When
I was younger, I always felt something different about Christmas, but,
especially, Christmas Eve, yet, it wasn’t the anticipation of presents, nor was
it the gathering of family, as great as all of that was, it was something else,
it was something more. In fact, I remember I would be sitting in the back of
the car, coming from or going to one of the grandmother’s houses and on the
radio the song “Do you Hear what I Hear?” would be playing and I would think to
myself this song perfectly encapsulates this night and, indeed, this entire
season.
I remember I would then look up to the sky, and if it wasn’t snowing, raining or overcast, I would see the stars in their radiant beauty and be reminded of the star that led the Magi to Bethlehem. To me, they would embody the feeling of that night, and then, almost inevitably, on the radio “Silent Night” would play and a peace would fill my heart, a peace would fill my soul, and I would feel that peace the entire night, sometimes the entire season.
While, at the time, I had no idea of the rich history behind those carols, that one was written during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and another was sung in 1914, during WWI, resulting in British and German troops calling a cease fire, if only for a night, at the time those songs encapsulated, as they still do, what that night truly means.
A child was not just born into the world on that night, with accompanying signs, a child was born into the world and, by His birth, transformed that world, so that the world would never be the same again, which is why the world, the entire universe, pauses, it adores that child, as it did the very first time, and it continues do so throughout this entire Christmas season. In fact, St. John Chrysostom, from his own Christmas homily says: “Bethlehem, this day, resembles Heaven,” but truly, everywhere Jesus is adored is Bethlehem, so that just as on that first Christmas, Heaven has come down to earth, so that earth might resemble Heaven, if even for a moment, if even for a day.
This is why what we feel is more than silence, more than peace, it is reverence, it is the universe, literally, bowing again before its Creator, recognizing and instilling within us not just a sense of peace, not just a feeling of charity, but a night and an entire season when we, too, fall upon our knees and hear the angels’ voices as if they are singing again as they did on that first Christmas night.
And, because He changed the world, because the greatest miracle of the world occurred on that night, what to us may have seemed insignificant was, in fact, all a part of God’s plan.
From the very beginning, this is clear. Jesus, was born in the city of David, in a little town called Bethlehem, and He was laid in a manger because there was no room at the Inn.
I remember I would then look up to the sky, and if it wasn’t snowing, raining or overcast, I would see the stars in their radiant beauty and be reminded of the star that led the Magi to Bethlehem. To me, they would embody the feeling of that night, and then, almost inevitably, on the radio “Silent Night” would play and a peace would fill my heart, a peace would fill my soul, and I would feel that peace the entire night, sometimes the entire season.
While, at the time, I had no idea of the rich history behind those carols, that one was written during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and another was sung in 1914, during WWI, resulting in British and German troops calling a cease fire, if only for a night, at the time those songs encapsulated, as they still do, what that night truly means.
A child was not just born into the world on that night, with accompanying signs, a child was born into the world and, by His birth, transformed that world, so that the world would never be the same again, which is why the world, the entire universe, pauses, it adores that child, as it did the very first time, and it continues do so throughout this entire Christmas season. In fact, St. John Chrysostom, from his own Christmas homily says: “Bethlehem, this day, resembles Heaven,” but truly, everywhere Jesus is adored is Bethlehem, so that just as on that first Christmas, Heaven has come down to earth, so that earth might resemble Heaven, if even for a moment, if even for a day.
This is why what we feel is more than silence, more than peace, it is reverence, it is the universe, literally, bowing again before its Creator, recognizing and instilling within us not just a sense of peace, not just a feeling of charity, but a night and an entire season when we, too, fall upon our knees and hear the angels’ voices as if they are singing again as they did on that first Christmas night.
And, because He changed the world, because the greatest miracle of the world occurred on that night, what to us may have seemed insignificant was, in fact, all a part of God’s plan.
From the very beginning, this is clear. Jesus, was born in the city of David, in a little town called Bethlehem, and He was laid in a manger because there was no room at the Inn.
We
hear this so often that it might not mean much, but each of these details are
incredibly important. A manger is a feeding trough for animals, and hay was put
into that manger not to be his mattress but as food for those animals.
The town was Bethlehem, a Hebrew word that means “House of Bread,” and David was a king, which means then that Jesus, was born as a king, laid in a feeding trough in a town that is known as the “House of Bread.”
So, from His very first moment on this earth, Jesus wanted to feed us, He was born to feed us, feeding us first with His Word, which we just heard, and then again with the Eucharist, the true bread from Heaven, which we will receive shortly.
Christmas then is more than just the gifts that we receive and the gifts that we give, Christmas is a celebration of that gift that was laid in a manger for us.
And while that gift wasn’t wrapped in fancy paper with a bow, while that gift wasn’t the latest and greatest thing, only to be forgotten the next year, while that gift wasn’t expensive, it costs more than any gift we could buy, because that gift was wrapped in swaddling clothes and came to give us the greatest gift of all, the gift of Himself to us.
And that gift is what these songs are all about, that gift is what I felt on Christmas Eve, that gift is what this season is all about and that gift is what we will receive from that altar, Christ Himself, the same little child from Bethlehem.
Therefore, then, let us with the angels and archangels celebrate when it all began, when Heaven and nature sang that triumphant hymn of praise “Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth,” because today, in the city of David a savior, our savior, has, indeed, been born, He who is Christ the Lord, the Prince of Peace, our God, our Eucharist, indeed, His gift to the entire world.
The town was Bethlehem, a Hebrew word that means “House of Bread,” and David was a king, which means then that Jesus, was born as a king, laid in a feeding trough in a town that is known as the “House of Bread.”
So, from His very first moment on this earth, Jesus wanted to feed us, He was born to feed us, feeding us first with His Word, which we just heard, and then again with the Eucharist, the true bread from Heaven, which we will receive shortly.
Christmas then is more than just the gifts that we receive and the gifts that we give, Christmas is a celebration of that gift that was laid in a manger for us.
And while that gift wasn’t wrapped in fancy paper with a bow, while that gift wasn’t the latest and greatest thing, only to be forgotten the next year, while that gift wasn’t expensive, it costs more than any gift we could buy, because that gift was wrapped in swaddling clothes and came to give us the greatest gift of all, the gift of Himself to us.
And that gift is what these songs are all about, that gift is what I felt on Christmas Eve, that gift is what this season is all about and that gift is what we will receive from that altar, Christ Himself, the same little child from Bethlehem.
Therefore, then, let us with the angels and archangels celebrate when it all began, when Heaven and nature sang that triumphant hymn of praise “Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth,” because today, in the city of David a savior, our savior, has, indeed, been born, He who is Christ the Lord, the Prince of Peace, our God, our Eucharist, indeed, His gift to the entire world.
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