THE ANGEL ANNOUNCES REDEMPTION
The Lord showed himself to the
entire humanity in Bethlehem, a poor town which had not been prepared for such
a great event. It all happened in a dirty cave, where – according to the Pope –
there were not even the cow and donkey as the tradition recounts.
Up to that time only Mary and
Joseph knew of the arrival of the Messiah and it was for this reason that the
Lord’s Angel, probably Gabriel, who intervened as from the start, wanted to
organize the presence of persons adoring the baby who had just been born. It is
interesting to note that the angel did not announce the Messiah’s arrival in
the taverns where the Holy Family had not been welcomed some time before. It’s
as though this fact disqualifies these people from potentially being among
those to be the first to adore the baby.
The angel therefore appeared to
the shepherds who were in the nearby pastures with their herds. These people
were capable of facing the most ferocious animal to defend their herd but the
celestial appearance of the angels could have terrorized them. They had never
experienced such an event! This was a special night which they were destined to
remember. He told them:
“Do not be afraid, because
behold, I am announcing joyful tidings to all the people.
Today in the town of David,
a Saviour was born who is the
Messiah, the Lord.
And as a sign to all of you:
you will find a baby in a crib."
Suddenly a great multitude of
angels appeared in the sky, singing the Lord’s praises and saying:
"Glory to the God in the
Heavens and peace to all men of good will"
What could the shepherds have
understood by these mysterious words of the angel? They had certainly heard of
the Messiah’s arrival destined to be the Shepherd of the Israeli people. If
they had been told to go to Herod’s palace to look for the Saviour, it would
have been very difficult for them. But if the angels, who had sung so
celestially, invited them to visit a poor cave, what could have been more
natural for those shepherds. They therefore made haste, and found Mary and
Joseph with the baby wrapped up in strips of cloth and cradled in a crib.
Rev. Mons. Piotr Mazurkiewiz, Warsaw-Poland
No comments:
Post a Comment