Daily Catholic Lectio
Thu, 25 December ‘25
Nativity of the Lord – Day Mass
Isaiah 52:7–10. Hebrews 1:1–6. John 1:1–18
Footprints of God
Let’s begin with a light note. There was a seminary professor who had the habit of quoting the Bible for everything—inside the classroom and outside. One day, on the football ground, a donkey suddenly wandered in. The seminarians began chasing it out, laughing and shouting. Someone turned to the professor and asked, half-jokingly, “Father, what text do you quote for this?” Without missing a beat, he replied: “He came unto his own, and his own rejected him.”
That line, from John’s Gospel, is perhaps the saddest verse in the Bible. And it brings us straight to the heart of Christmas.
1. The God Who Leaves Footprints
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Christmas is not just about God speaking from heaven. Hebrews reminds us: “In these last days, God has spoken to us by a Son.” God does not remain distant. He enters our world. He walks our roads. He leaves footprints on human soil. Isaiah sings today: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news.” Those beautiful feet are not symbolic. They are real. God has feet now. He has entered history, time, dust, and poverty. The infinite God chooses a manger. The eternal Word chooses silence. The Creator chooses to be carried. The footprints of God first appear not in palaces, but in a stable at Bethlehem.
2. The First Rejection
Yet the Gospel tells us something painful: “He came to what was his own, and his own did not accept him.” The rejection of Jesus does not begin on Calvary. The Cross begins at Bethlehem. No room in the inn. No welcome. No recognition. Even at birth, God tastes rejection. This is why that verse is so sad. God comes close, and humanity steps back. God offers presence, and we respond with indifference.
3. Recognising the Footprints
A story helps us see this more clearly. One cold December evening in Ireland, a woman was having tea when the doorbell rang. At the door stood two poor children, poorly dressed, their faces dirty, their hair unkempt. They asked politely, “Do you have any old newspapers?” “Why?” she asked. “To wrap around our feet,” they said. “It’s very cold. The snow hurts when we walk.” She noticed their feet—wrapped in wet, torn newspapers. She invited them in, gave them tea, and later offered them shoes and clothes. As they were leaving, the boy asked innocently, “Madam, are you rich?” “Why do you ask?” “Only rich people have cups and saucers that match.” After they left, she noticed something near the sofa: wet footprints made by newspaper-wrapped feet. She chose not to clean them. Those footprints reminded her that she had more than she ever realised. At Bethlehem too, God leaves footprints—small, vulnerable, unnoticed. Christmas invites us to recognise them.
4. Why Do We Reject Today?
This brings us to an uncomfortable question: Why do we reject people today? At home, do we reject those who are weak, slow, old, or different? In society, do we reject the poor, migrants, the wounded, the failed, the inconvenient? In communities, do we reject by silence, by labels, by humiliation, by exclusion? Rejection causes deep wounds: pain, shame, alienation. It tells a person, “You do not belong.” That pain is something Jesus knows—from the manger onward.
5. Following the Footprints
Christmas is not only about admiring the footprints of God. It is about following them. If God has walked into our humanity, then no human life is insignificant. If God has chosen vulnerability, then strength lies in compassion.
If God has accepted rejection, then we are called to become people of welcome. The footprints of God lead us: from indifference to presence, from exclusion to embrace, from rejection to communion. Let us get rooted in life, getting rid of all the divisions that we may have.
This Christmas, may our homes, our churches, and our society become places where no one is chased away, where no one feels unwanted, where the footprints of God are not erased but honoured. Because when we welcome the rejected, we welcome Him. And when we make space for others, we make space for God Himself.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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