The Meaning of the Nativity Scene

Welcome to the Saint John the Baptist Catholic Parish podcast from Fort Lauderdale. Be sure to spread the word about our podcast and follow us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. That way, you'll be notified every time we release a new episode. Welcome to episode 22 of the Saint John the Baptist Parish podcast. Welcome to Advent.

Welcome to the new year, at least when it comes to Catholics. Our liturgical year has started, so Happy New Year, and welcome to December. There's a lot of stuff going on at the parish this time of year. First of all, before we get into this and that, the different events and things going on, the most important thing is the meaning of Advent. And we have a way for you to discover the joy and the meaning of Advent with our formed, which is a program through our website.

You can go log on, create a free account. It's a great way to educate yourself, not just about Advent, but in many aspects of the Catholic faith. So we're very busy this time of year. You know, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there's a lot of shopping and parties and decorating. But as Catholics, we're called to enter into this season with anticipation and also intentional reflection.

That sometimes means it does mean quieting our mind, having some quiet time, and reflecting on Advent and the season that's coming, Christmas. Again, go to our website. You can discover the joy and the meaning of Advent with formed, and you can create a free account, if you haven't already done so, through our website. Now we're talking about one of the things we do in the month of December is we decorate. Right?

And you gotta have a Saint John the Baptist Christmas ornament for your tree. Our new 2025 ornament has arrived. It features a beautiful image from our church's stained glass windows. They're $15 each, but if you buy three, you get a discount. You get three for 40.

So think about buying one for yourself. And maybe you have more than one tree, but if not, you can buy one for yourself and give it as gifts to other people because it's a beautiful image of a dove, of course, which represents the Holy Spirit. That's this year's ornament. You can purchase those in the parish office or the church gift counter. Well, we'd like you to participate in our annual toy drive, and we're asking you to bring unwrapped toys to the church.

Drop off donations this Saturday and Sunday. That is gonna be December, and it's an all day drop off between 8AM and 5PM. This benefits local charities and, of course, children. Cardinal Gibbons is going to be presenting The World Sings Gloria, a wonderful evening of beautiful music, Thursday, December 11. So it's not this Thursday, but it's a week from Thursday, 6PM here at the church.

And our Women's Guild is having an annual holiday fundraiser. If you check our bulletin, there is an ad, and it has a link that you can click that and do a little shopping to help with your holiday fundraiser. The last day to order is December 15. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. These words are from the famous prayer called the Angelus.

And it includes, of course, the greeting that the angel Gabriel gave to Mary, the Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. And the Angelus includes her response, Be it done unto me according to your word. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. In this season of Advent, we are preparing for the coming of Christ. We're preparing in multiple ways.

Advent, like Lent, is a season of preparation. The two great feasts on the liturgical year are, of course, Christmas and Easter, and each is preceded by a season of preparation. We're entering now into the first one, Advent. And while I know it's the Christmas season at Neiman Marcus and Macy's and all the department stores, In the Christian world, it's not yet Christmas. In the Christian world, it's Advent.

We're waiting in silence for the coming of the King. Now in the year 2025, there really isn't a lot of silence in the world. Colonel Robert Saurer wrote about this a few years ago with a great book called Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise. And the great thing about Advent is when we look at the nativity scene, the creche, it actually invites us to silence. After all, what can you say when you gaze upon this beautiful scene?

One glance teaches us the incarnation, poverty, and adoration. In the modern world, the nativity scene is is almost an act of rebellion, in that it counteracts the rampant consumerism that's going on this time of year. It's counteracting and stands in opposition to the noise of the modern Christmas. It pulls us back to a quieter time. It offers evangelization, even though the nativity scene is silent.

Our world has forgotten how to contemplate the great mysteries. But every year, all over the world, people put up the creche, the Christian nativity scene, as a silent evangelical witness. It really is a sign of contradiction in the modern world, much of which is declared God is dead and there is no objective truth. Do whatever you want. The Christian nativity scene is a proclamation of the truth.

Now, the first nativity scene that we are aware of in history comes along over a thousand years after the birth of Jesus, in Greccio, Italy. And someone very famous started it all, Saint Francis of Assisi. He's the one who created the first creche. He wanted people to see with bodily eyes what the infant Jesus experienced when he came into the world. No place to lay his head.

Out in the cold. And you probably know the story. He brought in a a live ox and a donkey, and he brought some hay. And he set this scene, and they celebrated mass. He wanted to recreate Bethlehem, and the pope at the time gave a blessing of what he did.

Now you have to remember the early 12 hundreds. The year was 12/23. This is the thirteenth century. This is two centuries before the printing press. What does that mean?

Well, most people were illiterate. And before the printing press, most Catholics learned scripture through imagery. So you might even call the first nativity scene as a poor man's Bible for the illiterate. He was actually using imagery to proclaim Jesus Christ. Saint Francis himself called this a sermon without words.

Pope Francis, in 2019, wrote a beautiful apostolic letter on the meaning of the nativity. And if you've never read that, you should really look it up, Google it. He talks about the fact that the great nativity scene, whether it's a large one or a small one, whether it's on public property or on your desk at work or in a little table in your living room. The nativity scene disposes our hearts to contemplate the mystery of the incarnation, and it preaches what they call the four great advents of Christ. There is the advent that is reflected in the nativity scene itself, his coming in Bethlehem two thousand years ago.

That's the historical coming of Christ. But it also invites us to reflect on his coming in our hearts, in the hearts of the faithful. That's what this Advent season is about, is to invite him in again. Of course, Jesus comes every day in the Eucharist, and the mystery of the Mass. The Catholic philosopher, Doctor.

Peter Kreef, calls every Mass another incarnation, a mini incarnation. Jesus literally comes down from heaven. That's what the Catholic Church teaches. The real presence that he is present body, blood, soul, and divinity. And then the fourth great advent of Christ is, of course, in glory at the end of time, the eschatological coming of Christ.

And the creche teaches all four at once. The past, the present in the Eucharist, the personal in our hearts, and reminding us that history is moving towards his return. We're going to meet him. Now I want you to close your eyes and visualize the nativity scene. Or perhaps there's a great piece of artwork from history that captures the nativity of Jesus.

But whether you close your eyes and imagine it or whether you pull out your phone and and look up one of these great historical pieces of artwork, I want you to see all of the people that are in the nativity scene. First of all, at the center, Jesus, the eternal word made flesh, not a symbolic baby, a real baby, true god and true man, what what the church calls the hypostatic union. In centuries after, the birth of Christ, there would be divisions about that. And the reason we say the Nicene Creed every Sunday at mass in the Catholic church is because the Great Council of Nicaea resolved that once and for all. That, yes, Jesus was consubstantial with the father.

God from God. Light from Light. True God from true God. When we look at the nativity scene, and we think about that that is literally God incarnate, there's a paradox. Because we know that through him all things were made.

Again, taught in scripture, taught in the Nicene Creed. He holds everything together. We're talking about planets and stars and galaxies. And yet, he's lying helpless in this little crib. Another paradox to ponder when you look at the nativity scene is is a verse that comes from us in Philippians.

Philippians two verse seven, that he emptied himself. What does that mean? He left eternity and stepped into time. The omnipotent god became a weak human being. He, of course, was a king, but he was born in poverty.

In this scene, we ponder in the moments after the birth of Christ, there's no throne for this king. Again, this is a a cave he's born in. The only throne he has is his mother's arms, the loving protection of the holy family. Well, there's another group of people that are is portrayed in the classic nativity scene. That's the shepherds.

They were living out in the field nearby where Jesus was born. They were keeping watch over their flocks. You know the story. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, as we read in Luke. The angel says to them, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in clothes, lying in a manger. And again, you have to picture the shepherds in this dark field.

This angel appears. And of course, the angel says says what what they almost always have to say when they appear to people. Don't be afraid. Because the angel, this powerful heavenly being, often would strike fear into people. Well, after the angel gives this great news, then all of a sudden there's a host of angels that appear to them.

Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth. Peace to those on whom his favor rests. The angels disappear, and the shepherds say, let's go to Bethlehem. They wanna see. The Magi are traveling from the East, from a very far distance.

The shepherds, they're close by. They move towards Bethlehem. Now always very close to the baby Jesus in the nativity scene is, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first tabernacle of the living God. The church considers Mary the new Eve, just like Jesus is the new Adam. Sometimes this confuses people who aren't Catholic.

Right? Because they look back and they say, well, Adam and Eve, they were married. Right? Well, how could Jesus be the new Adam and Mary, his mother, be the new Eve? Well, it really goes back to the Davidic Kingdom in the Old Testament, where the mother of the king had the title of queen.

And when we contemplate the nativity and we look at the blessed virgin Mary, we should always remember that she undid what Eve did. Mary undid disobedience with her fiat, with her obedience. Of course, all the figures in the nativity scene will be look at a nativity scene, they're all silent. Right? Nobody's talking.

But, when we look at Mary, we might think of some words from scripture that are especially meaningful. She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. Mary teaches us how to gaze on Jesus and be silent. Then there's the great Saint Joseph, patron of the universal church, a man we never hear speak in the Bible, a silent guardian, just a simple carpenter. But he's the legal father of Jesus.

He provides that Davidic lineage. He's a strong, gentle protector. Scripture records that Joseph had three different dreams and perfect obedience. The first was to take Mary as his wife, informing him that she would be the mother of Jesus, not to put her away as he was planning to. The second dream, go to Egypt.

Leave immediately. Herod wants to kill the child. And the third dream, Herod's dead. Now he can return home. Joseph is a model for us of discernment and immediately responding to the will of God.

We see Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, as we talked about in this nativity scene, the holy family, the icon of the domestic church, the family, it literally is the foundation of our civilization. Every Catholic home is called to imitate Nazareth. Called to imitate the Holy Family. Now, we talked about the Adoration of the Shepherds a few moments ago, or when the angels came, and and they make this proclamation to the shepherds in the field, and the shepherds move towards Bethlehem. When we contemplate the mystery of the nativity, we can remember because often you'll see in these nativity scenes, you'll see some angels as well.

Right? It's a good reminder that Heaven is always watching. Not just back then, not just them, but me and you every minute of the day, in secret, in public, what we say that other people hear, what we think that no one hears. Heaven is watching. It's a reminder for us to always be in the friendships of God.

In some ways, you might picture the entire hierarchy of the angels. Right? We have Gabriel announcing to Mary that Jesus is gonna be coming. It starts the whole thing. Right?

It starts the whole process. Michael, Saint Michael, defend us in battle, seen as God's warrior angel, helps protect the child who will crush Satan. And all those angels singing glory to God in the highest, remember that angels are present at every mass. It's not just the people you see. It is a meeting between heaven and earth.

It's tradition that the animals actually helped keep the infant Jesus warm. There's a verse in the Old Testament. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib. Animals are recognizing what Israel did not or would not. Now imagine when those shepherds arrived at the creche.

God chose the lowly to announce to that Jesus had been born. They're the first witnesses outside the family. Because remember, when we look at the nativity scene, of course, we see everybody there, including the Magi, but they're they don't arrive the night of his birth. Some people some theologians believe it could have been a year later or or even longer. They came from far away.

The shepherds, on the other hand, were were close by, maybe a mile or two. Who know who knows how far? But when the angels appear in the heavens and begin singing glory to God in the highest, they get up and they go. They could have arrived an hour, two hours, three hours, pretty soon after the birth of Jesus. They are the first pilgrims.

The first Christian pilgrims are the shepherds that you see in the manger scene. And they went with haste, like Mary went with haste to visit Elizabeth. Again, it's another example to us that when grace comes, we need to respond and go. Something you might not have thought about is that the shepherds, when they come to adore Jesus, and then they will go and tell others what they've seen, it's almost a prefigurement of a priest. Most priestly vocations actually begin through adoration, through quiet contemplation of Jesus.

Now when the Magi finally do arrive, their gifts tell us who Jesus is. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold for the king, frankincense for the divine priest, and myrrh for the suffering servant. Now all of this takes place in Bethlehem. And that's what Saint Francis was trying to do when he created his first crush, to recreate Bethlehem.

You know that the name Bethlehem, the translation, Bethlehem means house of bread. The name of where Jesus is born foreshadows the Eucharist. House of bread. Jesus was laid in a feeding trough. Very symbolic.

Now the nativity scene is very beautiful, and we always see Jesus sort of the baby Jesus sort of under a a little structure, right, like a stable. And the the sort of the modern wood barn, that that's really an imagery that came later in Western art. You know, it's really a cave where Jesus is born. Right? Justin Martyr believed this in the second century, that Jesus was born in a cave.

The church of the nativity in Israel is built over a cave. Born in a cave, Buried in a cave. Risen from a cave. Something else when you see Jesus laying in that little feeding trough, you know, it looks like a crib. There was a feeding trough when you look at a manger scene.

He's laid in wood, foreshadowing the wood of the cross. We know from the story that they're in this cave because there was no room at the inn. The world rejects its savior from the very beginning, before he arrives. And it's really a metaphor for the human heart. We often have no space for Jesus.

Not because, you know, we have some sort of opposition to him per se, at least consciously, but we're busy. We have our own priorities. We wanna do this. We wanna do that. And if we have time to go to church, maybe we'll do it.

Maybe we won't. No room at the inn. Think of your own heart as the inn in Bethlehem. Will you make room? In the modern world today, there's no room for Jesus.

That's why we have secularism, indifference, abortion, relativism, all the evils of the world, war. But Jesus is still knocking. Just like Joseph and Mary were knocking on the door in the moments before she would give birth. When we ponder the nativity scene that Saint Francis gave us, as we've talked about, there's this theological mystery of the incarnation. We talk about this fact that God became man, that he's helpless, but he also didn't cease being God.

How is that possible? It's really like a lot of things in the Christian faith. The mystery of the trinity, the mystery of the Eucharist, how is it possible that that becomes the body and blood of Christ? There's some things we accept on faith because God has told us. The church has declared it.

And we know it's true because it's written on our heart. The incarnation of Jesus is the greatest miracle after the creation of the world. The most powerful being in all of time and space actually became vulnerable. That's why the angel came to Joseph in a dream soon after the birth and says, go. Somebody wants to kill the child, Herod.

What does that mean? That means he could have. It was possible. And therefore, the angel impressed upon Joseph to go to Egypt. There are so many lessons in the nativity scene.

The humility of God. It says in the book of second Corinthians that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty, you might become rich. God chooses poverty to enrich us. The nativity teaches us that true greatness is in service. It's a total paradox to how humans understand power.

Herod understood. He was in the palace, but he was afraid of a little baby. You might think of the poverty of Christ in the nativity scene that Saint Francis gave us as the first beatitude. Jesus is voluntarily chosen to come down from heaven to voluntarily enter into poverty. Every year before the great feast of Easter, of course, we have the Triduum.

And on Good Friday, we read the passion of Jesus. But the passion begins in Bethlehem, as we referenced earlier. The wood of the manger prefigures the wood of the cross. The swaddling clothes prefigure the burial cloths of Christ. Now there are some symbols in the creche that we ponder that we should think a little bit about.

There's usually a star over the wooden, you know, the the wooden structure. Again, this is a modern Western artistic depiction, but the star that's on the top of the the wooden structure, the little barn, is a reminder to us that the light of Christ leads us through darkness. It foreshadows the spirit, the Holy Spirit guiding the church. Right? Remember, the star guided the Magi towards the truth.

Jesus is the truth. Now the savior had a hard bed. Right? He had to be placed in a feeding trough with straw. Saint Francis actually insisted on real hay.

This poverty in the middle ages and and before, people would would wear straw shirts. Remember? It's as a form of penance to suffer a little bit like Jesus did. Now let's talk about, as Catholics in the modern world, what the creche can mean should mean to us. A lot of Catholics put the nativity scene in their home, an essential place of honor.

You don't set it up in a little corner room. You set it up in a place where people will see it. Now, of course, many people have a a one that's lighted that's out front, so the neighbors see it. The people that drive by see it. This is evangelization.

This is proclaiming Jesus Christ. And for families with children, gathering the family around the nativity scene every night during Advent to pray is a great way to pass on the faith. Yes, parents, you are the first teachers of the faith. You are the first catechists. You are the first evangelist in the life of your child.

Not the church, not the priest, not the bishop, not the pope. Parents are the first catechists. And by taking the time to put a nativity scene somewhere in your house, you're passing on the faith. Let's say you're not a parent. Same thing applies.

People will come over. People will see it. Maybe at your workplace, you can have a little tiny nativity scene. Now in the letter that Pope Francis wrote in 2019 about the meaning of the nativity, I I want to read a little part to you. He said, standing before the Christmas creche, we are reminded of the time when we were children, eagerly waiting to set it up.

These memories make us all the more conscious of the precious gift received from us from those who pass on the faith to us. At the same time, they remind us of our duty to share this same experience with our children and grandchildren. Does not matter how the nativity scene is arranged. It can be the same or it can change from year to year. What matters is that it speaks to our lives, wherever it is, whatever form it takes.

The Christmas creche speaks to us of the love of God. The God who became a child in order to make us know how close he is to every man, woman, and child, regardless of their condition. Dear brothers and sisters, the Christmas creche is part of the precious yet demanding process of passing on the faith. Beginning in childhood and at every stage of our lives, it teaches us to contemplate Jesus, to experience god's love for us, to feel and believe that god is with us, and that we are with him, his children. Thanks to that child who is the son of god and the son of the Virgin Mary.

And to realize that in that knowledge, we find true happiness. Like Saint Francis, may we open our hearts to this simple grace, so that from our wonderment, a humble prayer may arise. A prayer of thanksgiving to God who wish to share with us his all, and thus never to leave us alone. Thanks for listening to the Saint John the Baptist Catholic Parish podcast from Fort Lauderdale. Be sure to follow our show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and that way you'll be notified every time we release a new episode.

This has been a production of the Parish Podcast Project.