Dog Spelled Backwards is Christmas

Many people may celebrate Christmas, but not everybody celebrates the birth of Jesus. Every Christmas we have parties and gifts, lights and snow, but lest we forget that Christmas is not just about a baby who is born, but about God made man out of His love.

Every Christmas I remember a story about God, a dog and I. This year the story has a singular significance as my dog is sick, and in need of surgery.

Gito is a black labrador who was not even two years old when he injured his right knee. It was too late to get an insurance, and finally we came up with the money and paid for his surgery. He recovered well and very soon he was back to running and swimming.

Two years have passed and now, Gito needs a surgery on his other knee. When we tell people our dog story, many of them make comments like “get rid of your dog”, “no way I’d pay for that”; “well that’s it for Gito”.

I cannot deny that their words are cruel to me, and seem to come from uncompromising people. I understand he is only a dog, but he is my dog and I love him, and he loves me and my family. And while we are in the turmoil of my dog’s fundraising for his surgery, I remembered a Christmas story about God, a dog and me.

I was in my early twenties when I attended an advent retreat where a priest asked us if we had a dog. So many of us answered in a positive way. Then, the priest asked us, if our dog was sick, if we would take him to the veterinary. We assented. What about if once we were at the vet’s office, the doctor told us that the only way to save our dog was to become a dog ourselves. Would we be so humble and generous of becoming a dog just to save him? At that moment, I just tried to picture myself as a dog, and hoping I could be adopted into a nice caring family. Certainly, the idea of becoming a dog was something I preferred to avoid.

God becoming man is a far more humbling experience than a man becoming a dog.

On Christmas, God became human to save us. God, who does not need anybody nor anything, wanted to become a simple creature. Undoubtedly, this is a mystery of poverty and love that it is hard to understand, but the example of us becoming a dog, can surely help us to have a small understanding of the Christmas mystery.

Christmas does not include jingle bells nor people dashing through the snow, but what Christmas includes is angels singing on high on a holy night while a boy played his drum asking what child that was.

Christ became man on a silent night that changed the world for ever; and there was a cow and a donkey but not a red nose reindeer.

Papa Joseph and Mama Mary looked for a place for their baby to be born, and in a divine way Baby Jesus was brought into the world in poverty and love. Only a few shepherds and three wise men noticed Jesus in the town of Bethlehem.

There were some trees and a bright light that came from a big star. This light alone made for a white Christmas.

That Holy Night was all about love and poverty. So much love that He wanted to be one of us; and such poverty that God himself wanted to become so dependant on human love.

So, I am thankful that God did not think of us like “get rid of your people”, “no way I’d pay for that”; “well that’s it for You (we can put our name here)”. God does not think like we do. God became one of us.

Christmas is about giving, not receiving; it is about emptying our hearts and becoming so poor, so empty of worldly things that we can be filled with all the richness and wealth that faith and hope are given to us during Christmas time.

When we say Merry Christmas, we wish other people that baby Jesus be welcome in their hearts, in their families. Merry Christmas is not only a wish, is also our effort in trying to build a world of peace and joy. Merry Christmas is a mystery of love that can be understood only in the richness of a poor heart.

Christmas is not a season, but a state of our hearts, a way of living. Christmas is to open the doors of our heart to God, is letting Him take over our thoughts and will. Christmas is to give until it hurts. Christmas is to forgive, to share, and to put God first in our lives.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Feliz Navidad

Joyeux Noël

Zalig Kersteest

Natal Mubarak