Some of you may have visited Rome in the past and visited all four of the major basilicas of Rome. Those include, St. Peters, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Majors (or in Italian, Santa Maria Maggiore). St. Mary Majors is the largest basilica dedicated to Blessed Mother in Rome. Underneath the main altar, there is a fascinating relic--the wood of the crib on which infant Jesus was laid on in Bethlehem when he was born.
About a month ago, I was kneeling in front of that wood of the crib at that basilica. The woods seem so fragile, yet they survived over 2,000 years. The infant baby who rested on these fragile wood pieces was even more fragile. So fragile so that he was under the threat of murder by King Herod who sought to keep the kingdom under his kingship. It would be by the message of angel to St. Joseph during his dream that the child's life would be spared.
Last night, I visited the Women's Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit to visit an infant whom I baptized only a month ago. He was hooked up to all sorts of machines that kept him alive. His crib or manger was made of clear plastic, not wood like Jesus' crib. How fragile his life was! His crib or the incubator was where his tiny body was laid to rest. But he wasn't too far from the watchful eyes of nurses. And he was so blessed to have his mom and dad there the entire night, not getting sleep to watch over him. This tiny boy shared something with Jesus; in fact, we share something with Jesus--that we are fragile. Yet despite that fragility, we are still alive, just as that little infant was alive in that incubator. How we should thank God for being with us to not be afraid of our fragile nature!
