Father Josemaría’s Baby Jesus
Tags: Jesus Christ, Madrid, Christmas
Among the treasures of the Royal Monastery of Saint Elizabeth in Madrid is this sixteenth-century wooden figure of Baby Jesus. The Augustinian Recollect Sisters still have a vivid memory of Saint Josemaría, then a young priest, who was their chaplain from 1931 and rector of the Foundation from 1934. He wrote in his personal notes: “On my way out of the cloister they showed me, in the vestibule, a Christ Child which was a darling. I have never seen a better-looking Baby Jesus! Totally captivating. They uncovered it. He has his little arms crossed on his breast and his eyes half open. Beautiful. I ate him up with kisses and… would have loved to kidnap him.”
He often used to ask them for the figure to take it home with him. It was closely linked to many happenings deep within his soul, favors and special graces. Today the sisters still call it “Father Josemaría’s Baby Jesus”.
In the book Immersed in God - an interview with Álvaro del Portillo, (Cesare Cavalleri, Princeton, 1996) Mgr Alvaro del Portillo says that Mother Carmen of Saint Joseph “remembers that when the Baby Jesus was in the sacristy of the church during the Christmas season, she would often see how Father Josemaría would talk to it, sing to it and rock it, as if it was a real baby.”
“The Child Jesus,” wrote Saint Josemaría. “How this devotion has taken hold of me since I first laid eyes on that consummate Thief that my nuns keep in the vestibule of their cloister! Child Jesus, adolescent Jesus – I like to see you that way, Lord, because… it makes me more daring. I like to see you as a little boy, a helpless child, because it makes me feel like you need me.”
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