God's Greatness

God’s Greatness

Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB

            It has always been said that the truly great people in the world are the most humble and there are enough and more evidence to prove it. Somehow this is the paradox of life that we all have to live with. Not that it is wrong or bad, but it is just that the way we humans think is not the same as God Almighty thinks. This may or may not be a consoling factor for some.


            Once I was reading a book called, “Life of Christ” by Giovanni Papini and he begins the book with a beautiful reflection. He begins the story by speaking about the birth of Jesus. Unlike many traditional paintings of the Nativity which seem so flawless, so clean, so orderly, so tidy; the real stable was a complete opposite. It was a foul-smelling, dirty and disorderly place. Hence if we were to think that the Manger in which Jesus was born was “spic and span”, then I guess we are all mistaken. Papini, in this light, shares a very beautiful insight. He says that it is not by chance that Our Lord ‘happened’ to be born in a stable such as that. The Manger represents our world. The Manger with all its filth and disorderliness was a sort of a symbol to show the presence of our Lord in a world of sin and confusion. It is His presence that will restore humankind to its true dignity.

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