Five of us living here in the house were on a zoom birthday call on Dec. 28th for one of the Sisters. During that conversation, we learned that the baby Jesus was missing from our Christmas nativity scene. Well, we were thrown into lockdown here at the Residence so suddenly, that EVERYTHING was locked in the position it was at the time of our lockdown announcement - 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve! Consequently, no one knew where the baby was, awaiting his appearance to happen later that evening.
On Christmas Eve., after supper, the baby Jesus is usually put in place in a lovely crib ceremony that takes place in the main foyer of the Residence(pictured above). As a last ditch effort to have a “body” in the crib, some creative Sister quickly borrowed a doll from our Care Wing, intending to plop it in the crib. It is quite a large item, way out of proportion to the crib! Your imagination can picture the scene…
On the birthday zoom call, we learned that the person who had put Jesus in a drawer, revealed his whereabouts! He was carefully being stored until the appropriate time for his appearance.
To this moment, I have no idea whether the baby Jesus is in the crib or not, since we are still in our rooms in lockdown for a few more days.
The possible lesson from this crib snatching?
1. The person of Jesus can come to us in all shapes and sizes, if only we have eyes to see.
2. Jesus may seem to be missing, but in reality is present in new ways unimagined before, as is evident in a lockdown. This pandemic has taught the Global family one key lesson: WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. Hopefully we can begin to live in this new awareness..
Baby Jesus, finally in the manger at our Residence, Christmas 2021
3. How many alerts do we need to wake up to the fact that we are called to change in how we see, think and act as a GLOBAL FAMILY?
Sequel to this story? Success! Jesus has been found. How have you found Him during this lockdown?
-Sister Kathleen Lichti