Heavenly peripheries

Fr. Livio Tonello, director

The Pauline affirmation “for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9) is well suited to the contemplation of the mystery of the Incarnation. Unconventional and intriguing as an image to recount the extraordinary event that happened 2000 years ago and that we celebrate every year at Christmas. But on closer inspection, it has something scandalous and even irreverent. The Almighty rids himself of everything to come into the world in a stable, between the breath of animals and the straw of a manger. An incomprehensible and illogical mystery for many self-righteous. The story is well known. A pregnant woman wanders in the countryside in search of shelter. A man (possibly a father) who leaves because of a census of foreign occupants. He accompanies his bride as she is about to give birth. Both await custody of a donated child. On the peripheries of the world, as the land of Israel was for the Romans, the event that changed the face of humanity takes place. A story of pilgrims, of poor, humble, and devout people. A simple and disarming scene celebrated in the warmth of the churches…