Extension magazine - Winter 2022

16
BUILD
Cover Story
Extension | Winter 2022 17
The Christmas story
never stays still. Life
experience shifts our
perspective. We discover new
meaning. New details emerge.
We cannot tell the Christmas
story without, in some way,
telling our own story.
We asked the children of
Sacred Heart Catholic School
in Uvalde, Texas, about Christmas.
They have special lenses
through which to see the world,
formed by everything they
have and are going through.
We asked them, “If Jesus
were born today, where would
He be?”
Jesus would be safe, they
said. Above all, He would be
safe. Safe from the terror of
tyrants like King Herod that
stalk the innocent. Safe from
This child draws a beautiful
“Morenita” (dark-complexioned)
Madonna, a powerful reminder that
Jesus has come for all people, all
cultures and races, for all time.
This Uvalde child reaffirms God’s
intention that Jesus be born in a simple
manger. “Though he was in the form of
God, [he] did not regard equality with God.
… Rather, he emptied himself, taking the
form of a slave.” (Phil 2:6-7).
the perils on the open road
that plague refugees like
Jesus. Safe from the encroaching
darkness that wants to
swallow them whole. Safe
from being in the middle of
nowhere in the middle of the
night all alone.
The children of Uvalde said
that today Jesus would be born
at home, wrapped in a warm
blanket in His mother’s arms.
They want to hold the baby
Jesus because He would be
so tiny and cute. They would
be right next to Him in bed.
They would sing to Him. There
would be light. There would be
angels, lots of angels.
The children of Uvalde have
many opinions about the Wise
Men. Some have them staying
in a hotel and arriving in fast
cars. Others have them video
calling the baby Jesus. Most
agree that they would bring
Jesus terrific toys.
The children of Uvalde
reimagined the manger. They
swapped it out for a hospital
bed in which the baby Jesus
lies. Many of them drew
detailed pictures: IV bags on a
stand. An oxygen mask. Heart
monitors. A tray of medicine.
Hand sanitizers. A hospital
curtain closing off the waiting
room.
The children of Uvalde have
The children of Uvalde respond.
‘If Jesus were born today,
where would He be?’
clearly spent too much time in
hospital rooms. It is a new lens
through which they look. In
almost all the renderings, the
doctor tells Mary, “Your baby
is healthy.” The best news. The
only news that matters.
The children of Uvalde said
that the first order of business
would be to take the baby Jesus
to see Pope Francis. They are
big fans of the pope and feel
LEFT This Uvalde student imagines Jesus coming not
to a faraway land but being “born next to me,” always
remaining close to these little ones who have experienced
so much trauma.
ABOVE This Uvalde child
envisions baby Jesus’ manger
is our hearts, a suitable place
where His love can grow.
that Jesus and Pope Francis
would get along just fine.
One child would ask the
baby Jesus to come and bless
Uvalde. Another feels that
Jesus is born in all the places
of the world—why pick just
one? To another still, Jesus is
born in her heart for which she
is so grateful.
The Christmas story never
stays still. Just ask the children
of Uvalde. They believe in
the non-abandoning presence
of God. They believe that the
birth of Jesus means that love
rules and that the poor, suffering
and lonely have a special
place in God’s heart. And to
that, we join the heavenly chorus
as the angels sing,
“Glory to God in the highest
heaven,
and on earth, Peace to people
of good will.”