Around this time last year, a teacher of PAREF Woodrose School asked her class what the most important Christmas symbol is. Varied as the answers were, to her disappointment, no one mentioned the Belen (the Nativity scene). The students mentioned Santa Claus, elves, reindeer, Jack Frost, the Christmas tree, the Christmas star, but no one mentioned the Nativity scene at Bethlehem.
Puzzled about this, the teacher wondered if the students were more familiar with secular symbols and had forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. She brought this up with the chaplain and this sparked the idea to build a life-size Nativity scene, a Bethlehem Village, on a prominent part of the campus to raise awareness of the true meaning of Christmas.
The chaplain knew this was no easy undertaking and he admitted he had no idea of how to go about it. His prayer to God was, “If you want this, please make it happen…” Then a few weeks later, a mother of a student approached him to say that she wanted to donate to the school a set of life-size figures of the Bethlehem scene. This was unsolicited and completely unexpected. The chaplain took this as a sign that the idea could become real.
Then slowly the things needed to set up the Bethlehem Village started to come together. A parent volunteered to build the scene. Then the chaplain suggested a Light-and-Sound show to narrate the events of the first Christmas to make the scene truly Catechetical. The chaplain however upon inquiring about the costs of such a show found the amount staggering. Then again someone volunteered to orchestrate the show. Students also sacrificed part of their allowance to help with the costs. A teacher suggested using student projects such as hand-painted pots and handmade baskets to add realistic details to bring the village scene to life. Then another parent who had a farm lent some sheep, ducks, and geese to add even more details.
On a Monday, November 26, the Regional Vicar of Opus Dei, Fr Carlos Estrada, blessed and inaugurated the Bethlehem Village. That evening they launched the first Light-and Sound show. The elements came together very smoothly – Gospel passages about the birth of Our Lord read by a student, traditional carols and hymns, the effects of beams of light, all of which moved many to tears.
As the Gospel passages and the carols and hymns called to mind such details as the angels appearing to the shepherds, the Magi adoring the Child Jesus, St Joseph and Our Lady seeking lodging in vain and settling for a poor stable, the lights played on the varied scenes depicted in the village. The audience saw in concrete terms what the birth of Jesus may have been like. How could they not be moved to tears?
“The Son of God became man, and he is perfectus Deus, perfectus homo: ‘perfect God and perfect man.’ There is something in this mystery which should stir Christians. I was and am moved…I go there now in thought and desire, to relive those years of Jesus’ childhood and consider once more those words: ‘Here the Word was made flesh.’” (Christ is Passing By, 13)
The entire Catechetical experience awakened in the hearts of those who witnessed it the gratitude and love for our Lord in the manger, bringing back the true spirit of Christmas.