Christmas Eve

A thought for every Christmas: “Christmas is not a time or a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.” - President Calvin Coolidge

CHRISTMAS EVE carol (The Lord at first did Adam make)

1.
The Lord at first did Adam make
Out of the dust and clay,
And in his nostrils breathed life,
E'en as the Scriptures day.
And then in Eden's Paradise
He placed him to dwell,
That he within it should remain
To dress and keep it well.
Chorus.
Now let good Christians all begin
An holy life to live,
And to rejoice and merry be,
For this is Christmas Eve.
2.
And then within the garden he
Commanded was to stay,
And unto him in commandment
These words the Lord did say:
The fruit which in the garden grows
To thee shall be for meet,
Except the tree in the midst thereof,
Of which thou shalt not eat.
Chorus.
3.
For in the day that thou shalt eat,
Or do it them come nigh;
For it that thou doth eat thereof
Then surely thou shalt die.
But Adam he did take no heed
Unto that only thing,
But did transgress God's holy law,
And so was wrapt in sin.
Chorus.
4.
Now mark the goodness of the Lord
Which he for mankind bore,
His mercy soon he did extend,
Lost man for to restore;
And then for to redeem our souls
From death and hellish thrall,
He said his own dear son should be
The Saviour of us all.
Chorus.
5.
Which promise now is brought to pass,
Christians, believe it well;
And by the coming of God's dear Son
We are redeemed from thrall.
Then if we truly do believe,
And do the thing aright;
Then by his merits we at last
Shall live in Heaven bright.
Chorus.
6.
Now for the blessings we enjoy,
Which are from Heaven above,
Let us renounce all wickedness
And live in perfect love.
Then shall we do Christ's own command,
Ev'n his own written word,
And when we die in Heaven shall
Enjoy our living Lord.
Chorus.
7.
And now the tide is nigh at hand,
Int' which our Saviour came;
Let us rejoice, and merry be,
In keeping of the same.
Let's feed the poor and hungry souls,
And such as do it crave;
Then when we die, in Heaven sure,
Our reward we shall have.
Chorus.

About midnight some one on the roof cried out, "What light is that in the sky? Awake, brethren, awake and see!"

The people, half asleep, sat up and looked; then they became wide-awake, though wonder-struck.  And the stir spread to the court below, and into the lewens; soon the entire tenantry of the house and court and enclosure were out gazing at the sky.

And this was what they saw.  A ray of light, beginning at a height immeasurably beyond the nearest stars, and dropping obliquely to the earth; at its top, a diminishing point; at its base, many furlongs in width; its sides blending softly with the darkness of the night, its core a roseate electrical splendour.  The apparition seemed to rest on the nearest mountain southeast of the town, making a pale corona along the line of the summit.  The khan was touched luminously, so that those upon the roof saw each other's faces, all filled with wonder.

Steadily, through minutes, the ray lingered, and then the wonder changed to awe and fear; the timid trembled; the boldest spoke in whispers.

"Saw you ever the like?" asked one.

"It seems just over the mountain there.  I cannot tell what it is, nor did I ever see anything like it," was the answer.

"Can it be that a star has burst and fallen?" asked another, his tongue faltering.

"When a star falls, its light goes out."

"I have it!" cried one, confidently.  "The shepherds have seen a lion, and made fires to keep him from the flocks."

The men next the speaker drew a breath of relief, and said, "Yes, that is it!  The flocks were grazing in the valley over there to-day."

A bystander dispelled the comfort.

"No, no!  Though all the wood in all the valleys of Judah was brought together in one pile and fired, the blaze would not throw a light so strong and high."

After that there was silence on the house-top, broken but once again while the mystery continued.

"Brethren!" exclaimed a Jew of venerable mien, "what we see is the ladder our father Jacob saw in his dream.  Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers!"

~ from  Ben-Hur  by  Lew Wallace

4th Sunday of Advent

Here lies the precious Babe, first-fruit of virgin's womb,
Angels' delight and joy, men's highest price and boon,
Should He your Saviour be and lift you into God,
Then, man, stay near the crib and make it your abode.

How simple we must grow! How simple they, who came!
The shepherds looked at God long before other men.
He sees God nevermore, not there, nor here on earth,
Who does not long within to be a shepherd first.

All things are now reversed: the castle is the cave,
The crib becomes a throne, the night brings forth the day,
The Virgin bears a Child.  Reflect, O man, and say
That heart and mind must be reversed in every way.

~ Angelus Silesius

3rd Sunday of Advent

When Jesus Christ our Lord was born,

The angels welcomed that happy morn;

The world was weary, the world was sad,

So down came Jesus to make us glad;

And all the bells on earth did ring,

And all the angels in heaven sing:

‘Peace on earth, goodwill towards men’.

Two thousand years have come and gone,

Since the star of Bethlehem brightly shone;

And now again the world is torn

With war and hunger and fear and scorn;

There's fighting while the bells do ring,

There's hating while the angels sing;

Not much peace or goodwill towards men.

It may not be in a stable bare,

There won't be wise men and shepherds there;

But when Lord Jesus is born again,

Oh, may it be in the hearts of men;

And all the bells on earth will ring,

And all the angels in heaven sing,

For Christ our Lord will really bring

Peace on earth, goodwill towards men.

~ Calypso Carol

2nd Sunday of Advent

Loving Father, help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

1st Sunday of Advent

ou, Lord, yourself are our Father,

Our Redeemer is your ancient name.

Why, lord, leave us to stray from your ways
and harden our hearts against fearing you?

Oh, that you would tear the heavens open and come down
- at your Presence the mountains would melt.

You guide those who act with integrity
and keep your ways in mind.

We have all withered like leaves
and our sins blew us away like the wind.
No one invoked your name
or roused himself to catch hold of you.
For you hid your face from us
and gave us up to the power of our sins.
And yet, Lord, you are our Father;

we the clay, you the potter,

we are all the work of your hand.

~ Isaiah 63

AN INSPIRING PRAYER TO START THE DAY

Lord God of power and might,
nothing is good that is against your will,
and all is of value which comes from your hand.
Place in our hearts a desire to please you
and fill our minds with insight into love,
so that every thought may grow in wisdom
and all our efforts may be filled with your peace.
(Opening Prayer for Weekday Masses in the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time)

TO BE A CHRISTIAN – VII

At Christmas we celebrate the Incarnation, when
Heaven and earth in little space
became one, as the English early Tudor hymn (ca 1420) puts it.

Yet, the Incarnation began nine months earlier, in a happening rich with significance for a Christian life.

Probably the truest, therefore the best, representation of that moment is the painting of the Annunciation by an artist of no great fame, Domenico Veneziano.

In a bare room, without a prie-dieu or a prayer-book, the angel and Mary face each other. That she is hortus conclusus, an enclosed garden, is implied by the wall around the garden, whose door is shut. The path from it has no footprint.
There is no dove descending in a ray of light. The angel genuflects even as his hand betokens a request. With crossed arms, Mary bows as though sheltering the One who is within. She has already spoken her “Behold the handmaid of the Lord”; already the Lord who sought her acquiescence has found in her his “little space”.


It is a moment of heart-stopping mystical wonder, beauty, and love. Love, humility and obedience, without which there is no Christian life. In Judaeo-Christian tradition, the brightest angel, whose mind was nearest to God’s, fell, “like lightning from Heaven,” as Jesus once said, because he would not bend the knee to any of humankind. They were, as he judged, inferior to angels. He would not do it from obedience, nor even for love, and humility was unknown to the one who became The Adversary.

If the room is bare of material things, it is brimful of love, humility (“let it be done to me,” says Mary, NOT “I accept”), and obedience: in Mary and the angel, and in the One who is unseen but present already in Mary’s womb.


That is what Christmas reminds us of, what it invites us to renew within ourselves. As the hymn concludes:
Leave we all this worldly mirth,
And follow we this joyful birth;
    Transeamus.

ANNUNCIATION by DOMENICO VENEZIANO

The maiden was at her prayers,
silent, removed
from garden path and barrèd door.

No whisper of wing, no footprint on path,
Gabriel kneels before her,
wondrous greeting giving;
bringing the Word to her open heart.

In time she will bring forth
the Timeless One, incarnate.
But now in a quiet corner
she bows to her God within,
and the angel kneels to both.

©2012 by Ruth Heredia