I love our Christmas Crèche. It is composed of the requisite wise men, baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepherds and three very skinny sheep. Who knows if sheep were actually present at our Saviour's birth, most likely the shepherds abandoned their flock bawling on the hills in their haste to heed the angels' command (presumably an angelic visitation would wipe everything from one's mind!). But let’s say a few of the most faithful or frightened of the flock did tag along to the stable, there joining the other animals not represented in our particular crèche – the cattle lowing for instance. Isn’t it fitting that when the Creator chose to bodily inhabit his creation, his first creaturely breaths were taken not just amoungst his fellow home sapiens, but in the company of animals as well? Isn’t this a picture of God’s humility and a sign of hope rooted in God’s solidarity with all that He has made?
St. Francis is believed to have been the first to bring animals into the church, arranging them around a manger for the Christmas mass. “See,” he said, “your God has come amoung you not as a king among his subjects, but as a baby amoung his fellow creatures.”
Behold, Emmanuel -- God with us, all of us.
