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Darlings, here we are in the heart of Nativity Season, and this question once again comes to the fore!!!!!!!! When I was small, we had a tiny, plastic Nativity scene, with sparkled sequins, meant, I guess, to replicate snow. An angel hung over the center, and the Baby Jesus was already in place. This would always rest on the right side of the top of our television, in the living room!!!!!!!!!!!
When we would visit my aunt and grandparents, in North Brunswick, before December 25, there would be a small, green, artificial tree, prettily decorated, with cotton, again replicating snow, around the base. In the center would be placed some Nativity figures--but the manger would be empty, because, in this house, the Baby Jesus was not put out till after my aunt and grandparents got home from attending Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So many of us see so many Nativities during this time; they are, for all intents and purposes, inescapable. And yet, some have the Baby Jesus in them, and some don't!!!!! Why?????? Is there some law that says you CANNOT put Him out till after Midnight on Christmas Eve????? Then, how to explain St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC--one of the TOP holy spots in the nation. I took a walk through there during Christmas Season, several years ago, and there was the Baby Jesus, in the Nativity!!!!!!!!! And at my favorite tree, and spiritual sight, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Baby Jesus is already there!!!!!!!!!! So, who is to say what is right??????????
In front of St. Paul's Church, in Highland Park, New Jersey, the Nativity always had the Baby Jesus in it!!!!!!! But, just down the street, in front of Dr. Miller's office, He clearly was not out, till after Midnight on Christmas Eve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having just done a blog on Sister Camille D'Arienzo, I have to wonder what she would say about all this? Is there some kind of historical or cultural significance attributed to this??????? Or does it really matter, at all???????????????
Personally, I like seeing a manger with Baby Jesus already there. It is what I grew up with, and I am used to. But I can understand the appeal of mysticism surrounding those who don't put Him in till midnight!!!!!!!!!!!! As long as He ends up there I guess it does not matter when he appears, and yet this question rears its head every year at this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rum-Pum-Pum, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 comments:
In my church, St. Joan of Arc in Jackson Heights. Baby Jesus is put in during midnight mass, and the three kings are not put in until Jan. 6th, the feast of the epiphany.
I don't know if you remember, but when I was young, it was my job for a few years to place the Baby Jesus in the manger at St. Paul's during midnight mass, right after the Gospel. I remember asking, once, why BabyJesus was in the outside manger when they set it up but not the inside one, but I never really got a good answer...typical, right?
I don't know if you remember, but when I was young, it was my job for a few years to place the Baby Jesus in the manger at St. Paul's during midnight mass, right after the Gospel. I remember asking, once, why BabyJesus was in the outside manger when they set it up but not the inside one, but I never really got a good answer...typical, right?
MA--
OMG! I went to a couple of those Midnight Masses when I was older, with my father! I had no idea you were doing that! And yes, I agree it made no sense for Jesus to be in one manger, and not the other! Dr. Miller's was a;ways there. I may be wrong, but wasn't it "abducted" one year???
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