No room in the Inn (Lk2:7). The scene of Bethlehem continues even today. Because of indifference and closed hearts, many people experience the same rejection that Mary and Joseph faced on the night Jesus was born. As Guido Gozzano highlights in La Notte Santa, there are still countless families searching for safety and dignity. In this situation, we must ask ourselves: How do we discover the true meaning of Christmas? Is it only a celebration, or something much deeper?
The Reality of Being “Home-less”
Our world, marked by self-interest and narcissism, reveals two forms of homelessness. The first arises from neglect. Many hearts have grown cold, and even within our own families indifferent can take hold. Elderly parents are left uncared for, and the rising number of old-age homes echoes this painful reality. Archbishop Mario of Milan recently warned that those seeking for shelter often find the doors closed, instead of kindness disclosed, shut in their faces. Homes have become a profit driven business instead of a place of welcome.
The second form of homelessness results from crises like war, poverty, climate change, and political instability. Warsan Shire’s poem Home captures the pain of those forced to flee their countries leaving all they love simply to survive. Whether caused by neglect or driven by crisis, both forms of homelessness deeply strike at human dignity. They remind us that countless people today continue to walk in the same weary road once travelled by Mary, Joseph, and the Child Jesus, seeking safety, shelter and a place of gentle welcome.
A Child Laid in a Manger
St. Luke tells us that Mary laid Jesus in a manger because there was no room at the inn. The word praesepe means a simple stall for animals. Centuries later, St. Francis, moved by the simplicity of Bethlehem during his visit to the Holy Land, created the first nativity scene at Greccio in 1223. Pope Francis reminds us that the crib shows what is closest to the human heart: a mother, her child, and a gentleman embracing a great mystery. The nativity scene is a sign of boundless and unconditional love – love without limits of race, religion, or place.
Yet this love was born in rejection. Jesus entered the world as a homeless infant, welcomed only by the earth, because too many hearts were shut and sealed. Throughout His ministry, Jesus constantly encountered people abandoned on the roadside, lifted them up restoring their dignity. The German mystic Angelus Silesius reminds us: “Christ could be born a thousand times in Bethlehem, but it is in vain until He is born in me.” Christmas becomes real when we allow Christ to find a home within our hearts and to be born in our hearts and see Him in the needy and the forgotten.
Love That Calls Us to Act
Love – amor vincit omnia – calls us to build communities where no one is discarded. To contemplate the nativity is to let our hearts be moved by the truth that God chose homelessness so that no homeless person would ever again go unseen and denied. It challenges us to open our doors, recognize dignity where society claims there is none, and let compassion rise above fear and indifference. The Gospel offers no ready-made solutions, but it gives a very clear command: love your neighbour as yourself (Mk12:31). Jesus identifies Himself with the poor and suffering. The Church also teaches the “preferential option for the poor” as a foundational moral choice. Gaudium et Spes reminds us that the joys and sorrows of the poor are the joys and sorrows of the Church (no. 1). Caring for the homeless is also one of the Corporal Works of Mercy (CCC, 2447).
In 1988 the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace issued a document entitled “What have you done to your homeless brother” for the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. The document is an explicit attempt to address the specific problems that contribute to homelessness and its implications for society. Then the Document of the pontifical council for the pastoral care of migrants and itinerant people: Guidelines for The Pastoral Care of the Road (2007), which highlighted the need for more specific reflection on the pastoral care of the homeless. Pope Benedict XVI taught in Deus Caritas Est (no.15) that every homeless person should be seen as the face of Jesus – the Child with no room at the inn (Matt 2:13), the refugee who fled to Egypt (Matt 2:14), and the Lord who dwells among us (John 1:14). First International Meeting for the Pastoral Care of the Homeless on People on The Move December 2008 was again emphasised “Only if I serve my neighbour can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me”. Thus, the Church has repeatedly addressed homelessness through various documents and pastoral guidelines urging us to re-evaluate how we celebrate Christmas today and what our priorities should be. “The manger would be the first cradle of the new born Child. Therefore, God became one of us in a setting of extreme poverty.… This is a silent invitation to understand the true value of the Christmas mystery, a mystery of humility and love, of joy and of attention to the poor” (St. John Paul II).
Homelessness Across Asia
In Asia, homelessness remains a grave concern. Syria (2,302 per 10,000) continues to suffer the highest rate due to prolonged conflict. Nepal (809 per 10,000) and Iraq (544 per 10,000) face severe political and social instability. The Philippines and Pakistan each have large homeless (300 per 10,000) populations. Recent floods in Southeast Asia have displaced more than a million people in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. India too has more than 1.8 million homeless individuals, many living on the streets of large cities. These realities should make our nativity scenes speak more powerfully: in every homeless person, we can see the face of the Child Jesus.
Let me tell my own experience. I come from Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu, where Christmas celebrations have increasingly become a matter of status – a mean to display area pride and wealth. Some argue that these celebrations have also become a unifying cultural event, where young people of all religions and castes come together to build the crib. No doubt, this interreligious collaboration is beautiful. But my concern is about the amount of money spent on creating massive cribs and elaborate light displays, which often run into crores of rupees. For example, this year the crib at a place called Pallappallam has been constructed as the palace of Herod, with three floors rising to 70 feet. Is not paradoxical to build a model palace of Herod because of whom the holy family had to flee to Egypt and face trauma? Rough estimates suggest the cost is around 40 to 50 lakhs. This raises a serious question: Could this money not be used instead to build houses for the homeless? The contrast between such extravagant displays and the real needs of the poor challenges us to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and our real priorities.
Diocese of Kuzhithurai sets an example
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” (Buckminster Fuller). In response to the prevailing situation in Kanyakumari district, many priests are encouraging parishioners to make Christmas truly meaningful by building houses for the homeless. Every year, the diocese witnesses not fewer than ten parishes accomplishing this mission under the Kulandai Yesu Kudil Thittam (Infant Jesus Hut Scheme), which has become a central component of its Christmas ministry. During my period of service in the parish of Sahayanagar, we built four houses – each costing a minimum of 5 to 6 lakhs -for widows, the elderly, and orphans.
This year, our bishop, Most Rev. Albert Anasthas, has invited every parish to build at least one house for a homeless family during the Jubilee Year. The initiative has received an overwhelming response from the faithful. The first house was blessed on 5 November in the Palavilai parish. In a recent telephone conversation, the bishop shared that approximately 60 parishes have responded positively and are actively moving forward with the construction process. He added, “In this way, the Diocese of Kuzhithurai transforms the profound theology of Christmas into an act of radical compassion, making God’s love a visible reality for the marginalized.”
The True Christmas Is
We find Jesus when we look in the right places – in the streets, in the slums, in asylums, care homes, and nursing homes, and also in our own families and workplaces. We meet Him in the homeless, the sick, the lonely, the addicted, and those different from us. Christmas proclaims that God comes among the poor, offering hope and liberation. We are called to be part of this mission by working to remove poverty, discrimination, and exploitation. Like the shepherds who overcame their fear and the Wise Men who travelled far, let us seek Jesus with courage. Then we will discover the true joy of Christmas – the joy of the Saviour who comes to make His home in every human heart.
(The author belongs to the Diocese of Kuzhithurai, India and is an author of 52 books and currently pursuing doctoral studies in Moral Theology in Milan.)