Christmas is the time of year that we express our love for one another through the giving of gifts, in recognition of the fact that our Heavenly Father expressed His love for us through the gift of His Son. We have been blessed with many gifts during the past year and have all come in the guise of children; some small, some large, some sad, some happy but all manifesting the vulnerability, the helplessness and love of the Babe of Bethlehem. They have filled our home with joy and at times with sadness but they have blessed us with enriched us beyond measure. Each child is a nuance of God’s love, a tiny cosmos in which the mystery of the Trinity, the inferable and eternal dialogue of love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is made concrete, since each child comes into being through the dialogue of love between God, man and woman.

In reminiscing of the children we have cared for, and who have cared for us, during the past year, one comes to mind as being particularly poignant. Ronaldo was brought to us by his mother for severe malnutrition weighing only 6 pounds at 3 months of age. She and her husband sold cookies in the marketplace, had a numerous family and had exhausted their meager earnings on medicines. On examining him, it became apparent that he had a congenital heart defect which was the main cause of malnutrition. It took hours to feed him and he would ingest only small amounts of milk with each feeding. There followed a series of consultations with specialists in the Children’s Hospital but they could not agree on a diagnosis or a course of treatment, which, needless to say, exasperated us. Meanwhile, we struggled to put weight on him, trying to fatten him up for possible surgery, finally having to feed him through a stomach tube since the process of ingesting milk exhausted him. He bore up well through it all, protesting loudly when we passed the stomach tube, but always ready to greet us with a smile when we approached the crib. At the end of 6 months his admission weight had doubled and one of the specialist at the Children’s Hospital finally became interested in him and began to push for further diagnostic tests to define his problem and to urge surgery be performed by a team of American surgeons who were coming to Lima. Through it all his mother visited him faithfully, finally taking hope that something would be done for her little son. All seemed to be going well. However, a week short of surgery, while playing in his walker, he suddenly died, a consequence of his heart defect. The initial feeling of shock, disbelief and anger gave way to the realization that Ronaldo had been God’s lend child. He had been given to us as a gift and we had the privilege of caring for him during his brief life. In return for that care he blessed us with his sunny smile and cheerful disposition, teaching us the unconditional love of a child. His parents expressed their gratitude and acknowledged the consolation of knowing that everything that could have been done for Ronaldo was done. The day following his death, we saw his mother in the market, selling cookies to care for her other children.

Ronaldo represented the Christ child, poor, vulnerable, dependant, a gift from our Heavenly Father. His death saddened us, but we have his memory as a solace to our grief. His brief life is to be celebrated and not mourned for its manifest gift of God’s love to all those who came in contact with him.

If we believe in the Incarnation, there should be no one on earth in whom we are not prepared to see, in mystery , the presence of Christ

Thomas Merton