When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. – Luke 2:15-16
All about the Holy Family
Today’s reading provides the picture of the iconic family: Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Almost everyone, Christian or not, has seen a painting or a card depicting this group. In Roman Catholic culture, today is the Feast of the Holy Family, designed to focus everyone on the spirituality of the home.
In Eurocentric Christianity, this veneration for the Holy Family as a group, did not arise until the 1600’s and was not officially recognized until the feast day was formally instituted in 1921. That was also about the time the phrase “nuclear family” was coined to define the basic, normal family grouping in a capitalist society. The feast was originally celebrated on the Sunday after Epiphany but was moved to the Sunday after Christmas in 1969, to bring it within the Christmas season, the most family-oriented season of the year.
Both the Catholics and Protestants have been obsessed with the health of the family as capitalism has done all it could to fracture it in the name of enriching it. The Church’s focus has often left unmarried people, people from broken or foster homes, and people who don’t fit into hetero-normative relationships feeling like second-class members of the Church — all the while Jesus never married and Paul suggested it might be better if one did not.
Nevertheless, it makes sense to have a very “fertile” day in the midst of the Christmas celebration. It is, after all, a celebration of miraculous conception and the birth of the Son of God! The incarnation overturns the propensity of spiritual people to long to be without a body by affirming the goodness of the body as a fitting place for God to dwell and affirming the miraculous experience of sexual ecstasy, conception and birth. The incarnation is all about reclaiming and restoring the good, reproducing creation.
More
An interview with Janet McKenzie, the artist of the painting above. [link]
It is not without merit that On the 5th day of Christmas my true love sent to me… Five Gold Rings.
For two centuries after the Reformation, the Catholic structure of the Church was repressed in England, especially. The legend has grown up that catechists used this song for children to defiantly teach their polity.
Purportedly, the gift on the fifth day “secretly” represents the Torah, the central five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The gift of these books reminds the singer of humanity’s fall from grace and of God’s response by creating a people to be a light to the world into which THE Light of the World would be born.
What do we do with this?
Pray: Open the eyes of my heart so I can see what you have done and sing for joy over the new creation.
Christians often look askance at people who can’t love their families. So let’s assume you have already considered how that area of your life is going — how you relate to mom and dad, how you are a mom or dad, and whether you live as a beloved child of God. If not, pause here.
Let’s spend some time singing with the morning stars. Recall one of the Christmas songs that have now stopped playing wherever religious songs are still played. Let it play over and over in your mind or in your ears, until you stop resisting it and go with its joy. “Joy to the World” is a good choice. Let it impregnate you with some goodness. Here are suggestions for new carols to move with which might not be in your repertoire: The Huron Carol. Tu scendi dalle stella. Daystar Carol.
The Massacre of the Innocents by Angelo_Visconti (c. 1860)
Bible connection
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” – Matthew 2:16-18
All about the Holy Innocents
The fourth day of Christmas honors the memory of the Holy Innocents, all of the young boys slaughtered at the command of King Herod when he hoped to kill the newborn Jesus.
Herod “the Great,” king of Judea, was unpopular with his people because of his connections with the Romans and his religious indifference. So he was insecure and fearful of any threat to his throne. He was a master politician and a tyrant capable of extreme brutality. He killed his wife, his brother, his sister’s two husbands, and a number of his own sons, to name only a few.
Herod was “greatly troubled” when magi from the east came asking about where the “the newborn king of the Jews” might be whose star they had seen. They were told that the Jewish Scriptures named Bethlehem as the place where the Messiah would be born. Herod cunningly told them to report back to him so that he could also “do him homage.” They found Jesus and offered him their gifts. Then, warned by an angel, they avoided Herod on their way home. Jesus escaped to Egypt.
Herod became furious and “ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under.” The horror of the massacre and the devastation of the mothers and fathers led Matthew to quote Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children…” (Matthew 2:18). Rachel was the wife of Jacob (Israel). She is pictured as weeping at the place where the Israelites were herded together by the conquering Assyrians for their march into captivity.
More
There is no way the incarnation is going to go unchallenged. In Jesus of Nazareth, Herod’s murders are depicted without today’s graphic treatment, but the scene is disturbing, nonetheless. [link]
On the 4th day of Christmas my true love sent to me… Four Calling Birds [That is, in the 1909 American version. Earlier English versions have “colley birds” or black-as-coal birds. There are other versions as well.]
The spiritualized version of the song says this secretly stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who told the life and ministry of Jesus from birth to death to resurrection. The word for church in Greek is, essentially, the “called out ones.” The first believers (like the gospel writers) were “calling birds,” called out to build the church.
What do we do with this?
Pray: Help me not to give up weeping for the children.
Like it happens so often with United States leaders, Herod called out hatred based on fear. What resulted was a military action that killed children. His action was as astounding a scene as the pictures of children massed at our border, or wandering around the rubble of Gaza City, or experiencing the worst impact of climate change with the most vulnerable.
In juxtaposition to such a horrible memory, this day includes a call from the gospels to see Jesus, the holy innocent, who takes away the sins of the world. To whom are you listening? To what are you called? In what death-dealing action are you complicit? — be it a blow to your own innocence or the sacred heart of other? For what are you calling? Today is a good day to meditate on those questions.
“Jesus and the Beloved Disciple” by John Giuliani, 1996
Bible connection
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:12-13
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love (Jesus). – John 15:9
All about John (c. 6-100)
Today is the feast day of John, the Apostle and Evangelist, who recorded the words of Jesus, quoted above. He called himself “the beloved disciple.” I doubt that means he was more beloved than the others, but it certainly means he knew he was loved!
John the Apostle was the son of Zebedee and the younger brother of James. According to church tradition, their mother was Salome.John is one of two disciples (the other being Andrew) recounted in John 1:35–39, who upon hearing John the Baptist point out Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” followed Jesus and spent the day with him, thus becoming the first two disciples called by Jesus.
Jesus referred to Zebedee’s sons as “Boanerges” (translated “sons of thunder”). A Gospel story relates how the brothers wanted to call down heavenly fire on an unhospitable Samaritan town, but Jesus rebuked them. John was also the disciple who reported to Jesus that they had “forbidden” a non-disciple from casting out demons in Jesus’ name, prompting Jesus to state that “he who is not against us is on our side.”
John is always mentioned in the group of the first four apostles in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts, listed either second, third or fourth. He, along with his brother, James, and Peter, formed an informal triumvirate among the Twelve Apostles in the Gospels. Jesus allowed them to be the only apostles present at three particular occasions during his public ministry: the raising of Jairus’ daughter, his transfiguration, and his time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus sent only Peter and John into the city to make the preparation for the final Passover meal.
After the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, only Peter and John followed him into the palace of the high-priest. The “beloved disciple” alone, among the Apostles, remained near Jesus at the foot of the cross. Following the instruction of Jesus from the Cross, the beloved disciple took Mary, the mother of Jesus, into his care. Peter and John were also the only two apostles who ran to the empty tomb after Mary Magdalene bore witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
After Jesus’ Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, John, together with Peter, took a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the church. He was with Peter at the healing of the lame man at Solomon’s Porch in the Temple and he was also thrown into prison with Peter. Later, only Peter and John went to visit the newly converted believers in Samaria.
John is traditionally believed to live on for more than fifty years after the martyrdom of his brother James, who became the first Apostle to die a martyr’s death in AD 44.
Most authorship of New Testament works are disputed. John is the author of the Gospel bearing his name, three letters and the Book of Revelation.
Present-day French hens — Faverolles
On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love sent to me… Three French Hens.
Today is also the third day of Christmas. Going with our spiritualization of the kid’s Christmas song, the singer’s “true love” (that would be Jesus, in this case) sent His true love (John, Paul and the rest of us disciples/friends) three “virtues” — that is, three inner motivations that dispose one to act rightly. In the Catholic catechism, faith, hope and love are the “theological” virtues.
The famous Thomas Aquinas explained that these three virtues are called theological “because they have God for their object, both in so far as by them we are properly directed to Him, and because they are infused into our souls by God alone, as also, finally, because we come to know of them only by Divine revelation in the Sacred Scriptures”
Actual French hens, in the song, are probably just everyday chickens, although fancy French hens have been bred for show since the 1800’s. In the 1600’s, however, a meal of three nice chickens would be what rich people were eating. Some interpretations of the song say the “secret” meaning has a lot to do with expensive gifts brought by the wise men: gold, frankincense and myrrh. In that case you can sing this verse as a praise song, seeing Jesus telling the world how his true love made a feast for him in the cold world, and offered her best to do it.
What do we do with this?
Pray: As the Father loves you, you love me. Thank you.
Regardless of secret meanings, the clear message of John is all about love: Jesus and you are one another’s beloved and you are exchanging valuable gifts. It would be terrible to keep Christmas with a discussion of the value of chickens or an assessment of one’s virtue, wouldn’t it?!
Be the beloved who got the “chickens” on whatever level you want to interpret that. Supply your own secret meaning, if you like.
Be the lover who gives the gifts. We often feel so needy, we forget our commitment to love. Why don’t you take a step out of your usual reactions to others or your usual routine and do something that gives someone some love in a way they can understand? Don’t call attention to the fact you are doing this, just be it. Later, write in your journal about how that felt or how it didn’t.
When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. “Quick!” he said. “Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.”
“Lord,” I replied, “these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.”
Then the Lord said to me, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.”
All about Stephen (ca. 5-34)
The future that dawns with the birth of Jesus does not come without cost.
For Stephen, the future meant trading his life for telling the truth to the powers that be (Acts 6-7).
Stephen was dragged before the Sanhedrin where he faced faced two accusations: 1) he had declared that Jesus would destroy the Temple in Jerusalem and 2) he had changed the customs of Moses. Stephen denounces his accusers and listeners as “stiff-necked” people who, just as their ancestors had done, resist the Holy Spirit. “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the law by the disposition of the angels, and have not kept it.”
The crowd, so impugned, could not contain their anger. They descended on him and took him out to be stoned. At the place, Stephen looked up and cried, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God” — the recently resurrected Jesus was standing by the side of God.
The people from the crowd, who threw the first stones, laid their coats down at the feet of a young man named Saul who later took the name Paul, the apostle. Stephen prayed the Lord would receive his spirit and forgive his killers. He sank to his knees, and “fell asleep.” Saul “was consenting unto his death.” In the aftermath of Stephen’s death, the remaining disciples except for the apostles fled to distant lands, many to Antioch.
We remember the death of the first Christian martyr on the second day of Christmas each year. This is the “feast of Stephen” we sing about in the Christmas carol: “Good King Wenceslas.”
BTW — Vaclav (“vatslaf” in Czech) Havel who died a few years back , is a namesake of King Wenceslas and also something of a martyr for speaking back to the powers when the Czech Republic was born in spite of Soviet occupation. Stephen was the first martyr of many to come in the church.
For Paul, moving into the dawn of the future meant leaving Jerusalem in a hurry, at one point, told in today’s reading. Following Jesus still means an adventurous, but totally unpredictable and often troubling life on the road.
More
From Rod: Stephen Day: The gift of Martyrdom [link]
An enacted reading of the whole story of Stephen as recorded in Acts 7:
Where is Stephen buried? Israeli and Palestinian archeologists say they found his tomb in Ramallah in 2014. Salesian monks say he is buried in a cave at Beit Jimal. Pope Pelagius II claimed he interred him next to St. Lawrence in the , whose tomb is enshrined within the church of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura after he became pope in 579. According to the Golden Legend, the relics of Lawrence moved miraculously to one side to make room for those of Stephen.
St. Stephen’s Day was a big day in England. It was known as Boxing Day, the day church alms boxes were opened and the contents distributed to the needy. Nowadays is it a big day for hospitality; many people look for people who might be left out to fill their table. In Ireland some places held Wren Day — check out the link if you’d like to know another place Mummers came from.
On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love sent to me…Two Turtle Doves
Receiving doves is a symbol of truth and peace. That would be lovely enough. If you want to go with the possibly-catechetical secret meaning of the 12 Days carol, the two doves represent the Old and New Testaments, which together bear witness to God’s self-revelation in history and the creation of a people to tell the story of God to the world.
What do we do with this?
Pray: Help me look around without fear and see my opportunities to share your truth and love.
It costs us to tell the story of our faith, or so we fear. What is your story? Spend a minute with Jesus and let him help you remember who you are in Christ. Maybe you should write it down.
“Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered you under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but you would not have it so . . . .” — Luke 13:34
All about Christmas Day
Jesus followers celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who is the incarnation of God. As a result, it is also a profound celebration of our own incarnation as the body of Christ composed of the children of God.
These days, as we gather around our Christmas trees to celebrate Christmas, few of us think of Christmas Day as a beginning. For most people Christmas is the culmination, the climax of weeks of planning, shopping, and anticipation. Not many are even aware that, traditionally, Christmas is just the first day of a twelve-day season of joy.
Ever since the Council of Tours met in 567 and proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive time, the Church has officially observed both an Advent season for preparation and a Christmas season for the celebration of our Lord’s nativity.
Unfortunately, much of the richness of religious seasons like Christmastide was muted in the Reformation. The people determined to reform the Roman Catholic Church tried to move people from the visual to the intellectual, from elaborate ritual to simple observance; they favored minimalist gatherings for teaching and prayer rather than spectacles. As a result, the festivals of Advent and Epiphany, which had become the mix of biblical stories and allegorical traditions they still are today, were suppressed in Reformed churches. However, in spite of the church’s stand, people weren’t willing to give up some of their delightful Christmas customs. As a result, Advent and Christmas became desacralized and became times of good-natured reveling rather than times for spiritual observance.
Recently some Evangelicals and Anabaptists have tried to recapture the spiritual festivals of the Christian year. They have revisited the wisdom the church year dramatizes and how it gives the whole church another look at the story of Jesus at the heart of everything. The church year forms an annual curriculum, of sorts, that tells the story of our faith: those who experience it soak up the basics of the gospel. It begins with Advent.
Christmastide allows us a restful, celebrative season to soak in the spiritual and relational joys of being one with Christ who became one with us and will come again to welcome us into the age to come in fullness.
So let’s have the twelve days of Christmas until January 5 (Twelfth Night) and enjoy Epiphany, January 6.
The popular song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” can lead us. This old carol is usually seen as simply a nonsense song for children. It would not be a mistake to keep it there.
However, some authors in the 1990’s suggested that it was also a song of Christian instruction, perhaps dating to the 17th century religious wars in England, with hidden references to the basic teachings of the Christian faith. They contend that it was a device to teach the catechism to youngsters. The “true love” mentioned in the song is not an earthly suitor, but refers to God Himself. The “me” who receives the presents refers to every baptized person who shares faith in Jesus. Each of the “days” represents some aspect of the truth in Christ that is important for children to learn. It is probably just a fun dance song that is sort of annoying when it is merely sung. But pondering how it could represent deeper things is fine. [Try these thoughts]. Jesus followers can meditate on almost anything and experience the presence of God leading us to dance! So let’s start with a line from the “Twelve Days” each day.
On the 1st day of Christmas my true love sent to me… A partridge in a pear tree
Since partridges are unlikely to be seen in pear-trees (they are ground-nesting birds), it has been suggested that the text “a pear tree” is a corruption of the French “une perdrix” (a partridge).
For those who want this song to have a religious meaning, the partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge. Legend has it that partridge mothers will feign injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings. This would be something like the Lord’s sentiment in today’s reading, wanting to take Jerusalem under his wings like a hen. The ground-nesting partridge stuck in a tree is as odd as the Son of God, now lying relatively secure in the manger, nailed to “the tree.”
What do we do with this?
Pray: I greet you Lord, born this happy morning. To you be all glory given.
If faith is expressed in one’s childhood home, they are more likely to be part of the church when they are older. Repeated traditions help all of us know and remember who we are and develop our identity as God’s children. Celebrations help us all express our faith.
Advent was meant for anticipation and preparation. Christmastide is for an extended celebration. Getting the horse back into the barn it escaped on Black Friday is probably a lost cause. But these entries are little gifts to help us recover from the worldly glut that most of us just experienced and refocus on the Joy to the World about whom angels were singing in the wee hours of this morning [Inspiring, multicultural Evangelicals]. If you really want to get into it, you could spread out the kids’ gifts over twelve days with the best one reserved for Epiphany. You could offer little gifts to those you love or who ought to love Jesus over these days of celebration — just little love notes would be more than most people get.
Like Jesus, you might want to look out over our region and have some feelings. On the one hand, literally millions of people understand quite well what this day is all about. On the other hand millions do not know what their ignorance and rejection is storing up for them. We wish we could hold them all in love.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. – Luke 2:8-16
All about Christmas Eve
Christmas is celebrated on December 25 and is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. God bless you as you sort out the two millennia of associated traditions and practices which have proliferated around the world.
The evenings before major Church holidays have taken on significance of their own. The vigil on Christmas Eve is the culmination of the Advent time of waiting. We come to Bethlehem ourselves to greet the King as God comes to be among us.
European winter festivals
As the church became the dominant feature in many cultures, the celebration of holy days were expressed in the local language and elements of local cultural traditions were incorporated, repurposed, or given a deeper meaning.
The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the birth of Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many cultures rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the long dark nights were behind them and they could look forward to growing sunlight.
In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire. The people would feast until the log burned out, which could take as many as 12 days. So Nat King Cole sings, “Yuletide carols being sung by a choir.”
In Germany, people honored the pagan god Oden during the mid-winter holiday. Germans were terrified of Oden, as they believed he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people and decide who would prosper or perish. Because of his presence, many people chose to stay inside. So Santa flying in on his sleigh from the North Pole is not completely surprising.
In Italy, where winters were not as harsh as those in the far north, Roman-influenced people celebrated the Saturnalia, a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. Beginning the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month, Saturnalia was a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman social order was turned upside down. In some places, slaves could become masters and peasants could command the city (a “Lord of Misrule”). Businesses and schools closed so everyone could join in the fun. So turning the whole Christmas season into a “holiday season,” even redefining the word “holy-day” as “vacation” or “party” is not unprecedented.
In multicultural Rome, also around the time of the winter solstice, some Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring children. Some historians suspect some members of the upper class celebrated the birthday of Mithras, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25 (but this is mostly false). It was believed that Mithras, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans (like Emperor Constantine before he switched sides), days devoted to Mithras were the most sacred of the year. So getting a tear in one’s eye at the sight of a child lit by the candle they are holding, enjoying the wonder expectantly, appeals on many levels.
In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not widely celebrated. Around 200, Clement of Alexandria notes an observance. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention a date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in Spring (why would shepherds be out herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I (d. 352) chose December 25. As is common with other pre-Christian holidays, when the church dominated a culture, elements of those holidays were absorbed. So it was with Christmas, strategically placed in Saturnalia. First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the 500’s. By the end of the 700’s, the celebration of Christmas reached all the way to Scandinavia.
One does not need to leave one’s culture to follow Jesus. The meaning of Christmas is God with us, incarnate in time and space, in our history, in the Church, and in each of us. The longings represented by winter holidays of ancient times are met and fulfilled by the coming of Jesus Christ. “Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Let Earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing!”
Christmas reinvented by Americans
The Pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, and other New England colonists were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Oliver Cromwell and the radicals who took over England and outlawed Christmas. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in the colonies they founded in New England. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston — anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.
After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday until Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill on June 26, 1870. This was the culmination of about 50 years of reinventing the celebration in the United States.
Illustration of “The Christmas Dinner” from Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book (1876)
In 1819, Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent., a series of stories which includes one about the celebration of Christmas in an English manor house. The sketches feature a squire who invited the peasants into his home for the holiday. In contrast to the problems faced in American society, the two groups mingled effortlessly. In Irving’s mind, Christmas should be a peaceful, warm-hearted holiday bringing groups together across lines of wealth or social status. Irving’s fictitious celebrants enjoyed “ancient customs,” including the crowning of a Lord of Misrule and others he invented.
In 1843, Charles Dickens created the classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol. The story’s message: the importance of charity and good will towards all humankind, struck a powerful chord in the United States. The family was also becoming more sensitive to the emotional needs of children. Christmas provided families with a day when they could lavish attention (and gifts) on their children without appearing to “spoil” them.
As Americans began to embrace Christmas as a perfect family holiday, old customs were unearthed. People looked toward recent immigrants as well as Catholic and Episcopalian churches to see how the day should be celebrated. Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards and gift-giving. Although most families adopted the idea they were celebrating Christmas how it had been done for centuries, Americans had really re-invented a holiday to fill the cultural needs of their growing nation.
Finally, what about Santa Claus? The basis of Santa Claus can be traced back to Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, a seaport in what is now Turkey. St. Nicholas (270-342) gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick, becoming known as the protector of children and sailors. Along with many miracles attributed to him, Nicholas was well-known for secretly giving gifts.
St. Nicholas first entered American popular culture in the late 1700’s in New York, when Dutch families gathered to honor the anniversary of the death of “Sint Nikolaas” or “Sinter Klaas” for short. “Santa Claus” draws his name from this abbreviation.
Two covers for the Saturday Evening Post by Norman Rockwell, the left one from 1920, the right from 1922
In 1822, Episcopal minister Clement Clarke Moore wrote a Christmas poem called “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” more popularly known today by its first line: “’Twas The Night Before Christmas.” The poem depicted Santa Claus as a jolly man who flies from home to home on a sled driven by reindeer to deliver toys. The iconic version of Santa Claus as a jolly man in red with a white beard and a sack of toys was immortalized in 1881, when political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore’s poem to create the image of Old Saint Nick we know today. Coca Cola ads from the 1920’s forward sealed the public’s imagination.
Saint Nicholas history in a read-along video from National Geographic [link]
From the makers of The Chosen — The Shepherd:
What do we do with this?
The holiday season in the United States is a well-known consumeristic extravaganza which vainly attempts to re-orient itself to be a family/friends holiday full of the “human spirit” of love and peace. There are many redemptive ways to join in.
It makes sense not to throw out the baby with the dirty bathwater of corrupted religion. Paul helped the Galatians sort out such things in his short letter. Try meditating on the profound meaning he reinforces:
My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. — Galatians 4:1-7
Be a former slave who has been adopted as a child and heir. Be free of the elemental spirits and the burden of the law. We are living in the fullness of time.
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. — Galatians 5:13-15
All about Clara McBride Hale (1905-1992)
Clara Hale had a mission of motherhood. Her life experiences helped make her extraordinarily empathetic to the pain and suffering of other mothers and children. Her compassion gave her an unusual capacity to love and to find solutions.
“Mother Hale” was born in North Carolina in 1905. After her father was killed, her mom moved the family to Philadelphia, PA. After she married , she had two children, and adopted a third. Her husband moved the family to New York City, but he lost his battle with cancer when Clara was 27.
Through the Great Depression, Hale raised and supported her children, working as a domestic by day and a janitor by night. In 1943, Hale opened a daycare in her home in order to spend time with her children as well as care for others. It grew from a short–term to a long–term care facility. She also took care of foster children.
When Clara Hale retired in 1968 she could not have foreseen that her most notable endeavor, the founding of Hale House, was yet to begin. Hale House started in 1969 when Clara Hale’s biological daughter, Lorraine, brought a mother and child who were addicted to drugs to Hale’s home. She could not refuse the desperate pair. Actually, she had no choice because the mother disappeared and left the baby behind while Hale made a phone call in another room. Hale took the tiny baby girl and nursed her through drug withdrawals. The young mother had other children, and when she returned to Hale’s residence, she brought the others and left them, too. Eventually she returned to take the children back. Hale sent the family off with her blessing and never charged a penny for her help. Within a few short weeks Mother Hale’s apartment was packed from wall to wall with 22 drug-addicted babies. Some of them were abandoned; some were orphaned. As Mother Hale told the tale to Irene Verag of Newsday, “Before I knew it every pregnant addict in Harlem knew about the crazy lady who would give her baby a home.”
Slowly the Hales (Clara, daughter Lorraine, and sons Nathan and Kenneth) allowed their lives to become virtually consumed by the effort to instill hope and to inject healing into the lives of addicted parents in Harlem. The dedicated family worked day and night to support their cause. Mother Hale kept the frailest of the infants in her own bedroom, cradling them and walking the floors all night when necessary to comfort each one through the painful experience of detoxification. The younger Hales took as many jobs as was necessary to bring in the funds to support the many, many children who came into their home. Hale said, “My daughter says she was almost sixteen before she realized all these other kids weren’t her real sisters and brothers. Everyone called me ‘Mommy.’”
She later got a home license as a “child care facility” in 1970, called the Hale House. A few years later Hale purchased a larger building. In 1975 she was able to attain a license for child-care. She raised the children as if they were her own and once they were healthy she would help to find families interested in adoption. “It wasn’t their fault they were born addicted. Love them. Help one another,” Hale explained to others, as quoted in the Chicago Tribune. She took it upon herself to make sure the families were a correct fit and even in some cases turned families down if she thought they could not provide a good enough home for the child. She eventually helped over 2,000 drug addicted babies and young children who were born addicted to drugs, children born with HIV, and children whose parents had died of AIDS. It was simple, she said; “Hold them, rock them, love them and tell them how great they are.”
After the grant that helped her buy Hale House expired her work became a victim of severe cutbacks of state and city funds. Public agencies with competing services repeatedly harassed the center.
Successfully supported by individuals, churches, and community groups, Hale House nonetheless became unique in its format and demonstrated a sharp contrast to public agencies for the care of children. In the program’s early days when funds for food and supplies were few and meeting payroll was a constant challenge, Clara Hale’s personal faith in Christ and the love and active concern of ordinary people were her only reliable sources of strength and support. They brought her disposable diapers, formula, and other items that were in constant demand.
One notable admirer spent more than two years, off and on, trying to track down Clara Hale because no one among his circle of friends knew her name. Finally, John Lennon found her and sent a check for $10,000. “He came with his wife and son and spent time with the children,” Hale had said. After Lennon’s tragic death the following year, Yoko Ono, his wife, sent more gifts, including a check for $20,000, which arrived every year thereafter.
One morning, another fan made her way to Hale’s doorstep. As she emerged from a black limousine, the usual paparazzi who typically pressed for pictures were elsewhere. This was a private visit, for sure. Nonetheless, the presence of Princess Diana made it a royal and memorable one. As the princess stood at the top of the brownstone stairs, she lovingly held a baby in her arms. “Thank you for the work you’re doing here for these children,” she said to Mother Hale.
On February 6, 1985, at the close of the State of the Union message to Congress, President Ronald Reagan turned to Mrs. Clara Hale, seated at the side of the first lady, Mrs. Reagan, and recognized “Mother Hale” for helping babies of drug–addicted mothers in Harlem, N.Y. The president said to members of Congress and to all America, “go to her house some night and maybe you’ll see her silhouette against the window as she walks the floor, talking softly, soothing a child in her arms. Mother Hale of Harlem, she too is an American hero.”
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The media made her a bit famous. Here is a Mother’s Day report from NBC in 1984:
It may have been harder than Mother Hale let on. By 1983, 28,000 women had succumbed to drug–addiction in New York City alone. More than 50,000 children were born chemically dependent. These children were also at high risk of acquiring AIDS from their mothers during pregnancy. In New York State, there were about 250,000 addicts. At least 450,000 were users of cocaine, with one out of every 20 people over the age of 12 involved in drugs.
Today, such people are officially known to suffer from “Substance Use Disorder.” But in the 1980s, rather than declare their situation a national health crisis, society declared a crime wave was sweeping the nation. Mass incarceration and benign neglect of poor minorities became the response, rather than the implementation of well–funded addiction treatment and mental health programs.
Systemic issues are just that. If you want to make an individual response to social issues, talk to the powers that be as well as act with compassion in your neighborhood.
Love can accomplish a lot, even if you are needy yourself! Spend a minute a let God love you, needy child who you are.
Transformation often starts with a small inspiration or opportunity and grows up to accomplish a lot! Spend another minute and see what love is doing through you or your church. Give praise for how the love of Jesus flourishes even when the powers-that-be are against it. Maybe it is a good day to imagine how Jesus would like to work through you, or yours. Tell someone about the seed thought you may have and see where it goes.
And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false testimony; Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man *said to Him, “All these I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.
And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them, Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” – Matthew 19:16-26 (NASB)
All about Catherine Doherty (1896-1985)
Catherine de Hueck Doherty (née Ekaterina Fyodorovna Kolyschkina) was a Catholic lay apostle, a social activist, a pioneer in the struggle for interracial justice, a spiritual writer, a lecturer, and a spiritual mother to priests and laity.
Doherty was born in Nizhni Novgorod, Russia to parents of deep Christian faith, who also communicated to her an extraordinary love for the poor. She was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1920, she was received into the Roman Catholic Church while in London. Over her lifetime, she integrated both traditions within her own spirituality.
In 1910, when she was fifteen, Doherty entered an arranged marriage with her first cousin, the wealthy nobleman, Boris de Hueck. During the First World War (1914-18), she volunteered as a nurse on the German front and was decorated with the Cross of St. George for courage under fire. Boris was an officer in the Russian Army.
As Russia collapsed, the couple returned to St. Petersburg, where they found nothing to eat. They escaped Russia, rummaging through garbage cans in Finland where they were attacked by Bolsheviks for being aristocrats. Westerners, Catherine later insisted, can’t understand real starvation, “never having really experienced [food’s] complete absence.”
They ended up in London and eventually moved to Toronto where their son was born. Catherine worked at what menial jobs she found to support her infant and her sick husband. After a time, she found a well-paying position as a lecturer on the the Chatauqua circuit, and later became an executive with the Leigh-Emmerich Lecture Bureau in New York City. Meanwhile, Boris managed to form his own company, which went bankrupt in the Great Depression. Their relationship unraveled and their marriage was annulled by the Catholic Church.
Catherine became a single parent with a small child to support. Yet she felt called by Christ.
During those days I was in the throes of hearing the Lord say, “Sell what you possess … come follow me,” and I was running away from him. One night, while dancing with this man, I heard laughter, a very gentle and kind laughter. I heard what I thought was the voice of God laughing and saying: “You can’t escape me, Catherine, you can’t.” I pleaded a headache and went home. Some new phase of my life was about to begin.
With the blessing of her bishop, she went to live and work with the poor in the slums of Toronto, where she founded Friendship House.
When the work fell apart in Toronto, she went to New York. Two things shocked her: the extent of white racism, and the living conditions in Harlem. At Columbia University, she asked a professor why African-Americans weren’t discussed. He responded: “Oh, we don’t study the Negro. We study American history.” The United States, she wrote, “had this marvelous Constitution, but it doesn’t apply to Negroes.”
In Harlem, she found “a no-man’s land of fear and doubt.” She asked, “Where is God in it all?” In 1938 she founded a Friendship House there, an interracial apostolate dedicated to fighting segregation. Similar missions sprang up all over the country, some sponsored by Doherty. A similar mission that became Fellowship Farm near Pottstown started in Philadelphia in 1931. Like her friend Dorothy Day, the “B.” (the Baroness), as they called her, attracted idealistic young people nationwide. One volunteer recalled:
White people, black people—talking, laughing, friendly, sipping coffee. How simple the solution all seemed then: the sooner we of different races learned to work together, to pray together, to eat, to study, to laugh together, the sooner we’d be on the way to interracial justice.
Advocating civil rights in America, she discovered, could be as deadly as revolutionary Russia. She was spit at and called a “n*gger lover.” At a Catholic women’s group, she was berated for eating “with dirty n*ggers.” When a woman told her, “You smell of the Negro,” Catherine lost her temper: “And you stink of hell!” Once at a lecture in Savannah, she was nearly beaten to death by a group of white Catholic women.
“You have to preach the Gospel, without compromise, or shut up,” Catherine said. “One or the other. I tried to preach it without compromise.” She always ended her lectures the same way:
Sooner or later, all of us are going to die. We will appear before God for judgment. The Lord will look at us and say, “I was naked and you didn’t clothe me. I was hungry and you didn’t give me anything to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me a drink. I was sick and you didn’t nurse me. I was in prison and you didn’t come to visit me.” And we shall say, “Lord, when did I not do these things?” I would stop here, pause, and in a very loud voice say, “When I was a Negro and you were a white American Catholic.” That’s when the rotten eggs and tomatoes would start to fly!
One of Catherine’s key supporters was New York’s Cardinal Patrick J. Hayes, who was “always worried” about her. After she organized a study group at Friendship House, the local pastor visited her:
“Listen to me, you Russian nitwit. What are you trying to do? Make them think they are loved just because they have become Catholics? You are giving them the raw Gospel and it isn’t getting you anywhere. Stop it!” I said, “Father, would you like to come with me to see the Cardinal? If he orders me to stop, I will stop.” “Oh, hell,” he said. On the way out he slammed the door and smashed the glass in the window.”
Wherever she worked, Baroness Catherine de Hueck Doherty sought to actualize the Gospel message in the present moment. As she once told a Fordham University Jesuit: “I have never read anywhere in the gospel where Christ says to wait twenty years before living the gospel. The Good News is for now.”
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Read Poustinia, by Catherine Doherty. Borrow it on Internet Archive [link]
The poustinia (literally meaning “desert”) is an Eastern Orthodox tradition in which God calls someone to live in a poustyn—a bare-bones cabin where they pray and fast, alone except for the Holy Spirit. Catherine Doherty brought the idea of the poustinia with her to the States.
“To go into the poustinia means to listen to God,” she wrote. “It means entering into kenosis—the emptying of oneself. This is really a climbing of this awesome mountain right to the very top where God abides in his warm silence.”
Importantly, the poustyn is usually in a village, and the poustinik is also a part of village life, helping where help is needed and always praying and sharing the love of Christ.
“If I touch God I must touch man. … Christ incarnated himself and became man, so I must, like Christ himself, be a person of the towel and the water. That is to say, wash the feet of my fellowmen as Christ did, and washing the feet of my fellowmen means service. …I cannot pray if I don’t serve my brother. I cannot pray to the God who incarnated himself, when my brother is in need.”
The poustinik is always praying, always immersed in the silence of God, even when they are not alone. Every act of service is also a prayer. They carry the poustyn in their heart.
Catherine Doherty writes about prayer and sacraments as ways to welcome and know the presence of God in “First Meet God.” While you are there, check out the rest of the Madonna House Archives.
Luminous Lives, a Renovaré e‑course hosted my Mimi Dixon
Doherty as Thomas Merton’s spiritual mother [link]
Dialogue about her spirituality:
What do we do with this?
The core of Doherty’s spirituality is summarized in a “distillation” of the Gospel which she called “The Little Mandate” — words which she believed she received from Jesus Christ and which guided her life. Use it to ponder your own distillation of the Gospel:
Arise — go! Sell all you possess. Give it directly, personally to the poor. Take up My cross (their cross) and follow Me, going to the poor, being poor, being one with them, one with Me.
Little — be always little! Be simple, poor, childlike.
Preach the Gospel with your life — without compromise! Listen to the Spirit. He will lead you.
Do little things exceedingly well for love of Me.
Love… love… love, never counting the cost.
Go into the marketplace and stay with Me. Pray, fast. Pray always, fast.
Be hidden. Be a light to your neighbor’s feet. Go without fear into the depth of men’s hearts. I shall be with you. Pray always.
To answer before listening— that is folly and shame. — Proverbs 18:13 (NIV)
All about Margaret Guenther (1930-2016)
Margaret Guenther was an Episcopal priest, wife, mother of three children, grandmother, spiritual director, mentor of spiritual directors, retreat leader, prolific writer and, as she said, “administrator, lay medical practitioner, scrubber of floors, washer of clothes.”
As a child she excelled in school but found her greatest joy in long rambles through the countryside with her father, developing a love of the outdoors that she maintained throughout her life. She was happiest sleeping under the stars with just her bedroll, well into her seventies and loved nothing more than waking under a dusting of snow. (WaPo obituary)
She was also the Director of the Center for Christian Spirituality, a pioneering program for the training of spiritual directors. She was a noted retreat leader and lecturer both in the United States and abroad, travelling as far away as China and Australia to speak at conferences and lead retreats.
When she began writing about spiritual direction in 1992, Guenther was one of the few women doing so. She noted, “If Priscilla had written our epistles instead of Paul, I suspect there would have been more about Incarnation and relatively little about circumcision.” The “feminine” wisdom in her books offers new ways to talk about spiritual direction, such as allowing the director a measure of self-disclosure (as opposed to the protocol of psychotherapy).
Her approach was simple. After a short “catch up time,” she began sessions with silence, asking the spiritual companion to let her know when she or he was ready. She ended the meeting with a “little” prayer. She kept no written records and cautioned spiritual directors to recite ten “Jesus Prayers” before saying anything or interrupting.
In June 1997 Guenther retired from General to write more books, give retreats and lectures, and serve as Associate Rector of St. Columba’s Church in Washington, DC.
Quotes
“The New Testament is not very helpful about family values. Jesus, unmarried at an age when most Jewish men were husbands and fathers, exhibits a cavalier attitude toward families as he gathers his followers around him. Think about the call of the disciples from their wives’ point of view: Jesus meets Peter and Andrew, James and John, as they are tending their nets. he says, “Follow me,” and immediately they abandon their livelihood without a second thought. They abandon their families as well: did they ever go home to tell their wives that they would not be there for dinner? Did they make any provision for their families? When, in my imagination, I translate this story into the present time, were I the wife of Peter, Andrew, James, or John, I would be furious. “You did what? What about the health plan? Your pension? College for the children? Are you planning on coming back sometime? How am I going to manage? Who will look after the children if I have to get a job?” … Jesus might have been an effective healer, but he also certainly knew how to disrupt a household.” ― At Home in the World: A Rule of Life for the Rest of Us
“The spiritual director has the double task of holding up the demands of absolute responsibility and the promise of absolute forgiveness.” — Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction
“[My students}… presented me with thoughtful and candid papers. They had examined their use of time and energy, reflected carefully on their relationship with those whose lives touched theirs (including the difficult and incompatible ones), scrutinized their performance as custodians of God’s creation. All in all, it was exemplary work except for one thing: these were grim, dreary schedules that allowed no place for fun. No room for holy uselessness or the joyous and restorative wasting of time, a spiritual discipline that bears absolutely no resemblance to guilt-producing procrastination or avoidance of whatever the next step might be. If they were able to live out the plan that they laid out for themselves, they would be exemplary citizens, conscientious pray-ers, and ecologically beyond reproach. but they would never have any fun.” ― At Home in the World: A Rule of Life for the Rest of Us
It was a happy day when I discovered that in the English of Chaucer’s day – which was also the time of the Black Death – the word “silly” meant “blessed.” I am not sure when we strayed away from its original meaning, when blessedness took on a churchy aura and silliness became the realm of Monty Python and fourth-grade scatological humor. As hard-working adults we too often lose the gift for letting go, for delight in simply being. We persuade ourselves that every moment must be lived productively; like the busy little bee, we feel a holy obligation to improve each shining hour. We would do well to take very small children or big silly dogs as our teachers. I have learned much about holy uselessness from Perry, the dog.” — At Home in the World: A Rule of Life for the Rest of Us
Guenther talks like a mother, a very wise and educated mother. She talks like a person who has spent a lot of time in the woods, and a lot of time in New York City. She talks like a woman who has the scars of leadership and like a person who doesn’t disrespect their scars. Their is room at her spiritual table and she is at the table with Jesus. Sit with her a while.
How does someone find a spiritual director? This little article might help [link]. Some are Evangelicals [link]. Some are Anabaptists [link].
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain. — Psalm 139:1-6
All about Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Thomas Merton, known to the other monks as Father Louis, was born in the south of France to a American mom (a Quaker) and Kiwi dad (a painter). He was baptized as an Anglican. When Thomas was six years old, his mother died of stomach cancer. He was sent to live in the U.S. with his grandparents while his father, an artist, often travelled. As an early teen, he was reunited with his dad and educated in Europe until his father died when he was 16. After finishing school, Thomas was agnostic. In 1933, while in Italy, he experienced a sense of spiritual emptiness, anxiety, and a hope it would all lead to a dramatic conversion.
In 1938, while finishing up an M.A. in English (focused on William Blake), Merton joined the Roman Catholic church after experimenting with other forms of Christianity. He was rejected by the Franciscans and did not feel drawn to become a priest. In 1942, he was accepted as a novice monk at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky.
His abbot directed Merton to write his autobiography, which became The Seven Storey Mountain. The book became an unlikely best-seller and is considered today to be one of the spiritual classics of the modern age.
In the latter decades of his life he became increasingly interested in Asian religions, particularly Buddhism. His leadership helped spark Christian-Buddhist dialogue that continues to this day. Merton is an example of a devoted Christian who had dialogue with others respectfully and as a learner. He was particularly interested in Eastern ways of thinking and understanding of self. His conversations about these issues were largely with other monks, Christian and Buddhist, as well as his superiors.
His abbey still receives revenues from his work. His work telling the stories of the Desert Fathers and Mothers has been inspirational and influential to many in our circles. His writings have been translated into over 30 languages.
Merton died on this day in 1968 of an accidental electrocution while attending an interfaith conference of contemplative monks in Thailand at age 53.
Quotes:
“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” — Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
“The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them” ― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” ― Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
Director’s page for “Soul Searching,” a documentary about his life [link]
The Thomas Merton Society replayed an argument that Merton was murdered, probably by the CIA, instead of killed in an accident. The book The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton, an Investigation by Hugh Turley and David Martin (2018), may be an addition to the era full of conspiracy theories or it may be a window into overlooked or suppressed evidence [link].
Cistercian Order homepage. The term “Cistercian” comes from the Latin word Cistercium, which is the name of the village of Cîteaux in France. In 1098, a group of Benedictine monks from the Molesme monastery founded Cîteaux Abbey in Cîteaux, with the goal of living more in accordance with the Rule of Saint Benedict. The Cistercian Order is stricter than the Benedictine Order. Cistercians follow the Benedictine Rule, but they have a more defined structure and wear white cowls instead of black ones like Benedictine monks. There are two religious orders that share the heritage of Cîteaux: the Cistercian Order and the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, also known as the Trappists.
What do we do with this?
Merton teaches with great inclusion and acceptance. He offers a path to the deep places of God, starting from where you are right now. Feel the freedom of that, and also a bit of the terror of that trust. Enjoy your solitude.
Since partridges are unlikely to be seen in pear-trees (they are ground-nesting birds), it has been suggested that the text “a pear tree” is a corruption of the French “une perdrix” (a partridge).
On February 6, 1985, at the close of the State of the Union message to Congress, President Ronald Reagan turned to Mrs. Clara Hale, seated at the side of the first lady, Mrs. Reagan, and recognized “Mother Hale” for helping babies of drug–addicted mothers in Harlem, N.Y. The president said to members of Congress and to all America, “go to her house some night and maybe you’ll see her silhouette against the window as she walks the floor, talking softly, soothing a child in her arms. Mother Hale of Harlem, she too is an American hero.”
