The Cathedral of Mdina is once again displaying a beautiful Neapolitan crib. Neapolitan cribs are a unique genre in art for they place the nativity scene in the Neapolitan environment that existed 300 years ago. The rationale behind such cribs is that the Christ event did not only take place 2000 years ago, but that it is endlessly renewed in every culture and in every environment.
In the Neapolitan crib we note that many figures are dressed in the costumes of the time. The central figures of Jesus, Mary and Joseph remind us that this event from the past still has a timely message: that the Lord wishes to dwell in our reality. He is born among us, in our hearts, with his mercy, solace, and consolation.
If one observes the gaggle of figures in the valley of the Neopolitan crib, we find that some are engrossed in work while others are making merry. Only a handful of these figures are facing Jesus in the manger. Many a time, this also happens in our culture, in our lives. Christmas comes and goes, and it would seem that Jesus did not come at all.
My wish for all of us this Christmas is that Jesus truly enters in our hearts with his consolation but also with his precious word. He invites us to forgive each other, to love each other more, and to see his presence in our brothers and sisters, especially those who need our love and care in a special way.
Two very important figures in the Neopolitan crib at the Mdina Cathedral are Saint Cajetan (San Gejtanu) and Saint George Preca (San Ġorġ Preca). Saint Cajetan had worked tirelessly to introduce Nativity cribs in Naples to mark the birth of Jesus; after all what is Christmas without the crib, without Baby Jesus? It would be an empty Christmas.
Saint Cajetan was a man of concrete holiness. When he arrived in Naples and saw that usury was plaguing the city, he established the Banco di Napoli in order to free people who were in the clutches of usury. Before he went to Naples, Saint Cajetan lived in Venice, a city that was then riddled with highly infectious diseases. In fact, numerous young people were left to die without care. On seeing this, he established a number of osepdali degli incurabili (hospitals for incurables), since these disease were STD (sexually transmitted diseases) and no treatment was available at the time. Today, we still need saints like Cajetan because we seem to be reliving these times once more. 500 years ago, in 1517, Saint Cajetan received a mystical experience in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. In this vision, the Holy Family invited him to welcome Jesus as his solace and consolation. This is the same wish that the Lord wants to give to us this Christmas.
The second important figure in this crib is Saint George Preca. Saint George is a saint closer to us, to our time. He worked hard to spread the devotion to the Verbum Dei, to the procession of the Baby Jesus, and above all, he introduced the Word of God in our families and among our young people.
How wonderful it is when saints teach us what it means to be a Christian, that it is something concrete, that it is not out of reach. This Christmas, the Lord is inviting you to go to confession, to go to church, to receive Holy Communion, to go to Mass. What a beautiful thing it is that while we are taken up with festivities, with parties, with visiting family and friends, we find the time to understand that these feasts are about a person, about the Lord Jesus who is inviting us to welcome him in our hearts this Christmas.
Mgr Charles Scicluna is Archbishop of Malta