Fr Rob Esdaile: If Christ were born today

Ukrainian mother with baby born in bomb shelter, March 2022. Painting by Helena Siedlecka

If Christ were to enter our world today, where would he choose to be born?

Bethlehem remains besieged, surrounded by watchtowers, and 'The Wall'. That would still be a fitting place for the birth of this strange Messiah, born in poverty on the edge of Empire in a borrowed stable. But maybe he would take his place instead among our age's refugees, with the millions driven from their homes by violence, climate change or sheer poverty.

Perhaps the shattered frozen homes of Ukraine's towns might be a fitting site for our Silent Night Saviour's birth.

Would Mary and Joseph's journey now lead them to registration at a refugee reception centre far from their bombed-out home, rather than to a Roman census queue?

Might - God forbid - their transport of choice be not a donkey but an unseaworthy (and illegal) rubber boat? To whom might the angel chorus sing: to those gathered at a 'Warm Hub' because they cannot afford to heat their homes? And what of the Magi, setting out in search of the New-Born King? Who has the freedom of heart to undertake such a quest today?

These are not flippant thoughts. At Christmas we meet the One whom Pope Francis has called 'the God of the peripheries', the One who takes flesh among the overlooked and the undervalued, the One who embraces powerlessness as the ultimate sign of the power of divine love. Yes, God still seeks room at the inn, still seeks to enter into our human story - not just in Bethlehem or Ukraine or in refugee camps scattered around the globe but also at our own Christmas table, be we alone or surrounded by family.

As the Book of Revelation has it: "Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share a meal with that person and that person with me." (Rev 3.20) At Christmas God comes close. Indeed, in Jesus, God is truly with us, Emmanuel. May you know that closeness in your keeping of the feast and may his nativity renew in us all the search for peace on earth and goodwill to all.

Fr Rob is Parish Priest at St Dunstan's and St Hugh of Lincoln Catholic parishes in Woking. He has published several books of poetry including: A Word in Edgeways' and 'An Invaded Life'. For more information or to order copies, email: rob.esdaile@abdiocese.org.uk or write to: The Priests' House, St Paul's Road, Woking Surrey GU22,7DZ.