On Christmas Eve I was driving down the streets clogged pre-season typically runs from the last best gift to an excel or more exclusive goodies. Happily listened to the radio. Unfortunately, the music often has to leave room for the words and therefore I resign myself to listen to a radio news of a national network.
to launch a service to the need for restoration of the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the journalist literally says: "The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a symbol of Christmas."
The phrase strikes me immediately as a shot and I get some discomfort, not immediately understood, that almost makes me lose control of the car. "Place symbol." Oh no, I say to my wife who stands beside me, "symbol" not really. There, Jesus is born seriously, but. Maybe it will be a matter of a few meters here or there, but beyond where stands the inscription "Hic Verbum caro factum est", right there Jesus was born in earnest. Other than the symbol. Where now there shines a silver star, right there (or not far from there) God has taken human form of a child. And this is a reality to which our humanity is saved even at this moment. Define "symbol" that place is physically verifiable as to relegate Jesus to a myth, something that is not real but, more importantly, has no connection with me, with my day and that of every man.
It's not a matter of vocabulary, not really. And 'that the journalist has done away with, as often we do during our days, the mystery of the Incarnation where it all started.
But thank God, that child is born and that is indelible. Why a "symbol" can not save lives, but historically experienced a Presence (revealed just starting then and in that place), that is.
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