When I was in the seminary, I had the awesome opportunity to study scripture in the Holy Land (Jerusalem) for ten weeks.  It was an unbelievable once in a lifetime opportunity to live as a pilgrim in the Holy Land and walk the footsteps of our Lord.  Something I have been reminded of this Advent season is the many visits I made to the Church of the Nativity.  The retreat house we lived in for the first four weeks was only a ten minute walk from the Church.  While you can’t tell what the house looked like that Jesus was born in, you do know the locations of his birth and where the crib would have been.  
    Contrary to popular belief, Jesus was not born in a three walled wood shack.  Jesus was born in a type of basement, within a cave, where the animals were put at night.  The family that Mary and Joseph stayed with probably had too many guests there for the same reason (the census) and the only room left was with the animals.  Judging by the location of the altar commemorating where Jesus was born and the altar commemorating where Jesus’ crib would have been, the cave was not very large at all.  It would have been the same size as a studio apartment.  
    What strikes me the most about the Incarnation, is God’s own humility. God didn’t enter a royal family, he didn’t enter a wealthy family, he didn’t even enter a big family with many siblings.  No, Jesus chose to enter the world into a family that, from the outside, looked broken and abnormal.  Mary and Joseph were set to be married and Joseph thought Mary committed adultery and was planning to divorce her until an angel stopped him.  Jesus really wanted to enter into our own messiness so that he could redeem it.  So that he could save us from it.  Jesus became one of us so he could walk our walk, talk our talk, die our death, and rise from the dead to save us!  He is risen!  He is Emmanuel: God with us.
    As we come to the close of the Advent season, let Jesus into your heart, no matter how messy it is.  God’s humility and love are greater than any family mess we may be suffering from or any sin we may have committed.  Let Jesus in and in the process of admitting these things to Jesus, either in prayer or in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we will even humble ourselves.  The entrance to the Church of the Nativity is called the door of humility because of how small it is.  May we all be able to humble ourselves and allow Jesus to enter our hearts on Christmas morning so that He can heal us, give us new life, and bring us His peace.