Abp. Salvatore Cordileone: Lessons Learned from Contemplating the Nativity Scene

There are many fond memories and cherished, time-honored traditions, rituals and symbols that mark this time of the year — the symbols of the Christmas tree, the ritual of decorating it, the Christmas wreath, stockings by the fireplace, and the wrapping of presents placed under the tree. These traditions make this a very enchanted time of the year. But most of all, the Christmas crèche remains the most cherished and distinctive symbol of Christmas.

Humanity: Presence in Time

The story is well known. St. Francis was inspired, it is believed, by his pilgrimage to the Holy Land to depict the scene of Christ’s birth in a literal way. As his first biographer, Brother Thomas of Celano, explains it, St. Francis desired to “represent the birth of that child in Bethlehem in such a way that with our bodily eyes we may see what he suffered for lack of the necessities of a newborn babe and how he lay in [a] manger between the ox and ass.” ….