The Holy Family for Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem

The Holy Family for Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem : Frame by Roberto Lavadie of Taos, New Mexico
“...He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
From the Prologue of St John’s Gospel
Perhaps the most beautiful words in the Gospels come from this incredible,
sonorous, mystical Prologue. In her commentary (she audaciously asserts, was dictated to her by St John himself) on the Gospel of John, Adrienne von Speyr comments on nearly every sentence. I have found it difficult to suggest reading Adrienne to almost anyone. But for me, I can read a few sentences and she is so profound that I have to stop. She has played a huge role in my spiritual life and understanding. I’ve read most of her books that have been translated, but there are many more, which await translation. True mystics are as rare as hen’s teeth, so I don’t use, in fact...never use, that word lightly. The suffering of a true mystic makes me shudder, and yet because they have been given this gift, for the Church, or our world, by God, I am drawn to them... “The abundant harvest of graces hidden in Adrienne’s theological mission for our times still waits to be more fully carried into the storehouses of the Church for whom she was sent.”
Jacques Servais,SJ.
And let me say also, I truly believe there have been and are, true mystics in all religious traditions.
This icon was commissioned for the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, Israel, “Holy Family Hospital is the premier maternity hospital and neonatal care center in the Bethlehem region of the West Bank. It’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit cares for the critically-ill newborns, some weighing just over one pound.”
In all honesty, I was overwhelmed by this request. Imagine trying to create an icon of the Holy Family for Bethlehem?! I put everything I had in my heart and spirit into creating Joseph sheltering Mary and the Child. My dear friend, master woodworker, Roberto Lavadie, knows always, exactly what is needed. He instinctively carved flowers from Israel into the frame, and I had a metal plate made with the name of the icon in three languages.
It turns out we are always waiting for some war or other, to end. Holy Prophet Thomas Merton once prophetically said, “There will always be another war to end war.” Did you see President Zelensky speaking to Congress ? I can’t even fathom that there were people in Congress who would not stand, applaud or support him; but there were. People who are safe and warm in this terrible time for Ukraine. I was so ashamed of them. “And yet, and yet” as Fr Daniel Berrigan, SJ, used to say and write, we live in such shameful times, when the massacre of children, ordinary civilians, means nothing to these people. And you could cite so many other atrocities along with Ukraine.
Such is the True story of Christmas. If you don’t touch into this story, all the Santa’s, the Hallmark stories, the elves, the reindeers , lighted trees, and the white Christmases will never bring you to this very real story, happening right now. These will never bring you the Peace inside the real Christmas story. I purposely listen to these “minor chord” Carols which have substance; a sense of what His birth brought into our world.
Then what are we to do ? I remember being transfixed by the character Linda Hunt played in the film, “A Year of Living Dangerously.” He ( she played a man) asked “What then are we to do ?” His answer was the words of St John the Baptist, (Luke 3:10). The answer is simply to hear the cries and share the abundance you have been given by God. It doesn’t matter how. This means all abundance; spiritual, physical, monetary, artistic ... use your incredible imagination... in any way, share what you have been given, freely.
We are all gifted in something ; simply give . I’ve continually found this as not a source of guilt, but as an honor, a privilege, a joy of all joys. I always think of the two patrons of the Third Order of St Francis, St Louis IX and St Elizabeth of Hungary, royalty, who loved to be extravagant in their giving. They were wealthy, a king and a queen, but they listened and responded. When I hear these words from St Luke’s Gospel, I think first : happiness consists of being used by God... and then squandering what has been given, by Him to us.
Only songs like “The Coventry Carol” (my favorite version is by Alison Moyet where she literally wails) really get at the true story. Somehow out of the poverty of the Birth of Jesus we become His disciples. This night, Christmas Eve, is a birth of Christianity; Our birth...Our real life...Our happiness ... Our Hope... Our truly honest Joy ! A Blessed Christmas with love to you all !
Fr William Hart McNichols 🎄👶🏻🎄Christmas Eve 2022