The Gift of Christmas Presence

Here is an excerpt from a thought-provoking piece from Jennifer Halling in NCR online, entitled The Gift of Christmas Presence: Mindfulness Exercises for the 12 Days of Christmas.  

Christmas may seem like an odd time to contemplate poverty of spirit, but didn’t Jesus say, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for they shall see God”? And what is Christmas all about, if not seeing God’s presence in the world as reflected in the person of Christ?

The phrase “poor in Spirit” is puzzling, but a key to understanding it can be found in the Rule of Taizé, which says, “The spirit of poverty is to live in the gladness of today.” Thus the spirit of poverty is not about how much we have but how we respond to whatever is present to us, right now, today, because tomorrow it may be gone. For that matter, our life as a physical being may be gone.