PUTTING UP the crib is an important occasion.
Perhaps it’s not as decorative or shiny as some decorations, but its rich symbolism points us to the reason why we celebrate Christmas.
This year, as I placed the crib in its usual place, I was struck by a horrible reality.
On Tuesday 6 December, the body of Aladar Turtak from Estonia, who was in his mid-40s, was discovered before noon on Dominick Street in Dublin’s north inner city.
It is believed that he froze to death because there was no room for him in appropriate sheltered accommodation.
This has been a very bad year for homeless people.
It was meant to be a year when rough sleeping and long-term (more than six months) homelessness were to be eliminated in the Dublin area. Instead, the number of homeless people kept on growing and more people were forced to sleep rough than at any time in the past 15 years.
The objective of the new strategy, which was initiated in 2009, was to move homeless people out of emergency accommodation and into permanent lodgings within six months of being homeless.
The key to its success was to secure 1,200 units of accommodation by the end of 2010. And it was hoped that emergency homeless shelters could then be closed.
“There was nothing wrong with this strategy; it made perfect sense and was supported by every organisation working with the homeless, but it didn’t work”, said Fr Peter McVerry.
By the end of 2010, only 300 units of accommodation had become available, while the process of closing the emergency shelters had already begun.
As a result, for much of 2011, there has been a massive increase in the number of homeless people living on the streets of Dublin. New emergency shelters are badly needed to cope with the increased demand.
I’m sure Aladar Turtak could relate to a God who was born deliberately into the reality of homelessness.
God became homeless because he wanted to challenge the structures and attitudes that cause inequality, injustice and poverty. In a time when we are bombarded with the negative impacts of economic restriction, we have, through the message of the crib, a reason to hope.
God not so much provides quick fix answers to the many questions that cause burden and anxiety, but through empathy and lived experience offers us a wonderful example.
The birth of the Christ Child announces a new season and brings with it renewed opportunity.
God was not born in a conventional hospital or palace but among the poorest of the poor. His birth is a true light that can beam brightly in the midst of winter darkness.
The crib tells us that, in poverty, we can also experience the richness of what it is to be vulnerable and yet loved; to be lost and yet found; to be in the shadows of darkness and yet, in a remarkable way, to discover a bright and profound light that tells us loudly: we are not alone, we are special, we are children of this homeless God, seeking to make his home within each one of us.
I pray that Aladar Turtak, a homeless son of God, will be truly embraced by the warmth and hospitality of our true home in heaven.