Christmas – to own everything in common
By Nol van Vugt, Contributor
Today is the birthday of the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Jesus preached his message to his followers. The core of this message we can find in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2, 44-47). It says there: “The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and shared out the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed. They went as a body to the Temple every day but met in their houses for the breaking of bread; they shared their food gladly and generously; they praised God and were looked up by everyone. Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved.”
Here we find in a nutshell what it means to be a Christian. The Christian Church has developed itself in different ways throughout the ages up to this time. Today we find this message expressed in our Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) who come together also regularly to share with each other what they read in the Bible today. A good friend of mine, Carlos Mesters, who is a Carmelite missionary in Brazil, said: The Bible today, that are the People of God who come together in their Basic Christian Communities and share with each other the Word of God and whatever they possess.
Actually, as Christians we don’t possess anything. God is the owner of whatever we have or possess. This was also the ideal of the early religious orders, like the Carmelites or the Dominicans and Franciscans. They lived the vow of poverty in this way and they tried to be as poor as Jesus and Mary and Joseph were when they lived in the town of Nazareth. Ironically speaking, the only thing that they could consider their own was their toothbrush. Some of these Orders became so-called mendicant Orders. They went into pastoral work and they lived from what they were begging from the people. The faithful gave freely from their possessions to pay for the work that the priests were doing in their communities.
Another thing that we should own in common are our children. We must own them in common so that they can give their own valuable contribution to the community. Mary and Joseph didn’t treat their Son as their property. Jesus went his own way in preaching the Gospel. And Jesus in his time had a great predilection also for children. He said: “Let the children come to me because to them belong the Kingdom of my Father.” We must be aware of the fact that we do not own our children. They are a free gift of God and they have been given to us so that we can take care of them and bring them up as children of God until they are adults and they can live their own identity freely as God has intended them to be. God calls everybody to a certain state of life. That can be as ordinary citizens or as a religious brother or sister or a priest. Through man’s conscience God inspires him or her what He wants them to be, an ordinary father or mother or a priest or religious, all are called to live a life of service and share with each other the talents they have got. Our children are the most valuable possessions that we have in life. We must own them in common so that they can give their own valuable contribution to the community.
Let us celebrate this Christmas as people who own everything in common. That is the best Christmas gift we can give to each other and also to our Father in Heaven.
(For your comments email: nolvanvugt@gmail.com)
