Year after year the Church celebrates Christmas, that is to say, the birth of Our Lord in the stable of Bethlehem. And year after year this religious feast is seen more and more as a distant memory now replaced by sweets, champagne, tables full to the brim, streets decorated with thousands or millions of lights -- depending how important the city is…new films coming out, new CDs in the stores…..

Mamie also lived Christmas, but differently. Her joy came from deep within her, it wasn’t just for show. It came from God, from His coming into this world. The religious celebration was what caused her joy.

I have lived many Christmases with Mamie: in Santander, Toledo, Rielves…I’m going to tell about one of the many Christmases celebrated in Rielves, where I was the pastor of a parish.

When the time of Advent began to arrive, Mamie took out her little nativity scene: a little wooden house, Baby Jesus in His crib, the Virgin and Saint Joseph, the ox and the donkey, and the Three Kings. She placed it in a prominent place in the house, for all to see. There in the house, we ate a special dinner, a bit more extravagant than usual. We listened to Christmas carols. We then cleaned up everything and prepared to go out to Midnight Mass. Those who normally accompanied us were the “usual crowd,” the “unconditionals”: Reme, Conchi, Ana, Félix,…and others. Then we all went together to the town where I was the parish pastor. It is called: Rielves. There, the youth group – Luis, Montse, Manolo… – had prepared a fairly large-scale nativity scene, well-made with hay, broken roof tiles, rickety windows, baskets, antiques, a broken bench, stones, moss, lights… My altar-server, who is today Father Juan, was then only 14 years old. He served well at the altar in every way, in silent reverence. The traditional Christmas carols were heard in the church. And what a joy, just seeing how these people had been expecting our arrival!

Mamie greeted each person. She would give them a kiss and offer them a word of encouragement, later thanking them for their work with putting up the nativity scene. From that moment, a truly friendly environment was created, and we forgot the freezing cold of the night air. We felt the cold, yes, but we were able to remedy it with enough layers of proper clothing.

I have often thought of how the Lord also awaits our arrival….and how often we never arrive. We celebrate something without inviting the protagonist of the feast, the reason for the celebration.

The bells tolled. People continued to enter the church and the pews filled. I prepared to celebrate Mass. The traditional rites began, always with an air of celebration and innocence. Mamie lived these moments with extreme intensity, offering the Divine Child her heart. A special spirit of recollection could be perceived in her. She wore her coat and her scarf wrapped around her head, as always. And yet her face shone in a special way. It was Christmas. And in that day the Child Jesus was closer than ever to her. God was with us. When the Mass had finished, after having received Him already in the Eucharist, she went up to kiss the Baby Jesus, as we sang Christmas carols. Taking hold of Reme’s steady arm, she approached Him, filled with a unique joy. It was clear that for her as well, it was Christmas.

By Fr. Rafael Alonso

©HM Magazine No. 139 November/December 2007