As I watched, I was struck by the universality of the human need for faith, hope and love, however it may be understood or experienced. 

How these words have influenced the history of the world: And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7) 

After the primordial event, the first recorded manger or Christmas scene was that of St Francis of Assisi, in the year 1223. 

An early biographer (St Bonaventure) recorded the memory: “The brethren were summoned, the people ran together, the forest resounded with their voices and that venerable night was made glorious by many and brilliant lights and sonorous psalms of praise.

“The man of God (Francis) stood before the manger, full of devotion and piety, bathed in tears and radiant with joy; the holy gospel was chanted by Francis, the Levite of Christ. Then he preached to the people around the nativity of the poor king; and being unable to utter his name for the tenderness of his love, he called him the babe of Bethlehem.”

As a result of violence, Bethlehem will not experience a joyful Christmas this year.

Around the world, millions of innocent human beings, due to human selfishness and violence, are forgotten, marginalised or discarded.

This Christmas we remember and re-present the one who is both word and light come into the world.

In the drama of Bethlehem, the one who is to give birth gives birth to a son. He makes all things new. 

All flesh is silenced before the splendour of the bridegroom. The bride responds with love in return for love. Infinite love personally encounters human misery and becomes mercy. Mercy is enfleshed, while the flesh is transfigured, surrendered and transformed. 

Around: the darkness of hostility. Within (where life is received as gift): joy, peace, mercy – the fruits of love - radiantly break through the darkness. The child makes all things new. 

This Christmas is our opportunity for change and renewal – will I turn a blind eye to violence and despair or worse, participate in it, or will I, starting from within, resolve in the New Year to embody the light, the peace, the love?

In a world where many are depersonalised, defenceless, homeless, voiceless, the Christ-child offers hope of transformation – not by power but by love; not by a dehumanised, totalitarian bureaucracy but by the reign of the one who alone can be a profoundly personal, saving peace in our hearts.

The old violence has resurged. It doesn’t need to be this way. 

By being more present to the next person as an individual, regardless of race, religion, language or colour, rather than being caught up a depersonalised, revolutionary technocracy, each of us can embody the Good News of non-violence. 

Hostility can be resolved. The child of Bethlehem has shown the way. 

Real peace is enfleshed. It is not abstract. It is deeply personal.

It necessitates becoming smaller - like the child. It starts with me, as an individual. 

A structure cannot undergo conversion but I can hope to change myself. 

There is a way and the truth is – it is a way of life and love – enfleshed, embodied.

In the words of Francis I can become an instrument of peace: 

“Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. 

“(May I) not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.

“For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.”

May you make the peace of Christmas yours, and others – abundantly.