What do I do with a broken baby Jesus?

[AnnaTherese]

I just bought a statue of the Christ child and a manger this year for Advent so we could try out the tradition of putting a straw in the manger for each good work that we do to make a soft bed for the baby Jesus at Christmastime. Problem is, my two-year-old daughter got a hold of it and accidentally dropped it, breaking off an arm, a few fingers, part of one foot, and breaking the cross/halo on his head. I can’t find the missing pieces, except for the arm which my husband has already superglued back on.

My husband is very frugal and doesn’t want to spend money unnecessarily, but my concern is that it might not be right, or might send a bad message to my daughter if we continue to use it. Should I get a new one? Or just keep the old one? And if I get a new one, what do I do with the old one? It isn’t blessed.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

There is nothing wrong with keeping the statue and continuing to use it. You can even have it blessed if you wish. If you do decide to keep it, you can use it as a visual aid for the Christmas lesson that Christ’s purpose for coming into the world was to suffer for the sake of our salvation. You might explain to your daughter, as she grows older, that even the baby Jesus suffered (e.g., being born in a manger, receiving circumcision) and that even those sufferings were of infinite value for mankind.

If you decide that you would rather get a new statue, or if you decide later on down the road to replace this one, you can break the statue into small pieces. If the statue is blessed, the pieces should be buried; if not, the pieces can be thrown away.