by Fr. Tom Cummings, SJ

That first Christmas must have been a lovely but lonely event. Underneath today's tinselly and tawdry characterization of it, we realize its haunting emptiness: a young couple on a strange and lonely mission to register for taxes is deprived of a secure place to stay. But the poverty and the mission of such a Christmas can be seen as a poetic paradigm of a Jesuit's Christmas, a sacred time when most are sent on missions to wander to other places to bring special meaning and mystery to others.

On reflection, the Jesuit finds the deeper spirit of Christmas by experiencing the poverty and loneliness of that first event, which happened without fanfare but grew into the richness of God's self-expression. The paradox remains for the Jesuit: When Christmas is laid bare, like the helpless babe of Bethlehem, it takes on the bright promise of God's fullness in wonderful new ways; the Word once again takes flesh in the people the Jesuit is sent to serve.

This remains true in a religious house like the Xavier Jesuit Center, a community of semiretired and second-career Jesuits in Denver, right at the foothills of the Rockies, where I serve as superior. Our Christmases together reflect the emptiness of that first Christmas and, in replication of that event, we mysteriously discover the deeper meaning of the Word humbly and quietly pitching his tent among us, missioning us as Jesuits to embody Christmas in its bare glory not for us but for others.

Br. Herbert Bussen, SJ, is not Santa Claus, but close. He comes bearing gifts for Xavier Center's Christmas celebration.

Though we consciously leave each other at Christmas, we do try to bring the festivities home in late Advent so that on the day of Christmas we can send each other into the history and hearts of others. For example, Br. Joe Gockel, who labored 32 years at our local Jesuit high school as cook and later as Christian Life Community moderator, almost died a few years ago of a brain tumor. Though headaches still strike him, he prepares stollen (special German pastries) for the community for our Christmas Eve party. The best Christmas gift he receives is observing the growing integrity and value-oriented success of over 300 Regis High graduates who have benefitted from a $350,000 endowment fund he developed with the help of friends over the years. He radiates when he talks about "his boys" as the star-studded icing on the warm stollen he serves to his brother Jesuits.

Our community's minister, Br. John Fava,gives priority to preparing the house and the chapel for the celebration of the Christmas liturgy and party. He is assisted by our official "decorator" and former minister, Fr. Jack Campbell. A chaplain for the Denver Police Department, he donates time on Christmas so that some members of the force can be with their families. The joy of Christmas comes alive when he returns to share with us stories of their delight in spending the holiday with their loved ones.

My next-door neighbor, Fr. Jim Sunderland, has served for sixteen years as prison chaplain in Denver. He will carve out time to be with his fellow Jesuits at the Christmas party if only to experience the banter of good friend Fr. Tim Lawless, former professor and associate pastor in Tucson, but Sunderland's passion and prayers reside in modern mangers, prison cells where hopeless men and women languish in helpless isolation. His Christmas Eucharist with them brings a glimmer of hope because he, much like the first Emmanuel, becomes for them in a moment of reclaimed dignity "God with us."

Fr. Lawless's classmate Fr. Harry Hoormann recently retired from full-time pastoral work in Trinidad, Colo., but still provides care for the sick during Advent and continues part time in parish "missions" in the Denver area. Down the hall from Fr. Hoormann, Fr. Jim Walsh moves through similar but younger Christmas seasons of the heart as he brings hope and help to the abandoned Hispanic adolescents in the immigration system. Though their journey home will not happen this Christmas, he helps them come home to the heart.

Jesuits at the center, including author Fr. Tom Cummings, and Fr. Ed Flaherty, exchange simple gifts as part of their Christmas tradition.

Upstairs, Fr. Carl Kloster, retired high school administrator who celebrated his 50th year as a Jesuit priest this year, does not like the fact that he also celebrated his 81st birthday recently. He says it just slows him down as he maneuvers through the mountains to celebrate mass in the town of Idaho Springs.

His colleague (a bit younger at 76), Fr. Bob DeRouen, will traipse even further, sometimes in his snowshoes, to the hard-hit area of Winter Park to bring humor and hope to those isolated by snowslides. Fr. Bob still gives mountain retreats to the young and has climbed 37 of the 54 forbidding "fourteeners," mountains peaking over 14,000 feet into the ice-blue air. When urged by the superior to practice prudence, he winks and retorts, "I'd just as soon die up there as down here!" But he, too, will take extra effort to be "down here" for the Christmas party with his brothers. (Recently this quixotic apostle celebrated the mountain-high wedding of the Denver Broncos' quarterback John Elway.) Though not accustomed to snowshoes, 83-year-old Br. Herb Bussen will make sure that all the mountains of snow on the outside stairways are scooped clean at Christmas for his brother Jesuits and special guests at our home. Faith can move snow mountains!

Fr. Ed Flaherty (80 going on 60), former national chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, will don a fur-lined coat and serve several parishes and convents during the week of Christmas. His neighbor Fr. Dick Bocklage (former Regis University English professor) will not let a serious stroke he suffered two years ago keep him away from associate pastor work at St. Mark's, where he has served for the past decade. And Fr. Tony Short (also a stroke victim while in his mid forties) will spend Christmas with his beloved Native Americans in praying to the four directions out of gratitude for the gift of the Great Spirit's love. Tony reports that there are 15,000 to 20,000 Native Americans in the Denver area, and he serves them all year long.

Our two in-house psychologists, Frs. Bill Udick and Harry Hoewischer, are still much sought after for specialized advice and spiritual direction. Fr. Bill, in constant pain for almost 30 years from back and hip problems, finds this suffering a special gift in terms of generating a keener understanding and sensitivity when giving his insights to others. He will journey to St. Mary Magdalen and Joan of Arc parishes, as usual, for the Eucharist and for first confessions of the children during Advent.

Fr. Harry will deliver the Christmas homily to the local Marycrest Franciscans. His upstairs companion, Fr. Joe Bona, often travels far away at Christmas to direct special Advent retreats, but not as far away as associates Frs. Bill Miller and John Futrell, who recently returned from Sogang University in South Korea to be back home with the community at Christmas.

Cross-country skis are one of the tools of the trade for Fr. Robert DeRouen, 76, who ministers to people high in the Rockies.

And the stories of meaningful Advents abound. Twelve parishes, three convents, campus ministry masses at Regis University, counseling and full-hearted presence among prisoners and those caught up in the loneliness of old age, will become the mangers for our mission because that is who we are at Christmas. We are the ones "sent" (the original meaning of apostle), we are the "contemplatives in action" (a traditional description of a Jesuit), we are the modern Emmanuels ("God with us") who fight through the worries and flurries of Christmas to let the Word, in breathtaking stillness, once again take flesh in the hearts of the ones we serve.

Our mission,our being sent away from each other at a sacred time, means little if we do not first celebrate the mystery that embraces us. And so three or four days before we go out, we come in for a special liturgy, gift-sharing, and dinner to recognize the gift that dwells in our hearts. Now is our time to be sacred, to be with each other, to enjoy the peace of this season.

After celebrating several liturgies at the University of Denver, I call together the community members to decorate the dining room and chapel for our special night, and I serve as the presider on the holy night and then distribute gifts to all members. Last year each man received a sweater with the injunction to wear it (and keep warm), share it (and please others), or exchange it (and find the right color and style!).

A Christmas laid bare? Yes, in many ways, because we are intentionally away from friends and family. But it is a Christmas like no other, impregnated with the joy of seeing and feeling the thrill of the Word once again clothed in the warm flesh of our common humanity.

In our older age, we have been laid bare and have lost youth, health, jobs, energy. Yet for this we are grateful because in this poverty we find the real God, the warm God, the God of disguise and surprise. He uses our poverty as a gift to express the fullness of His love. Much like it must have been to the lonely and lost young parents of the expected child in the busy mission and quiet mystery of that first Christmas, our anticipations are fulfilled way beyond our best aspirations.

Fr. Tom Cummings, SJ, superior at the Xavier Jesuit Center in Denver, is professor of theology and English and part-time campus minister at Regis University. On weekends he celebrates mass at the University of Denver and a couple of local parishes.