Nativity Scene
Gerrit van Honthorst, 1622
My dear friends,
At Christmas, we enter a season in which we celebrate divine compassion made visible. We contemplate how boundless love takes form in history, snd also in our own hearts. The Apostle Paul's words to his coworker Titus offer us an occasion to reflect on the miraculous appearance of loving kindness in the world, and to consider how this gift shapes the path of awakening.
And also in the spiritual levels of their Children.
- Shantideva, Bodhisattvacharyavatara, III(3)
In this verse from Shantideva, we behold the joy of one who sees the light of bodhicitta shining in the world. The joy is not only for the fully awakened Buddhas, but also for their spiritual children: those walking the path, even with faltering steps. Likewise, in the incarnation of the Savior, the goodness and loving kindness of God appears not as reward for perfected conduct, but as an act of mercy. A Bodhisattva too acts from this same motivation: not seeking recompense, but moved by the suffering of beings. Our task is not to be worthy first, but to receive and then to reflect the light of compassion and loving kindness in all we do.
not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy,
through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
- Titus 3:4-5
This verse reminds us of the central paradox of grace: that it comes unearned, like the sun shining upon all without distinction. From the Bodhisattva view, this is the arising of great compassion in the mindstream, an inner transformation not caused by egoic striving but by turning toward the truth of interdependence. The water of rebirth, like the Mahayana refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, marks the beginning of a new orientation of the heart. And the renewal by the Holy Spirit is the birth of bodhicitta, the mind of Christ alive in us, urging us to labor not for our own liberation only, but for the awakening of all beings.
so that, having been justified by his grace,
we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
- Titus 3:6-7
In the Bodhisattva tradition, to become an heir of eternal life is to take up the lineage of those who labor in the fields of compassion and wisdom, without expectation of personal reward. Just as the Spirit is poured out, so we too must pour ourselves out in the service of others, holding fast to the vision of their future Buddhahood. Accepting the gift of Christ's teachings and example justifies us, not by making us superior, but by making us servants of the great hope: that suffering may end and joy may be complete in all beings.
Therefore, let us celebrate the birth of Jesus not as a sentimental tale of the past, but as a call to manifest bodhicitta in the present. Let each of us, through the renewal of our minds, rise as servants of compassion, vessels of wisdom, and heirs of the eternal light. The Incarnation continues, not only in Bethlehem, but wherever the heart is moved by mercy and set ablaze with the fire of Awakening.