STORY - Concerto for Ass, Lamb and Ox

Let us look beyond the angels, the shepherds, the child, Mary and Joseph. There are three animals at the crib. They are not the greatest in the world, they are not the most prized, but they are there. Perhaps they are a bit like us… We might not be up to much, but we’re here anyway!

The ass is the least distinguished of the three. He has a big head, like an intellectual. He reasons. He rationalises. He has ideas about everything, especially about religion! He is descended from rationalists. He can only accept religion within the limits of what is rational and reasonable. His father always taught him that you couldn’t be Christian without being modern. The ass himself is not a great reader, but the dogmas of Reason have penetrated his being. Now he’s an economic rationalist too. This ass has lost his sense of both mystery and reason. He thinks he’s smart. He’s a real donkey.

I wonder if the donkey in the Palm Sunday procession was related to this donkey? That one was always puzzled as to why people made such a fuss of him on that Sunday in Jerusalem.

The sheep (lamb) has no ideas of his own, but is full of other people’s ideas. Full of the ideas of the moment, of the ideas that are part of the atmosphere right now. They come from the papers. They are politically and religiously correct. The sheep says what everyone says. He is afraid of having his own convictions, afraid of being judged by others. He wants to please. He wants to do what the world does. He goes to all the right gatherings. He votes for what everyone thinks is right. He approves of ‘charity’. But the sheep is nostalgic for more assured values. He hopes his children will be more cultured and not influenced by current fads. He would like them to be informed but not violent or victims of violence. He wants them to have good shepherds. He imagines them to be Christian but not too ignorant of secular things. He wants them to be brought up by one father and one mother, if possible together. He wants them to live without medical selection, without their existence being suddenly taken from them by human decree. He has good ideas and a big heart, but he is a coward. He’s sheepish.

Was he descended from the sheep whose lambs gave their blood to mark the doorposts at the Exodus? Or was he of the line of the lost sheep – only one of whom was found?

The ox, really a bull, is no coward, but he isn’t sensitive to the opinions of others. The bull is interested only in himself. He has made a success of his life. He is a materialist. He loves comfort, loves his car, his clothes, his shoes. He doesn’t analyse things, he just uses them. He is content with everything, since everything smiles at him. He thinks his wife has lost her reason – perhaps she has been in too many shops at Christmastime. He wants – above all – social status, the taste of command, a situation that lets him come home late at night, good friends, things to dream about and the world at his feet. He has no interior life. He is so full of things that he is empty of God. He is a full bull. He does not pray. To pray he would have to lack something. He has a heart that is light and free. He is his own best friend. He is a whole lot of bull.

He has made it his business not to go near temples. Bulls get sacrificed there. By priests.

There are our three animals!

At the Crib, on Christmas morning, their masks fall off, their lies are discovered, and their real characters emerge.

In their midst is a sleeping baby, which changes everything. For the first time, these animals are not preoccupied with themselves, but with the baby. The little one has got through their masks and appearances. From now on, they know they have to be different.

The ass – quicker than the others – thinks in his big head that the baby is not a challenge to reason, but the triumph of a larger and deeper intelligence. God is then so intelligent that to be loved he has made himself into a little one. He is the Word, but one that makes you silent, and listening. This is a real conversion of his intelligence. Not such a donkey after all.

‘Who gave the wild donkey his freedom, and untied the rope from his proud neck?’ Job 39:5.

The sheep is no longer afraid: he knows that today there is nothing stronger than this little baby. He says yes to this baby. He thinks it must be the lamb of God. For the first time in his life, he dares to say no to the mob, no to the culture of death, and yes to life and love. He knows it might cost him a lot, but… not so sheepish.

Isaiah said that one day a lamb would lie down peacefully with a vegetarian lion.

The bull sees something he has never seen before. A family that depends on him. Colleagues who are more than simple executives. A God who has had the patience to wait for him, the bull, who waits for no-one! He knows now that his life is nothing if it is empty of this God. He prays, for the first time. No more bull!

‘Is the wild ox willing to serve you, and will it spend the night at your crib?’ Job 39:9.

The crib is not just the first Christian zoo. It has become a chapel. Our three animals make an act of adoration. They adore the baby in the crib.

Will you join them?

‘The stars of the morning are singing for joy, and the sons of God in chorus are chanting praise.’ Job 39

Kevin O’Shea CSsR

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