Daily Meditation: Tuesday, December 25, 2001

Each year, on December 25, Christians celebrate the birth …

12/25/2001

Each year, on December 25, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, and in all the churches a crib is set up for him. The child is there lying on a pile of straw while Mary and Joseph watch over him, but there is also an ass and an ox. We can never forget the ass and the ox - they are so closely linked to the birth of Jesus. Why? Because this representation is symbolic and corresponds to some processes that take place in human beings. The stable represents the physical body. The ox represents sexual energy. As for the ass, it represents what we call 'the old Adam', a self-centered, headstrong and stubborn but good servant.
When man decides to improve himself so that Christ may be born within him, he comes in conflict with the forces of his lower nature and his sexuality. It is these forces that he must master and put to work for the divine child. That is why we say that, in the stable, the ass and the ox breathed on the child Jesus and warmed him with their breath... When human beings succeed in transforming within themselves the ass and the ox, then they can warm and nourish the newborn child. All those who have succeeded in bringing Christ to birth within themselves will be served by the forces of their lower nature and their sexuality, for these are extraordinarily useful energies, provided we can harness them to a job.