Las Posadas, literally, “the shelters,” which begins on the 16th of December, is celebrated with great joy as the “holy pilgrims: (Mary and Joseph) move each night from house to house, one after another.  It is always celebrated with song, prayers, and special food, some of which are: tamales, donuts, champurrado and buffets.
Why do people carry lanterns in the procession of Las Posadas?  Because of all those carrying the lanterns represent the stars which illuminate the way for the shepherds who make their way to the house of the birth
                                                                                                             --Celestina Castro

Read and meditate on the following passage.  Then journal what stirs within you as you sit in silent reflection.
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To be human is nothing less than to be caught in the great congested pilgrimage of existence and to join ourselves freely to it in the face of the evidence of its never-ending troubles.
                                                             -- Eugene Kennedy, Joy of Being Human

As you prepare for prayer, reflect on this passage:
We are a wounded people;
we can love each other, forgive each other
and celebrate together our oneness.
Perhaps we can only truly accept this humiliation
if we live an experience similar to the one
lived by the prodigal son.
If we discover that we are loved and forgiven
and accepted by the Father just as we are,
in all our brokenness,
with all the darkness and pain inside us,
then we too can weep in the arms of God,
rejoicing in his forgiveness.
Yes, the cry and anguish of the poor
triggers off our own cry and anguish;
we touch our point of pain and helplessness.
But then we discover the new name of God,
the name revealed by Jesus,
of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit;
the Father will send a “Paraclete.”
It is a beautiful name, meaning literally
“the one who answers the cry or the call,”
like a mother
who takes in her arms her weeping child.
She is a paraclete.
The name of God is “the one who answers the cry.”
Mercy and misery embrace!
We can only know the incredible mercy and love of God
if we accept to descend into our misery
and there cry out to him.
Then he will answer, “Here I am, Beloved.,”
and will enfold us in his arms
with a long embrace.
--Jean Vanier

Practice lectio divina using:
Deuteronomy 10:17-19
For the Lord, your God, befriends the alien, feeding and clothing them.  So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourself.