From alumni to current students, and current and retired faculty and staff, the Padua community proved true the motto of “Never Alone, Always a Bruin” by coming together to celebrate the Christmas For Others Mass on Friday, December 20.
At the conclusion of the 53rdannual Christmas For Others campaign, the largest student-run fundraiser in Northeast Ohio, Padua gathered to celebrate raising a record amount of $41,374 in cash and thousands of donations for families and charities in need.
Friar Johnpaul Cafiero, OFM presided over the Mass, and during the homily, used the example of The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to talk about humility.
“One of the things I get to do in my ministry is to take people around the world to the beautiful holy sites,” Cafiero said. “One of the ones that is so powerful, and also most popular, is the Holy Land. When we go to the Holy Land, one of the most popular sites is the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
“This was built in 339 AD. This church is the oldest church in Christianity, and it’s really interesting because it is the place that tradition says is built over the site where Jesus was placed after He was born. Given its importance, you see the beautiful star that is there on the floor, the symbol of Jesus coming among us, God coming among us, and it’s a beautiful, beautiful place. This silver star commemorating the place of Jesus’s birth.”
For such a holy site in Christianity, Cafiero said the entrance is the exact opposite of what one would expect.
Rather than having doors made of precious metals and standing 25 feet tall like those at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, The Church of the Nativity has “a simple, wooden door” that stands only four feet tall and two feet wide. Called “The Door of Humility,” the entrance was built purposely small to prevent thieves from ransacking the church, particularly during The Crusades.
“To enter this door, we have to bow down,” Cafiero said. “We have to bow down low because it reminds us that the God of all creation bowed down low and gave us the greatest gift when He entered into our broken human condition. When I think of this gift, I think of the gift of our God given to us.”
Then, to further the point about the true value of a gift, Cafiero utilized a visual aid, a gift box wrapped in gold paper.
Cafiero told a story of a father who had two small children, one of whom used the last of the “good wrapping paper” to wrap one box. The gift was from a young daughter named Carly to her father. While the box was empty in conventional terms, Carly filled it with love by blowing kisses into it.
Soon after giving the gift, Carly passed away from injuries suffered in a car accident, and that empty box turned into a prized possession for the father.
“Each one of us has been given a golden box, filled with love and kisses, some from our children, some from our family, our friends,” Cafiero said. “This day, we remember the golden gift, the golden box given to us from our God, the God who bowed down to embrace us with His kisses and a son smiling as a baby and a man.
“It is the reason for the season, the reason we give as Christmas. For others, we, like The Magi, and the shepherds, must bow down before the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings. By bowing down, we are raised up by our Christmas For Others, as we have given from our hearts to raise others up. We give the gift of love. We receive riches far beyond anything we can imagine in beautiful golden boxes and in the smile of a child.”
