By Daxx Bondoc
We modern people look at the shepherds whom visited Christ with certain "cuteness". Most of the images and statues of them are sentimentalized. But shepherds at the time of Jesus were looked at as "low lives". They were people who cannot keep a regular job.
I like how one priest said that the shepherds were considered the "scums of the earth" during Jesus' time. Yet, they were the first to hear the GOSPEL, the Good News. The scums of the earth were the first choice of the Father to be blessed by the announcement of the birth of the King of Kings!
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Luke 2:8-12
What an upside down and odd God we have!
Here we see that God operates differently from us. Most of us invite the most famous, influential or powerful people we know to our child’s party. While we show off, God humbles Himself.
The proclamation of the angels to the shepherds shows us that God's way is so far above our ways! Thank God for that!
The shepherds should give us hope! Even if we are considered by the world as misfits, outcast and scums of the earth, we are God's chosen ones. And no matter how much we debase and down cast ourselves, God still want to proclaim the Good News to us.
He still continues to send His angels to proclaiming to us that no matter what we have done that He has sent His Son to save us!
Listen to that still small voice in your heart. It might be the angels inviting you to open your heart to the coming of your Savior, Jesus.
Emmanuel, "God [is] with us"
One must will to become the total possession and property of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This requires us to adopt the soul of Mary as the spiritual chapel for the prayers and offerings of our own soul.
