The Christmas Pageant at the Franciscan Church of St. Bonaventure in Toronto, Ontario

A video showing some of the preparations needed for the Christmas Pageant

at the Franciscan Church of St. Bonaventure in Toronto, Ontario

If we have faith in God, we can truly change the world. Consider an example involving St. Francis of Assisi. In 1223, Francis was spending Christmas in the village of Greccio - a settlement today less than two hours from Rome by car. He wanted to remind himself and the denizens of Greccio about the humble circumstances into which Jesus was born and the fact that this tiny and completely vulnerable child was the son of God (whose destiny was to be our Savior). The best way to do this was to recreate the Nativity Scene in a nearby cave with real people and animals.

Greccio, Italy

When the people of Greccio saw the Nativity Scene, they were very pleased with it. In fact - as we all know - the setting up of a Nativity Scene at Christmas became a tradition with Christians from all around the world. The Franciscan Church of St. Bonaventure in Toronto, Ontario, for example, has been mounting a live Nativity Scene every December for many years. Part of a larger Christmas Pageant, the creation of the live Nativity Scene makes for a lot of excitement (as the video above indicates).

The convent in Greccio - built around the cave

where Francis of Assisi set up the first Nativity Scene

What is truly amazing is that this tradition of the Nativity Scene managed to spread around the world. Greccio is a wonderful but slightly withdrawn place today. In the 13th century, accessing it would have been even more difficult. Yet, Francis had a deep faith in God; others did too. Thus because of the faith of Francis and countless other people the tradition of the Nativity Scene did not remain only in Greccio, but spread around the world to remind us of our Savior Lord Jesus Christ.

(Sources of images on webpage and homepage: Rachel Nazareth, www.wikipedia.org, and whatafriarlife.blogspot.com.)