This year at St Teresa's church we have prepared four Nativity scenes, one inside the church, three outside so that our neighbors and passers-by can also receive the message that Jesus has born for them too.
Before the midnight mass, we will have a vigil-procession, with visits to the different Nativity scenes. We will read these meditations of mine, interspersed with the song "O come, o come Emmanuel".
Hong Kong (BC.it) - This year at St Teresa’s church we have prepared four Nativity scenes, one inside the church, three outside so that our neighbors and passers-by can also receive the message that Jesus has born for them too.
Before the midnight mass, we will have a vigil-procession, with visits to the different Nativity scenes. We will read these meditations of mine, interspersed with the song "O come, o come Emmanuel".
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Nativity Scene at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart (photo n.1)
O come, o come Emmanuel
Mary
O Sweet Mary, finally the time has come for the birth of your Son. You waited for him for nine months; your people waited for him for centuries. In you the miracle of God, the giver of life, is renewed, just as it happened for the many women of your people: for Sarah and Abraham, who were waiting for the son of the promise; for Anna, the mother of Samuel; and for Elkanah, who asked for a son to consecrate to the Lord.
But only in you, Blessed Virgin, did God himself become flesh and you have become the Mother of God, the Dwelling of God among us.
You are also the first of the Church to live in poverty: you gave birth to the Child in a stable; you lived for years in the unknown humility of Nazareth.
With your response to the Angel (“Let it be done to me according to your word”), you opened for us the way of obedience to God and service to men.
Sweet Mary, the whole world is waiting to see your Son’s face. May we become more and more like you, and joyfully bring His Life and His Love to every person we meet. Help all young pregnant mothers, so that they may work together with God, who never tires of giving His Life to mankind.
Hail Mary…
O come, o come Emmanuel
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Nativity scene in front of Belfran Road (photo n. 2)
Joseph
Dear Joseph, while the angels and shepherds sing the glory of God in the nativity scene there is no character more silent than you. In the Gospel not a single word of yours is transcribed. Only your dreams are reported and the orders that God gave you to welcome, guard and protect Mary and the Child.
You are the obedient servant par excellence, who at the end of the day says: We are useless servants, we have done no more than our duty. And yet it is precisely in your silence, ready for action, that the Child was saved from Herod's hatred.
Thanks to you, Jesus entered the dynasty of David and claimed the title of king. Thanks to your work, you made him grow and introduced him to the toil of every day – full of results and successes, but also of expectations and bitterness.
Thanks to you, the "son of the carpenter" has joined Himself to our toil and our rest. Now we see more clearly that our work is a collaboration with God the Father, who worked for six days and took rest on the seventh day to contemplate His works.
Like all fathers, you are the image of the Father in heaven. Bless the fathers of all families, that they can help their children to not be discouraged, and to see the light of heaven even in the gray and dark areas of the earth.
Our Father…
O come, o come Emmanuel
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Nativity scene in front of the Coffee Meeting point (photo n. 3)
The Three Wise Men
Dear Three Wise Men, welcome to Bethlehem: you are the first pagans to put themselves at the service of Jesus Christ. No Scripture had prepared you for your encounter with Him.
You were astrologers or astronomers. Looking at the stars, you tried to understand the destiny of men. But one night, among myriads of galaxies, you saw a star brighter than usual and you followed it.
Tradition thinks of you as kings. In reality, beneath your rich clothing and gifts lies hidden a poor and humble heart, which sees our destiny as not dominated by the stars, but by the love of the Mother and the Son, whom you adored.
The tiring journey, the cunning of Herod, your forced clandestine return home, have all not erased the joy of having found the King of the Jews and the King of your life.
Be close to scientists, scholars, and students in the toil of their research, so that they may always find the light of the star of Jesus.
Glory be to the Father…
O come, o come Emmanuel
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Nativity scene in front of the Church main door (photo n. 4)
The Shepherds
Dear Shepherds, yours is perhaps the hardest life: days and nights spent guarding a flock that is not yours. A life spent guiding the sheep, saving them from danger, defending them from thieves and wolves. A life perhaps as an animal, far from the city, from your families, sleeping outdoors in the fields. A life as a slave: always the same every day of the year. But one night, while you were watching over the animals, the light and the singing of angels overwhelmed you and you became the first witnesses of Christmas’ miracle – the heaven that came down and joined the earth.
You were the first to see God become man, or rather a child. From now on there is no need to raise our eyes to the sky to see God from below and feel crushed by His power: God has become flesh and dwells among us.
After seeing the Mother and the Child, you went to tell all the people around the good news. Let us pray for ourselves and for every Christian, so that like you, poor shepherds that were sometimes appreciated, sometimes rejected, we may become witnesses to the fact that only the glory of God in heaven gives peace on earth.
O Come o ye faithful …
(Procession towards the altar, with the Baby Jesus)
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