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2 DECEMBER 2020 | DENVER CATHOLIC ARCH B I S H O P ' S CO LU M N BY ARCHBISHOP SAMUEL J. AQUILA Follow Archbishop Aquila on Social media: | T his Christmas will be unlike any other in recent memory as we celebrate Jesus' birth amid the pandemic. And as difficult as this situ- ation has made things, there are some ways our times echo the simplicity and experience of the first Christmas – ways that are worth reflecting on. Jesus was born at a time of political and religious tension. The Holy Land was occupied by the Romans, who chose Herod to rule as King of Judea. Under King Herod, rivals were ruth- lessly killed, as is seen by his reaction to Jesus' birth with the slaughter of the Holy Innocents. Jesus came into this tenuous situa- tion as the son of poor parents. Joseph and Mary were obediently traveling to Bethlehem to take part in the census that Caesar Augustus had decreed, but it's unlikely that they were plan- ning for Jesus to be born in Bethle- hem. They were from Nazareth and they were only in Bethlehem because Joseph came from that town. They surely knew that Mary was close to giving birth, but as any mother or father will tell you, when that hap- pens is rarely predictable. To fulfill the prophecy of Micah, Mary's labor began in Bethlehem and Joseph had to find a place for them to stay. In a similar way, many of us find ourselves in unfore- seen circumstances today, whether it's being jobless, sick, isolated or mentally distressed. As Christians, we are called to respond to these challenges with faith, as Mary and Joseph did. After Joseph inquired about lodg- ing at the inn, and presumably every other suitable place that Mary's con- dition allowed him to check, Joseph was only able to find a stable for animals on the outskirts of town, cer- tainly a simple place for the creator of the universe to be born. God uses the circumstances of our lives to teach us and form us, and he is doing that for each of us now. The first Christmas was simple, and the difficulties that come with Christmas in 2020 offer us an opportunity to return to that simplicity. They present us with a chance to return to and cel- ebrate the fact that God, as powerful and transcendent as he is, chose a feeding trough for a bed. He arrived in our midst as an innocent, poor child. In an article called "The Senses of Christmas," the theologian and author Mike Aquilina expresses the simple but revolutionary truth of the Nativity beautifully: "God lived in a family the way we do. He shivered against the cold the way we do. The Word-made- flesh nursed at His mother's breast like any other human baby. Suddenly, Returning to the first Christmas Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila reads a Christmas story to the children at the Chancery Christmas party in 2019, a yearly tradi on that he very much enjoys. Photo by Brandon Ortega