To round out our STF Advent Meditation series, Isabella (Marcelino) Teves has written our final Christmas reflection. Bella is newly married to Matt Teves and is currently a 3rd grade English immersion teacher and 3-5 Religion teacher in a dual-language Catholic community school in Baltimore City, Maryland. Bella served in Cohort 10 as a Kindergarten teacher in an ICT classroom and a Kindergarten El Camino catechist at Brilla Paterson, now Paterson Prep, in Paterson, NJ.
Merry Christmas!
In Christmas night’s Gospel, Luke 2:1-14, we read that God willed for the good news of our Savior to first be announced to the burdened, lowly shepherds. God is intentional with whom the joy of Jesus’ birth is brought to first.
I like to believe those tired shepherds are us. The angels proclaim to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord…you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
In your vocation as a fellow, teacher, layperson, religious, or married: you embody Christ the Teacher. Many of us know closely the struggles and labor to nurture younger disciples. Yet, Jesus knows our struggles more intimately because He lived them first. Do not be afraid! There is not a single part of our heart He does not know. He is not far; rather, He is everyone before us. He is our student. He is our coworker. He is our community member. He is our family. He is our spouse. He is within us. Wherever you are this Christmas, He is with you and He knows. His joy is for you.
In Mike Moyers’s painting of the Holy Family, a wooden manger is not present. Instead, the world, you and I, are His manger. We are the poor and lowly home Jesus was born. He is not afraid of our poverty. And what great news! There is nothing between us and the joy that our Savior was born for us.
May you and your family be blessed this Christmas.
May the joy of Jesus Christ overflow from your heart.
