Vigils Reading

GOD’S DISCRETION IN

REVEALING HIMSELF

By Réné Voillaume

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Jesus appears in the world without giving any warning of his coming and

without making known to any neighbor who he is. Had he come into the world

in his house at Nazareth, all his relatives would have made an event of his birth

with the neighbors and the other inhabitants of the town. He would have been

heralded and celebrated. He would thus have allowed himself to behave well

enough like a true little Nazarene, but he would have been confiscated, as it

were, by his earthly family and his earthly country. Quite to the contrary, he

elects to be born away from home, on a journey, amid an anonymous crowd; in

this way, he would really belong to everybody, and could come quietly and

discreetly, with no tumult and excitement.

God, if he had so wished, could naturally have made all sorts of efforts to

spread the news abroad. And if any proof were needed of this, one could point to

his having mobilized the angels but contented himself with bringing a few poor

shepherds to the manger. It is also clear from this that he could easily have

brought the whole of Jerusalem and all the just among the Israelites with pure

and upright hearts, worshipers of God and living in expectancy of the Messiah.

And there were in fact many of them, all true friends of his, in the country of

Judea and Galilee!

But it is obvious that God did not wish to impose his Son: people must

come to him by seeking and discovering him. Even the shepherds and the Wise

Men, though warned personally, had to search for him with the help of a sign

which, rather than leading them easily and directly to the manger, was little

more than a suggestion to send them on their way. The shepherds must have

gone to many houses and stables before they found the right babe wrapped in

swaddling clothes.

As for the Magi, they had to show some initiative in order to discover, by

the normal means at their disposal, the birthplace of the young king of Israel.

Jesus was infinitely discreet; he simply waited, and such a way of appearing

could have made us somewhat impatient, had it not been proved for centuries

back that people have found in this very discretion a true sign of God. That sign

of weakness, which draws people in spite of themselves, makes them surrender

and acknowledge themselves outdone, without Jesus ever having forced himself

upon them in any way other than a certain presence — a presence that waits, and

invites, and demonstrates God’s heaven in a humble manner which gives hope

and humility, peace and love — just how, one does not really know! God is a

master who knows how to go about speaking to us with the use of the things of

the earth — these various beings, both animate and inanimate — and the events

of human history.