Skip to main content

800th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST NATIVITY SCENE

When I was asked to write a reflection on Saint Francis and given the liberty to pick any Franciscan theme, my thoughts went immediately to Greccio and the story of the first Live Nativity Scene.

Saint Francis was first inspired by the idea of a live Nativity scene after visiting the historical place of Christ’s birth on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land – the humble stable in a Bethlehem cave.

Saint Francis stopped at Greccio (1223) because he wanted to contemplate the realness of the Incarnation, namely the simplicity, poverty and humility of the Son of God “who gave Himself for us with supreme and indescribable love” (I Celano)

Thus, the custom of having a Nativity Set in every home became a reality. I am certain that most families carry on this tradition today and this display in many cases has been handed down from generation to generation. Whether the display is most ornate, elaborate or very plain, the message that it brings is the Love of God giving us His Only begotten Son to redeem our world.

As Franciscans it is our mission to spread that message of love and redemption to everyone we meet. So this year as we celebrate the Eight Hundredth anniversary of the First Nativity Scene, let us make known to all the Love that Francis first showed us in 1223.

Brother David Anthony Migliorino, OSF, ‘73
Principal: Saint Anthony’s High School
South Huntington, New York


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

THE MANGER & THE MONSTRANCE: WHAT ST. FRANCIS’ MANGER SCENE CAN TEACH US ABOUT THE BREAD OF LIFE IN THE YEAR OF EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL

The manger scene evokes our memories of Christmas: sharing delicious holiday dishes with family members, sitting around a Christmas tree with hot cocoa, or roasting chestnuts on an open fire. However, on this night, St. Francis did not partake in the feasting typical at Christmastime in the Middle Ages. Instead, he desired to “…enact the memory of that babe who was born in Bethlehem: to see as much as is possible with [his] own bodily eyes the discomfort of [Christ’s] infant needs, how he lay in a manger, and how, with an ox and ass standing by, he rested on hay”. Thus, the manger scene was born. On Christmas Eve in 1223, St. Francis of Assisi had the first live manger scene created in the town of Greccio. He gathered the townspeople from near and far to celebrate Mass and recall the origins of Christ’s humble birth.   Francis saw Our Lord’s birth as fundamental. His Birth is intimately tied to His Death. The two bookends of Christ’s Life on earth form the basis of Francis’ spiritu...

SELF-AWARENESS, SELF-ACTUALIZATION

On his deathbed, St. Francis freed his Brothers by saying, “I have done what was mine to do, may Christ now teach you what you are to do.”  Why did he say this? So that his Brothers would not try to become him.  God created each of Francis’ Brothers to be who they were, not who St. Francis was.  The key for them finding out what was theirs to do was discovering whom God intended them to be.  Now, 800 years later, self-awareness for our students is just - if not - more important.   A Franciscan view of career suggests each of our students needs to know who they are so that they can see the Good inside themselves, and share that Good to maximize their contribution to transform a world desperately in need of their Good. Sadly, for most college students, self-awareness is in short supply.   On my radio show Thank God For Monday, guests advise that today’s college graduates are not self-aware.   Sure, they know accounting and biology and information tec...

The Beauty of Storytelling in Revealing God’s Presence in Humanity: A Franciscan Reflection

“What Francis wanted to recapture and live was what the earliest companions of Christ had experienced: the presence of God coming alive in the human community. He wanted that to be the universal way.” Ahlgren, Gillian. The Tenderness of God: Reclaiming Our Humanity . Fortress Press, 2017, 57. One of the great joys I have in working with graduate students and serving as a certified spiritual director is to hear the stories of students and directees. Oftentimes, these stories continue to be told more than once but not always in the same exact way. For me, one’s sharing of their experiences, acquired wisdom, yearnings and struggles gathered along life’s journey, reveals the presence of God. Like what is stated in the quote above, Francis discovered God to be fully present in our relationships with others and creation. His sending out of his followers two by two or in groups, traveling to various parts of the countryside and then coming back together to community must have led to the...