Nativity, Spiritual Exercises 116 – “… that he may die on the cross; and all this for me.”

In the Portinari Altarpiece
By Hugo van der Goes
The naked newborn Jesus
Lies on the cold bare ground
As Mary and Joseph, adoring, kneel
While angels, gathered round
And vested for a Mass, reveal
What would otherwise be missed:
     Jesus – there as the host,
     In a primitive Eucharist.

There are shepherds come to worship
Angels hover in the trees
A few are standing upright
Some kneel on angelic knees
There are angels vested in alb and stole
In surplice, cope, dalmatic
But none dressed in the priestly role.
Incarnate vulnerability:
    His flesh the chasuble
    That vests divinity

This image of a naked God
Susceptible of pain
Is Jesus hanging on the cross,
Fully naked once again,
Exposed to the worst men can devise
Thorn-crowned as King
In a ritual of shaming
As Mary, tendresse undefiled,    
      Shares the suffering
      Of his inner child