow also covers the apparent ugliness that can sometimes appear in creation. Most of this ugliness is brought by the garbage, scars, and tears on creation from the likes of us human beings. The snow reminds me to always cover other peoples' imperfections through patience and forgiveness. It also reminds me that I need God and other people to cover mine through the forgiveness of my sins, even though they "seem as scarlet they shall be whiter than snow." It is the only way for us to live together in peace.

The trees stand as if majestic and silent sentinels over a creation that changes with the seasons. How many humans have the trees in our Hermitage grove seen come and go, how many times have they seen the journey of birth, life, and death in God's creatures? It awes me into an intuition of the eternity and timelessness of God. I say "intuition" because I cannot really grasp it with heart and mind. I can only know these things by the intuition of my spirit. We must learn to be more like the trees.

The little creatures also touch me. The birds scramble for seeds we throw out for them as a sign of the cooperation between humanity and all creation that must exist if we are all to survive on this earth as a species. I also delight in feeding the geese, ducks, and monastery dogs that come to my hermitage door every day! These things al get more important to me as I grow older.

Yet under their apparent delightfulness is a pecking order that can be often cruel. All creation does indeed wait for the revelation of the sons and daughters of God to set it free fro the curse of a fallen order. We are called to reveal the Realities of heaven even while we wait for its full revelation in heaven. This happens most completely in Jesus who is born as the archetypical Son of God in whom we all find that we are also sons and daughters

These are just a few of my own reflections this year. Please take the time in the midst of the hustle and bustle to reflect yourselves on the wonderful birth of Jesus, the Christ Child into our world. Even take a little time to weep. These tears will be most sweet for your soul. It will bring you peace. It will bring you hope. It will bring you joy.

In Jesus,
John Michael Talbot
Founder, Spiritual Father and General Minister
The Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage