Luke,
Chapter 2, verse 9:
9 The angel of the
Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they
were struck with great fear.
In this verse the “them” were shepherds. The angels
appeared and filled lowly shepherds with holy fear. Shepherds were the gypsy’s of their
time. They were in the same social class
as dung sweepers and tax collectors.
As you open your “presents” today remember these scum
bag shepherds needed to be in His “presence”.
To do that was not an easy task; they had to move with all of their
sheep to the place of the Kings birth.
Can you imagine the scene with hundreds perhaps millions of sheep, bleating
as they go and eating everything along the way.
It took great courage to do this to bring unlawfully out of the desert
these sheep and to honor the King. Imagine
their surprise to see the messiah, the king of kings, in a nasty cave used to
stable animals, lying in a manger. (A
manger is basically a feed troth for animals.)
The shepherds still worship Him today through their
decedents who now make up the 1 percent of Christians in the Holy Land. Their faith has lasted down through the
ages. In 2006 my wife and I visited a
small Catholic community in Bethlehem which is in Palestinian held territory. We were told the faith was passed down from
father to son in face of many hardships. They endured 600 years with no priests
and Muslim oppression. They are
oppressed to this day yet they endure.
While in Bethlehem, I was able to touch the spot where
Christ was born and while in Jerusalem I was able to touch the spots where
Christ was crucified and rose into heaven.
To have done this I thought was a very special experience but then the
Lord touched my heart and whispered these are just the spots I touched come
into my presence at Mass, receive my body, become a new creation in union with
us (the trinity) physically, mentally, spiritually and communally.
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