Dear People of St. James’,
December 16 is coming. Soon, it will begin – 9 nights of parties culminating in Christmas Eve, a veritable introvert’s supermarathon. You have been storing up your energy, politely turning down invitations to other Christmas parties, because you know what it takes. For a month now, you have been hearing stories of the all-night roaming revelry of Las Posadas in the various hometowns of your fellow parishioners, and you have wondered, “Are there no introverts there? Don’t they get exhausted?”
Las Posadas remembers Mary and Joseph’s difficult journey throughout the city of Bethlehem, as they searched for a welcoming, safe place for their child to be born, only to find rejection almost everywhere. Las Posadas remembers this journey in the way that liturgy remembers: by inviting the participants to enact the journey ourselves. We are set out upon the road with the Holy Family as we search for that safe and open space where something new can be born: a new family, a renewed community. We are invited to consider opening our own doors to offer a sacrificial kind of hospitality to the stranger – a provocative sign and a protest in today’s political climate. We are called into joyful expectation, not for Santa’s presents, but for the one who will teach us to walk in the way of self-giving for the sake of the world. In short, las Posadas is a 9-day liturgy that rigorously reorients and reforms the community to bear witness to God’s love spoken of in John 3:16.
The tradition of Las Posadas began over four hundred years ago, when missionaries in Mexico received permission from Rome to celebrate masses for nine consecutive days prior to the Nativity. Not only does this tradition call upon us to join our voices with those of friends, neighbors, and strangers, it joins our voice to the voices of the many generations who made this journey before us, and to the voices of people throughout the world who journey with us in these days. Las Posadas is also a practice that joins our voices to those whose voices have been suppressed or gone unheard: to the forgotten, the poor, the oppressed, and the fearful. We prepare the way for a savior sent to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Lk 4: 18-19 paraphrased). The practice of Las Posadas makes us especially aware of those who are making dangerous journeys in search of survival and freedom in these days, who have been so often villainized and dehumanized for political gain.
Las Posadas should be exhausting, not only for the introvert, but for the whole community. Imagine if we were to wear ourselves out building a new and renewed community, offering sacrificial hospitality to the stranger, and waiting for the one who will demand all that and more from us. What joy might then be born in us on Christmas morning when we have come to see clearly God in our midst?
In years past, my goal has simply been to put on the extrovert long enough to survive the full marathon of Las Posadas. This year, I am coming as I am, an introvert hoping that the liturgy will do its reorienting work in my life by exposing my complacency and urging me to action in solidarity with those who seek safety and a home, by showing me that real hospitality demands more than placing food on the table, and by strengthening my desire to follow the one whose way of life is love. I invite you to join me on the journey.
Entren santos peregrinos, peregrinos reciban este rincón,
Y aunque es pobre la morada, la morada os la doy de corazón.
Rev. Eileen
