FREEDOM AND THEOLOGY

Freedom and Theology

When one sees more deeply into Christ, is one looking into a mirror merely reflecting one's own deepest feelings? The answer must be that the Church has the mission of determining what is only the projection of subjective feelings and what is an authentic response to Christ as revealed. Yet it would be preposterous to imagine that all these profound changes occured simply by the acquiring of deeper insights into Christ. Human beings do not reach moral conclusions in a vacuum, apart from the whole web of language, custom and social structure surrounding them. A society composed entirely of free human beings was unknown in the Mediterranean world of the first centuries; a society where the state did not support religion was equally unknown. Only as social structures changed did moral mutation become possible, even if change in social structures, as it might reasonably be argued, was owed at least in part to the perception that structures fostering liberty were more congruent with deeper insights into Christ.

CANDLELIGHT'S WONDER CHILD

PRESENTATION OF THE LORD   2 February

CANDLELIGHT’S WONDER CHILD

                                                           

            Light a candle and put it in the hand of a young child at a Baptism or Holy Communion. A moment of magic! It’s the look of the child, the soft gleam on the innocent cheek, the glint in the eye, in which the world lights up as words fail or are not needed to describe the wonderment of childhood in the glow of candlelight. The words are unlikely to be heard. The action itself is simple and elemental. The eyes of a child at candlelight are not only worth seeing but also pondering as adulthood melts away to defer to childhood once again. All one need do is place a lighted candle in the hand of a child in order to bear witness to one of our basic capacities - the ability for wonderment. It’s something that belongs to each one of us but can so easily be starved or, like a candle itself, be quenched and extinguished. Giving a lighted candle to an adult can easily cause embarrassment and make them look sheepish, as though they had grown out of all that long ago. But as like as not, the child nearby may say, “I want to hold it.” And then the grownup may see what the child had seen, and smile, perhaps with nostalgia for what they had lost or forgotten.

            That is why the feast of Candlemas is so necessary. Its observance has a more complicated history than the simple holding of the candle. It commemorates that LIGHT that melded youth and old age into a common childhood glinting with joy and wonderment in the rays of its heavenly magic. In the great Jerusalem Temple were met Mary, Joseph and the Child and the aged Simeon and Anna. And the aged Simeon said what has come to be called in Latin the “Nunc Dimittis”, i.e. “Now let your servant, Lord, depart in peace.” A dismissal not away from the light but with it.

            At this Candlemas we want to avoid all complexities of history and stay with that candle lit in all its primal clarity. Religion is immediately in danger as soon as it gets detached from what is deeply natural to human beings, and our humanity is at risk if it loses touch with what is co-natural to it, like joyous wonderment. We are shown a universe that can keep us on our toes, agog with excitement. We need just such a wide-eyed wonder to keep us in our place; and our place is the limitless cosmos that the infinite God has entered as a child. The ground of our hope is God’s delight and confidence in the natural world itself, and us as part of it.

            What is natural to us may not always be enough, but at its deepest it often bears witness to something of great importance. A child’s natural response of wonder is something which needs to be cared for and cherished, for it is the beginning of wisdom. Wonder does not bulk big in school syllabuses or formal tests, nor offer the material for university degrees; yet the modern world needs the rebirth of wonder in order to save itself from ennui and boredom. Here again children have something to teach the grownups who have made the world into a land of mirage merchants. And most of us who are adults need to rediscover something of the child in us which gave us this capacity for wonder at one time. Wonder which begins with the light of a candle may grow up to a much wider reverence for life.

            Accepting a candle lit at Candlemas and looking at its light, we can ask the Lord of light to revive and restore and strengthen in us the gift of the Wonder Child.

HOW NOT TO GO TO HELL

Question: "How can I not go to hell?"

Answer: Not going to hell is easier than you think. Some people believe they have to obey the Ten Commandments for their entire lives to not go to hell. Some people believe they must observe certain rites and rituals in order to not go to hell. Some people believe there is no way we can know for sure whether or not we will go to hell. None of these views are correct. The Bible is very clear on how a person can avoid going to hell after death.

The Bible describes hell as a terrifying and horrible place. Hell is described as “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12), “shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2), a place where “the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44-49), and “everlasting destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Revelation 20:10 describes hell as a “lake of burning sulfur” where the wicked are “tormented day and night forever and ever.” Obviously, hell is a place we should avoid.

Why does hell even exist, and why does God send some people there? The Bible tells us that God “prepared” hell for the devil and the fallen angels after they rebelled against Him (Matthew 25:41). Those who refuse God’s offer of forgiveness will suffer the same eternal destiny of the devil and the fallen angels. Why is hell necessary? All sin is ultimately against God (Psalm 51:4), and since God is an infinite and eternal being, only an infinite and eternal penalty is sufficient. Hell is the place where God’s holy and righteous demands of justice are carried out. Hell is where God condemns sin and all those who reject Him. The Bible makes it clear that we have all sinned (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:10-23), so, as a result, we all deserve to go to hell.

So, how can we not go to hell? Since only an infinite and eternal penalty is sufficient, an infinite and eternal price must be paid. God became a human being in the Person of Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14). In Jesus Christ, God lived among us, taught us, and healed us—but those things were not His ultimate mission. God became a human being so that He could die for us. Jesus, God in human form, died on the cross. As God, His death was infinite and eternal in value, paying the full price for sin (1 John 2:2). God invites us to receive Jesus Christ as Savior, accepting His death as the full and just payment for our sins. God promises that anyone who believes in Jesus (John 3:16), trusting Him alone as the Savior (John 14:6), will be saved, i.e., not go to hell.

God does not want anyone to go to hell (2 Peter 3:9). That is why God made the ultimate, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice on our behalf. If you want to not go to hell, receive Jesus as your Savior. It is as simple as that. Tell God that you recognize that you are a sinner and that you deserve to go to hell. Declare to God that you are trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Thank God for providing for your salvation and deliverance from hell. Simple faith, trusting in Jesus Christ as the Savior, is how you can avoid going to hell!

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THOMAS AQUINAS

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

Feast:  28th. January

                                                                                               

Destiny carved in stone

Thomas Aquinas was a scion of a martial family with royal connections. His great uncle was the bearded terror Barbarossa. His second cousin was the brutal Emperor Frederick II of Germany, the infamous “Wonder of the World.”  His family was related to Emperor Henry VI and to the kings of Aragon, Castille, and France, as well as to a good half of the ruling houses of Europe. His own father rode in shining armour behind imperial banners and stormed the Benedictine monastery of Mount Cassino because the Emperor regarded it as a fortress of his enemy, the Pope. At his birth, therefore, this seventh and last son born to Landulf and his wife, the Countess Theodora of Teano, inherited the clear and irreplaceable obligation to take his place in the world and bring added lustre to his family’s already glorious name.  His destiny was carved in stone. Or so it seemed.

When he calmly announced his intention to join a newly formed order of preachers and don the garb of a friar  -  a beggar, in fact  -  his family was astonished and horrified.  It was as if Napoleon had insisted on remaining a private soldier for the duration of his military career.  Anticipating the worst from his family, Thomas set out on foot to leave Rome and to escape to Paris. He was accompanied by the master general of the order and three other friars.  Learning of his escape, his mother despatched a message to two of her sons who were soldiers in the army of Frederick II.  She ordered them to kidnap her fugitive offspring.  The brothers did as they were commanded, forcibly apprehended the black sheep of their clan, and imprisoned him in the fortress of Monte San Giovanni, near his birthplace in Roccasecca.

During his 18 month imprisonment, every means, fair and foul, was used to shake him from his resolve to become a Dominican preacher.  Members of his family took turns in resorting to a wide assortment of strategies:  stick and carrot, flattery and threats, deprivation of food and books.  His eldest sister, Marotta, who was sent to convert him, was herself converted by him and joined the order of St. Benedict. 

The family’s patience must have been at the point of exhaustion, when his brother Raynaldo adopted a more forthright and devilish plan of luring him from his purpose.  Raynaldo was an upright and honourable man in the eyes of the world, but he lived and thought in accordance with the world.  So what did he do ?  He quietly introduced into the room where Thomas was sleeping a woman; a woman who has been described as a “courtesan of the most exclusive sort, a pretty young girl with all the charms of a temptress.”

Lion resolve

The young Thomas Aquinas was a full-blooded man of about 19 years of age. He was a strong and healthy individual of impressive stature.  He had learned, along with his brothers, how to mount and ride a horse and to execute the manly arts of sword and lance expected of a man of nobility growing up in 13th. century Italy.  His long period of confinement and deprivation must have left him vulnerable to enticements of the flesh.  So what did Thomas do ?  Upon seeing the woman and immediately sizing up her purpose, he grabbed hold of a flaming firebrand and, roaring like a lion, chased her out of his cell.  He  slammed the door shut and traced the sign of the cross on it with the brand.  He returned and dropped the firebrand again into the fire; and sat down on that seat of sedentary scholarship, that chair of philosophy, that secret throne of contemplation, from which he never rose again.

His family may have been convinced that their prisoner was incorrigible. They may have feared the wrath of Pope Innocent IV, who, by that time, had been alerted to the travesty that was taking place. Or his mother may have experienced a change of heart.  For whatever reason, he was permitted to escape. He was lowered in a huge basket and received into the arms of joyful Dominicans. In the company of his fellow friars, he then set out for Paris, arriving without further interruption.

Dumb ox, indeed !

His noble and military lineage could not have predicted his career as a white knight of God, a staunch champion of the spirit in its war against the flesh. Before he was born, however, a holy hermit foretold his career to Theodora, his mother, in these words: “He will enter the order of Friars Preachers, and so great will be his learning and sanctity that in his days no one will be found to equal him.”  Another prophecy came from his professor, St. Albert the Great.  Since Thomas as student never opened his mouth in the classroom, his fellow students called him the “dumb ox.” But his professor had the last word: “Dumb ox, indeed !  There will come a time when this ox’s bellowing will be heard all over the world.”  It turned out to be true, and his books and commentaries are still with us today.  In those days that couldn’t boast of computers, Thomas Aquinas could dictate three separate treatises to three secretaries simultaneously. Towards the end of his life, in his late forties, he confided to his faithful friend and companion, Reginald of Piperno, the secret of a remarkable gift that he received which enabled him to do his work without experiencing the slightest disturbance of the flesh.  Had he succumbed to that woman’s enticement, he may, besides breaking a commandment, very well have forfeited the serenity he needed in order to achieve the status of pre-eminence as a philosopher and theologian.  After he had driven that temptress from his chamber, he earnestly implored God to grant him integrity of mind and body. His prayer was answered, and the gifts bestowed upon him were made apparent to those who call him the “Angelic Doctor.”

On Jesus, the mystic

Aquinas and, till mid-20^th. century, his followers maintained that Jesus of Nazareth enjoyed the beatific vision all through his life, on the strength of St. John’s gospel, “No one has even seen God; it is the only Son nearest to the Father’s bosom who has made  him known” (1,18); “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who has come from God; he has seen the Father” (6,46); “I am telling you what I have seen and heard from my Father” (8,38). The Jesus of John’s gospel is the mystic of mystics. Sadly, few Christian thinkers agree with this teaching of Aquinas, their contention being that Jesus’ humanity and temptation could not gel with the beatifying vision of God. However, it seems that these modern thinkers fail to perceive that the vision of God, far from making Jesus less human, made him the most human of humans. In fact, the beatific light brought him no consolation, but rather made his suffering more acute by confronting the horrific contradiction of darkness and sin. Only the true mystics understand Gethsemane, the dark contemplation bereft of happiness. The vast majority of 20^th. century scripture scholars were not mystics. Influenced by the Enlightenment (read paganism), they knew little about mystical experience. The future of theology is in Asia, particularly India and Tibet, where Western theologians will hopefully recover the original insight of Aquinas that the man Jesus was a highly enlightened mystic who saw God.

Poet of the Eucharist

Apart from being a great and popular preacher, Aquinas’ intellectual contribution was immense. It involved an unprecedented synthesis between philosophy and theology, pagan thought and Christian faith, and the input of antiquity and the insights of the contemporary world. His love for his Eucharistic Lord urged him to compose in Latin the most beautiful hymns to the Blessed Sacrament ever known. They are here still with us, still savoured and sung:  “Panis Angelicus”, “Lauda Sion Salvatorem”, and that most touching, “Adoro Te devote”. The first verse goes like this:

O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore thee

Who truly art within the forms before me

To thee my heart I bow with bended knee

As failing quite in contemplating thee

And the last verse  like this:

Jesus, whom the present veiled I see

What I so thirst for, oh vouchsafe to me

That I may see thy countenance unfolding

And may be blessed thy glory in beholding.

One day Aquinas was surprised by a voice coming from the crucifix asking him:

“You have written well of me, Thomas. What recompense do you desire ?”

And Thomas answered with those three Latin words that form the crest on his books:   “NON NISI TE,”  which means, “Except for you, I desire nothing.”

In 1274 good St. Thomas was setting out from Naples for the Council of Lyon, but he contracted gastro-enteritis to which he succumbed on 7th. March at the Cistercian Abbey of Fossa Nuova.  He failed to make it to the Council; but no failure counts in honour for one who dies in the Lord.

PRAYER OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS:

Grant me grace, O merciful God,

To desire ardently all that is pleasing to thee,

to examine it prudently,

to acknowledge it truthfully,

and to accomplish it perfectly,

for the praise and glory of thy name.

                                                                                   

WHAT THEOLOGY IS AND IS NOT

WHAT THEOLOGY IS AND IS NOT

            1. Theology is not faith. To have faith is to be in a personal relationship with God, who is Truth itself. Faith can include theology. To use St. Anselm of Canterbury’s centuries-old definition, “Theology is faith seeking understanding.” It is the more or less systematic effort one makes to understand and express the fundamental experience of God. There can be Hindu theology and Muslim theology; Christian theology focuses that process of understanding on Jesus Christ, operating within, and in fidelity to, a particular community and tradition, like the Catholic Church. So there is a specifically Roman Catholic theology, and it need not be an intimidating empire of thought or system.

            2. Theology is not monolithic. Not only are there many religious faiths (Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist) but there are also many variations of faith within given faith-traditions. Even within Catholicism, for example, one may speak of a theology that is Augustinian, Thomistic (St. Thomas Aquinas), Rahnerian (from the late Jesuit Fr. Karl Rahner). But other divisions are also possible, and, in fact, operating, based on the situation: feminist, liberation, ecological, inculturation, and so forth.

            3. Theology is not simply reflection on doctrine. A doctrine is an official teaching that derives from theology, not from direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Before the official Church can propose a statement of faith for the acceptance of its members, it must first think about and struggle with its possible meanings and with various possible expressions of meanings. That process of struggle, always aided by divine grace, to understand faith leading to some official expression of faith is called theology. Theology, however, does not consist simply of a listing, explanation, and defence of doctrines. The theologian’s task is not only explicative, but critical – critical even of doctrine, or the language of doctrines and the conceptual framework so that the doctrine’s truth can become accessible anew in a fresh formulation, taking the help of the intellectual-cultural thought patterns of a particular nation or people.

           

            4. Theology is not catechesis. Catechesis is, literally, an “echoing” of the faith. Unlike theology, catechesis is for the potential member (known as catechumen) or for a newly initiated member of the Church (e.g. a growing child or an adult convert). Catechesis teaches the faith by highlighting and explaining the main elements of the faith tradition and their relationships, as well as their personal and pastoral implications.

The catechist’s task is not to invite potential or new members of the Church to think critically about their faith, but rather to understand and appropriate it in as clear and spiritually fruitful a way as possible. The theologian’s task, by contrast, is critical. The mature member of the Church is invited to think critically, to question, even to challenge certain elements of the faith-tradition. To judge the theologian’s work by the standards of the catechist’s is to misconstrue the work of both.

            5. Theology is not religious studies or a philosophy of religion. To do theology, one must proceed from and reflect within a faith-tradition, one that takes God to be real, not only objectively and historically, but also in one’s own life and consciousness. It is quite possible, though, that a split personality could study theology, even teach it, without it’s making any faith difference in his life. Agents of the communist era have gone through the course of theology in this fashion. It’s difficult to say what was in their minds.

            6. Theology and the faith it seeks to understand do not begin at the point where reason gives out. The very use of the concept “understand” includes the function of reason. Faith is consonant with reason, which in turn is illumined by faith. Both faith and reason are fully engaged from the very start of the theological process. 

            7. Theology is not static or ahistorical. Theology is always and everywhere contextualised. It occurs not only within a given faith-tradition, but also within given moments of time and within given networks of circumstances and interrelationships.

Theology belongs to the very guts of a changing world as agent of the process of change and development; it is not a decoration but a factor of man’s opening to God in ever new and challenging situations. For this it has to think up and provide the necessary “God talk” for a changing world. The theologian is a man in God and a man in the world.

The theology of one historical period and/or of one cultural situation will differ, often markedly, from the theology of another historical period or cultural situation.

The faith may not change, but our understanding of it does.

            8. Theology is not in conflict with science, since both seek and are devoted to the truth. Alleged contradictions are only apparent, not real. It is probably accurate (and humiliating) to say that theology has had more errors and false assumptions to correct in recent decades than has science!

            9. Theology is a science, because it is methodical and systematic. Although rooted in faith and in the life of the Church, theology is, unlike catecheses, preaching and pastoral instruction, a scientific discipline. The theologian is not charged primarily with the “echoing” of faith (which is the literal meaning of catechesis), nor the proclamation of the Gospel (which is the task of preachers), nor the official transmission of the faith to the general membership of the Church (which has become over time the special responsibility of the bishops, known as the Magisterium).

The theologian is not simply a catechist with a doctoral degree. Unlike the catechist, he is required to probe and examine the whole of the Christian tradition to see what it means, how it fits together, by what process it has developed, and how it is related to the so-called outside world of theory and practice; and then to pose new questions in light of changing historical circumstances and propose fresh answers for them. The Church has never made it easy for its most ardent defenders. The Church represents all that is eternal, lasting and permanent. The Church’s views look back over the centuries, and mistrust those who think they have the keys to all the puzzles in their puny hands. It is too cautious to charge ahead with every innovator, though later it will admit that some of them were right.

            10. The theologian’s audience. The catechist has one audience or public: church members who are relatively new in the faith, whether children or adults. But the theologian has three audiences or publics: first, church members who have advanced beyond the stage of catechesis; second, the academy (colleges and university related people who are themselves seriously engaged in intellectual reflection on religion); and, third, the wider society. The important point is that the theologian addresses the mature Christian. There are many more mature Christians these days, thanks in large part to the success of Catholic higher education, than some members of the hierarchy and some lay people seem prepared to acknowledge.

Further, the Catholic theologian has an even wider audience within the Church. The Church of Christ is, after all, wider than the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Catholic theologian must be mindful of Anglicans, Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal and other non-Catholic Christians. In India, particularly, he must take into his theologising the thinking and wisdom of Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Sikh religions. Theology is ecumenical by the very nature of the enterprise. Furthermore, the theologian has an even wider audience, beyond the church and beyond the religious persuasions at large. The theologian also addresses fellow academics in Catholic, non-Catholic and secular institutions alike, men and women trying to make difficult ethical decisions in government, business and medical professions; poets and musicians, novelists and artists; and ordinary people seeking answers to life’s most fundamental questions.

As a scientific and ecclesiastical enterprise, theology has to be engaged in dialogue with all three publics: church, academy and society. Failing to understand the range of the theologian’s publics is to conceive too narrowly the nature and task of theology itself.

(concluded)

THE SONG AND THE STORY

THE SONG AND THE STORY

            No child born into a family has had or will ever have so many songs sung on its birthday as the infant Jesus. Every nation, community and culture has a song for him: the Christmas song. The songs of Christmas always make for joyful singing. They are sung not only as the lilting expression of interior gladness at the birth of the Saviour, but also as a way of radiating the spirit of good cheer, springing from the heart that wishes well to all. The happy acclamation of “Joy to the World”, the sweet sublimity of  “Silent Night”, the placid depth of “While Shepherds watched…”, the tinkling gentleness of “Sweet Chiming Bells”, and the haunting echo of “O Holy Night”, all mark the season with their message that there yet is hope for the age of peace, as foretold in the Scriptures. The songs of Christmas, with their simple words and catchy melodies, sound best when sung with voices rising from childlike hearts, no matter the age of the singer. For if the Saviour could be a child, why not the one who sings about him?  The songs of Christmas have a flavour that the passing years cannot erase. They and their flavour, like a sweet contagion, cannot be taught, only caught !  For what is sung with the lips sinks gently inwards to expand and gild the heart for the descent of the Eternal Wonder, named Emmanuel.  The songs keep alive the story, and the story gives substance to the songs, for without the story the songs would ring hollow.

            “Once upon a time.” That’s how it began. Our faith did not come to us initially as theology, but as story. “Tell me about God.” “Well, once a time, there was a beautiful garden, and in the middle of the garden there was a tree. A man and a woman lived in that garden. The owner of the garden was very friendly with them and allowed them to eat any fruit except from the tree in the centre of the garden.  And you know what they did ?”   “Tell me about Jesus.”  “Once upon a time there lived a boy in a little town of Palestine called Nazareth. His mother’s name was Mary.”  “Tell me about salvation.”  “Well, when the boy grew up, he loved people so much that the rulers began to get frightened of him. And you know what they did ?”

            Think of what it would be like if there were no Christmas story, and no one to tell it. How it began with that childless old couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, marvellously conceiving and bearing a son, named John, who would herald the long awaited Messiah. We would miss the sense of hope in God’s goodness, in spite of appearances, which this story arouses. No one would hear of the angel’s announcement to the maid of Nazareth, the hush of the universe, sweetly punctuated by the twittering of birds, as it held its breath for an answer, and the sigh of relief when it heard her say, “I am the handmaid of the Lord…” Who would tell us the story of the Virgin Mary and Joseph who went to be enrolled in the great census, little knowing that the One in the womb would in turn enrol the whole world to himself ? Who would tell us of the Infant King on the manger throne, swathed in circumstances of utter poverty, his royal chamber a stable, his canopy the loose spread cobwebs, the reek of the beasts the incense, his courtiers two homeless human beings, and his first subjects the rough and ready shepherds ? We would not hear the story of the Child in the Temple, the carpenter’s son of Nazareth, his kindness, his strength and honesty, his single-hearted devotion to God’s kingdom and God’s people. But for the story, we would never know that the desire of the everlasting hills and the hope of ages has appeared and has surpassed all expectations. We would not know that our death has lost its sting and been swept up into the vibrant joy of the Resurrection. We might have experiences of our hearts burning within us when we meet a stranger and would not know what to make of it, were it not for the Emmaus story.

            We must recover the story, if we are to recover the faith for our day. Each of us has their story. Alongside them is the Christian story, the stories of the heroes and heroines of the faith. Could the pair of stories impact upon one another ?  Sometimes we hear another person’s story in biography, fiction or a movie, and we say, “Ah, that’s my story, too.” In hearing the story of Abraham Lincoln, Jane Adams, Frodo Baggins, of Abraham of Ur, or Deborrah or Ruth or Jesus or Peter and Paul, we say, “That’s my story too. In hearing about them, I’m learning about myself.” We are discovering that the Bible stories are not just what happened “way back then,”  but our own story as well, firmly planted in “the here and now.” In losing the story, we lose the power and the beauty in the very midst of oppression. A very simple Christmas carol invites “all poor folk and humble” to come to the Bethlehem stable. They are “not to feel afraid, for Jesus our treasure, with love past all measure, in lowly poor manger was laid.”  Poor, humble folk, crude surroundings, makeshift cribs, child of poor and oppressed people. There is the oppression side of it laid out clearly. But as the carol continues, and the poor present their gifts, there is an unexpected line: “…and Jesus in beauty, accepted their duty.” This is the beauty side of it laid out equally. The Christmas story will never be lost !

            We need people to tell us the story of Jesus and of their experiences of him to help us make sense of our own, to feed our imagination, give body to our songs, and warm our hearts for God and his peace. “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger of good news, who proclaims salvation and says to Zion, ‘Your God is king’” (Isaiah 52.7). Without the story’s power and the teller’s feeling, we would be sadly locked in a stuffy Noah’s ark, looking out on to a bleak world. But once we have the story and are warmed by it, we become storytellers ourselves, each one becoming a piece of the Good News for those we meet. We can be hearty tellers without being compulsive, and tell an important tale without self-importance; because, after all, we are children, commuting between singsong and prose, one sliding into the other  -  the story and the song.

            And what shall we sing and tell about ? About the helpless Child among the helpless, about dispossessed infinity, naked and cold, that we may give him the universe for the stable, and for his manger our hearts and their warmth. We want to listen to him and hear that nothing greater he puts before us to achieve than that we love him, love one another for him, and bear him faithful witness always. But today let there be only the story and the song, and leave out the large talk about this “omniscient, omnipresent and immutable” God.  We have the Baby, and there is no need yet to twist ourselves into intellectual knots, figuring how to squeeze the “divine attributes” into him. After all, when babies are born, we don’t force an identity on them; we let them tell us who they are as their lives gradually unfold and their personalities, dreams and goals take shape.

Today, we have the Baby !

C H R I S T M A S

CHRISTMAS: PRAYER TO JESUS IN THE MANGER

CHRISTMAS: Prayer to Jesus in the Manger        

O Divine Saviour, Jesus Christ, prostrate before Thy crib, I believe Thou art the God of infinite Majesty, even though I see Thee here as a helpless babe. I humbly adore and thank Thee for having so humbled Thyself for my salvation as to will to be born in a stable. I thank Thee for all Thou didst wish to suffer for me in Bethlehem, for Thy poverty and humility, for Thy nakedness, tears, cold and sufferings. Would that I could show Thee that tenderness which Thy Virgin Mother had toward Thee, and love Thee as she did. Would that I could praise Thee with the joy of the angels, that I could kneel before Thee with the faith of St. Joseph, the simplicity of the shepherds. Uniting myself with these first adorers at the crib, I offer Thee the homage of my heart, and I beg that Thou wouldst be born spiritually in my soul. Make me reflect in some degree the virtues of Thy admirable nativity. Fill me with that spirit of renunciation, of poverty, of humility, which prompted Thee to assume the weakness of our nature, and to be born amid destitution and suffering. Grant that from this day forward, I may in all things seek Thy greater glory, and may enjoy that peace promised to men of good will.