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Week 3 | Was There a Dog at the Birth of Jesus?
A reflection from Fr. James Kubicki, SJ

Almost twenty years ago, I went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where our group visited all the important sites: Nazareth, where Mary said yes to God’s desire that she be the mother of his Son; Capernaum, where Jesus preached in the synagogue; the hill where Jesus preached the Beatitudes; the Sea of Galilee, where the Apostles had fished; and of course Jerusalem, the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.

And we went to Bethlehem. There, in the Church of the Nativity, underneath the main altar, is the Grotto of the Nativity — basically a crypt that you reach by descending a narrow staircase under the altar. I touched the stone that marks the spot where Mary gave birth to Jesus. That stone is surrounded by a star with fourteen points.

Why fourteen? Because at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, in the genealogy of Jesus, we read that there were three sets of fourteen generations leading up to him: fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the exile to Jesus himself.

But one of my favorite places in all the Holy Land is the Shepherds’ Field Chapel, located just outside Jerusalem, on a bluff where the angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. On the day we were there, we saw in the field below the bluff shepherds watching over their sheep as they grazed — much as they would have done in the time of Jesus.

The chapel itself was built in 1953, and on the walls are paintings of the angel’s appearance to the shepherds, of the shepherds going off rejoicing to see the baby the angel had told them about, and of the stable where they adored the newborn Jesus.

Why is that chapel one of my favorite sites in the Holy Land? Because in each of the paintings in that chapel, along with the shepherds, there is a dog. Now, while Scripture does not mention a dog at the first Christmas, it makes sense that there would have been one there. Shepherds often had dogs to help guard their sheep, and a dog would naturally have followed them to Bethlehem.

In those paintings, the dog mirrors exactly the feelings and reactions of the shepherds. In the first painting, the dog is cowering close to the ground, perhaps growling, as the mysterious heavenly intruder on the night’s quiet proclaims to the frightened shepherds that a Savior has been born in Bethlehem. In the next scene, as the shepherds make their way to the stable rejoicing, the dog can be seen jumping for joy with them.

And finally, in the last painting — in the stable and at the crib — the dog is sitting in rapt attention, looking at the baby Jesus as the shepherds adore him.

Several years ago, the pastor of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City added a dog to the nativity scene displayed there. He modeled it after his own dog, named Lexington, and had the same Italian art studio that carved the other figures create the figure of the dog as well.

Maybe I have such fond memories of those paintings because I am a dog person. I like cats well enough, and when I lived in South Dakota, out on the prairie, we had three cats to keep the mouse population down. But I still consider dogs to be the better — dare I say, best — friends of us humans.

So, as the shepherds went with joy to adore our Lord in that stable so many years ago, I like to think that a dog accompanied them. And while the shepherds represented the first people to see Jesus other than Mary and Joseph, the dog represented another part of creation — the animal world.

Now, I’m not the only one who thinks there should be a dog in the nativity scene. In a 1952 book entitled The Book of the Savior, there is a poem by Sister Maristella entitled Christmas Carol for the Dog. The poem portrays the Christmas dog as a stray who just happened to be on the scene, and it goes a bit further by having the dog follow the Holy Family later, on their journey to Egypt.

Here is how the poem goes:

What do you think? Was there a dog there when Jesus was born? Maybe. And maybe you’ll think about adding a dog to your own nativity set. I hope so.

What is this Virtual Pilgrimage?

Heart to Heart's latest video and audio series for Advent & Christmas is presented as a Virtual Pilgrimage of faith to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus.

Each day, beginning the first Sunday of Advent (November 30th) through Epiphany Sunday (January 4th), we will release a new video or audio reflection on the Incarnation.
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Sundays feature a video from Fr. Michael telling one of his own personal stories experiencing God made flesh, followed by an introduction of the two other speakers for that week.

Monday through Wednesday the first speaker will have a story each day on how the Incarnation has touched their lives, followed by the second weekly speaker Thursday through Saturday.

Deeply Personal Stories of Jesus

These are stories of prayer, hope, joy, sorrow and loss. Jesus finds us in all aspects of life, from Fr. Michael reflecting on the loss of his mom to Fr. Romke at an orphanage in Russia to Lauren Hackman-Brooks on a retreat in Chicago while everyone around her was celebrating for St. Patrick's Day. These are just three brief examples of the stories told during this daily virtual pilgrimage for Advent & Christmas.

Who are the pilgrimage speakers?

Videos each Sunday from Fr. Michael Sparough, SJ. Fr. Michael's Saturday homilies will resume in January.

Audio reflections Monday through Saturday from:

Fr Michael Rossmann, SJ | Dec 1-3
Ms. Lauren Hackman-Brooks | Dec 4-6
Dr. Terry Nelson-Johnson | Dec 8-10
Fr. Sean Grismer | Dec 11-13
Ms. Paula Kowalkowski | Dec 15-17
Fr James Kubicki, SJ | Dec 18-20
Ms. Erin Maiorca | Dec 22-24
Ms. ValLimar Jansen | Dec 25-27
Ms. Rachel Forton | Dec 29-31
Fr Keith Romke | Jan 1-3

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