Joy From A Child
Nietzsche once said, "If Christians wish us to believe in their Redeemer why don't they look a little more redeemed?" He is absolutely correct in his thinking, to a point. If our “Redeemedness” doesn’t transfer into daily living there is something missing. A crucial element that might be missing is joy; joy that permeates all we do and all that is done to us.
There are people that get so “rapped” up in the presents of the Christmas season that they forget it is not even their birthday being celebrated. There are others where the memories of past Christmas freeze the present. Some will not celebrate Christmas at all because December 25, before it was Christianized, was pagan and will not even think of bringing in an evergreen from out of the cold. They can not see the forest for the tree. The tree in their mind has taken over the carols, egg nog and the manger. In all these cases Nietzsche would be accurate.
Christ brings joy of redemption. There should be hope and celebration in a new beginning through the Redeemer. A true Christmas proves Nietzsche wrong on all levels because it will translate into a spring-time of joy that will last long after the New Year. In the Loin, Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis refers to a land that is “always winter but never Christmas.” The exterior weather of ice and snow gives us a chance to focus on the interior warmth of Christmas that should be there as Christians.
Starting in high school, long before becoming Catholic, there was a fascination with the Midnight Mass. It was the chilled darkness outside and lights within that brought me to understanding much about what the season can be. Knelling beneath the lights, stone alter, and manger I was able to see the child again, the joy that brings me again to realize a Divine Child can and does change the man in this season and in the next.
This Christmas season it is a prayer that we should all be able to have the joy of knelling closer to the manger. May the lights on the trees above burn in our hearts continually. May the Child in the manger remind us that it is not just the season that can bring joy but an embrace of the Childs Smile and Life in the middle of winter that creates the season.
Joy to the world
The Lord has come
Let earth receive their King
Let every heart prepare Him room
Let heaven and nature sing (3X)
Nietzsche once said, "If Christians wish us to believe in their Redeemer why don't they look a little more redeemed?" He is absolutely correct in his thinking, to a point. If our “Redeemedness” doesn’t transfer into daily living there is something missing. A crucial element that might be missing is joy; joy that permeates all we do and all that is done to us.
There are people that get so “rapped” up in the presents of the Christmas season that they forget it is not even their birthday being celebrated. There are others where the memories of past Christmas freeze the present. Some will not celebrate Christmas at all because December 25, before it was Christianized, was pagan and will not even think of bringing in an evergreen from out of the cold. They can not see the forest for the tree. The tree in their mind has taken over the carols, egg nog and the manger. In all these cases Nietzsche would be accurate.
Christ brings joy of redemption. There should be hope and celebration in a new beginning through the Redeemer. A true Christmas proves Nietzsche wrong on all levels because it will translate into a spring-time of joy that will last long after the New Year. In the Loin, Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis refers to a land that is “always winter but never Christmas.” The exterior weather of ice and snow gives us a chance to focus on the interior warmth of Christmas that should be there as Christians.
Starting in high school, long before becoming Catholic, there was a fascination with the Midnight Mass. It was the chilled darkness outside and lights within that brought me to understanding much about what the season can be. Knelling beneath the lights, stone alter, and manger I was able to see the child again, the joy that brings me again to realize a Divine Child can and does change the man in this season and in the next.
This Christmas season it is a prayer that we should all be able to have the joy of knelling closer to the manger. May the lights on the trees above burn in our hearts continually. May the Child in the manger remind us that it is not just the season that can bring joy but an embrace of the Childs Smile and Life in the middle of winter that creates the season.
Joy to the world
The Lord has come
Let earth receive their King
Let every heart prepare Him room
Let heaven and nature sing (3X)
posted by Kenneth W. Michael | 10:29 AM
<< Home