Is there room at your Inn? Christmas Eve Reflection

Christmas Eve:

Irish tradition says that the Holy Family still travel throughout the world this night seeking shelter…
Is there room for them at your inn?
at my inn?
Can you see them pass by?
Joseph lost in thought…
Mary tired and heavy with child…
Can you see their eyes looking out at you from the eyes of
the homeless,
the poor,
the excluded,
the refugee,
the immigrant,
the elderly,
the child,
the lonely,
the victim of war,
the abused,
the hungry,
the persecuted,
the one you have already judged,
the one I have already judged…
If you would recognise them
then
slow down,
let your hands unclench,
simply breathe,
and
light
a candle
of welcome
in the
window
of your soul…
As the old poem put it…
“Often, often, often
goes the Christ
in the stranger’s guise”…