We all know the first lines of so many Christmas carols, poems and movies that it is often mindboggling when we sit back and wonder at how our brain has absorbed so many of the classic and not so classic Christmas phrases. Whether it is “Dreaming of the White Christmas” or wondering if “you will shoot our eye out,” this time of year brings about wonder and joy to so many people.
As a priest in a parish the first lines of the great Clement Clarke More poem, The Night Before Christmas where, “Not a creature was stirring; not even a mouse,” is not my experience nor would I want it to be. The joy and activity of the closing days, hours and moments before the first Mass, the joyous songs and the blessing of many people coming to share in the blessing of the birth of Jesus is always a time of hope and life.
It is also a time when we are called to a deeper understanding. Why? Because so many of us know the first lines or even the first verse of our Christian faith but have never taken the time to learn the second, third or fourth verses. I was at the year-end Christmas gather with the teachers from our parish school and the music teacher, Mrs. Fernandez, invited us to sing carols together. We were all amazed at her ability to remember those second and third verses as I quickly googled the song lyrics to even remember many of the first verse words. Certainly she has a wonderful gift of music and I know many people who can and do remember all sorts of lyrics that I am forever unable to do in my life…but that is getting off the point.
In the carols of Christmas we hear many of the deeper mysteries of our Christmas faith. These songs written in joy and love help us to delve deeper into who we are as members of the family of God. They are songs that unite us across boundaries as we share our faith in God’s divine and infinite Love, Jesus the Christ. This takes time and effort. Time that is so precious and the effort to open our hearts and minds to the wonder of love surrounding us.
Hear these prayerful words from the 4th verse of “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”
Now to the Lord sing praises, All you within this place, And with true love and charity Each other now embrace, This holy tide of Christmas is filled with heav’nly grace. O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy; O tidings of comfort and joy.
The call to love is an invitation to seek God in others as we embrace our willingness to bear God to others in wonder and yes tidings of comfort and joy. But we also recognize the cost of this true love and charity. The sad and tragic reality is the violence and terror under which many of our brothers and sisters live and celebrate Christmas in the world. We pray and work for the justice and peace given to us in our faith through God’s mercy. It is also through these same carols that we seek the conversion of heart and mind that each and every person is offered in the blessing of grace through God our Father. This truth of conversion is found in the last verse of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
O holy Child of Bethlehem! Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin and enter in; Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel.
May we all allow our Savior to “enter in and be born in us” this Christmas day. Have a Merry and Holy Christmas
God Bless, Fr. Mark