Bright Sadness: Holy Tears In The Dark

Abraham Willemsens [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Into this world, this demented inn,

in which there is absolutely no room for Him at all,

Christ has come uninvited.

But because He cannot be at home in it,

because He is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it,

His place is with those others for whom there is no room.

His place is with those who do not belong,

who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak,

those who are discredited,

who are denied the status of persons, tortured, excommunicated.

With those for whom there is no room,

Christ is present in this world.

~ Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable

So, the night has come. The gaping space of paradox noticed at the start of Advent season culminates this evening (and all evenings ever after). Those who have waited in darkness and silence this Advent, now begin to bear the gift of tears. Tears of rejoicing and tears of great sadness. Tears of the suffering of birth and death and tears of the joys and miseries of life. The Light of the World, born in Darkness. This darkness does not overcome it but neither is this darkness dispelled. It is embraced. The Christian Mystery of Infinity becoming Finite. Life embracing limits and even death itself. This is the Christmas that truly holds us in wonder. Anything less is incomplete and a charade. Anything less does not speak the truth of sin and brokenness and salvation and healing. Anything else is materialistic and solipsistic — in other words, idolatry.

The bright-sadness of the Christian path is manifest in the Nativity. It is there that divinity is revealed in the powerlessness of a poor child that is not embraced by the world. It is there that divinity is approached not at the center, but at the margins, not in wealth, but in poverty. It is this Nativity, that calls forth the song of angels, that bends every knee, and captures hearts and imaginations.

This child of tears, draws forth our tears and our wonder. Shaking our heads incredulously, our tears refracting the holy fire in front of us who is The Light of the World.

Deepest peace and blessings to all on this night of adoration. Come, let us adore him!