Christmas means so many different things.
For most, it is a holiday and a time for family, friends and gift giving.
For Christians, it is also the celebration of the Saviour's birth, the Nativity.
A glimpse into what this special season means to one of Canada's indigenous peoples was presented in a Christmas card we received from friend and former Brebeuf College principal, Father Winston Rye SJ.
The card shows a painting of native peoples by Jackson Beardy, an artist who was born into an Oji-Cree community of the shores of Island Lake in Manitoba. In his own words, Beardy describes the Nativity scene shown on the card in these words.
"It is my personal belief that a messenger from the Great Spirit came to earth in the form of His image after Him through a virgin birth in unrecorded history...We see the virgin mother-to-be holding on to an embryo connected to the sun symbol ( the Great Spirit ) who has deemed it necessary to send his messenger to his people. The mother is also connected to Mother Earth who is nursing her. She too is connected by a lifeline to the sun symbol. Around her are all the orders of creatures who come to see the messenger...On the other side of the sun symbol we see an elder in prayer, ritually offering a bowl filled with sacred things. You can see the sun symbol is resting on his hunched frame...bearing down with doubts, fear, depression, and all the ills of his time, his back to the very miracle he is praying for."
However you welcome Christmas, may it be a time of open doors and open hearts.
Merry Christmas!
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