Tag Archives: Christmastide

Thomas Becket — December 29

Europe, Forerunners (33-1226), Holy Days,

Bible connection

Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.
 They will collapse and fall,
but we shall rise and stand upright. — Psalm 20:7-8 [Here it is in song]

All about Thomas Becket (1118-1170)

The Fifth Day of Christmas is also a time to remember the faith of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was martyred for his defense of the rights of the church against the English king, Henry II.

Like yesterday’s Feast of the Holy Innocents, this day adds the somber foundation for Christmastide, since every incarnation of God’s grace has an opponent waiting to kill it.

The church and the burgeoning idea of the “state” vied for power in Europe as it emerged from centuries of reorganization after the fall of the Roman Empire. Periodically, a leader would have an actual debate about the theology of the matter with some kind of spiritual conviction instead of just managing his power in order to expand it.

Once Becket was made the leader of the English church, he surprised the king with his new set of convictions. Like the surprising Oscar Romero who stood up against U.S.-sponsored death squads and unjust government soldiers, Becket was murdered in his own church building.

Becket had more influence as a martyr than a leader. Within years, King Henry was making public penance at his very popular shrine and pilgrim destination.

Becket’s Well in the 1950’s

Once a saint, Becket’s fame grew around the Norman world. He remains a peculiar, English phenomenon. As a member of the clan who were founders of the mercantile fraternity of Mercers, Becket was much lauded as a Londoner and adopted as the city’s co-patron saint with Paul the Apostle: they both appear on the seals of the city and of the Lord Mayor. The idea of drinking the “water of Saint Thomas,” sprang up, meaning one could buy a miraculous mix of water and the remains of the martyr’s blood. Here’s the story:

A citizen of Canterbury dipped a corner of his shirt in the blood [of Becket], went home, and gave it, mixed with water, to his wife, who was paralytic, and who was said to have been cured. This suggested the notion of mixing the blood with water, which, endlessly diluted, was kept in innumerable vials, to be distributed to the pilgrims; and thus, as the palm was a sign of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and a scallop-shell of the pilgrimage to Compostela, so a leaden vial or bottle suspended from the neck became the mark of a pilgrimage to Canterbury. — Arthur P. Stanley, Historical Memorials of Canterbury

Local legends reflected Becket’s well-known gruffness. “Becket’s Well”, in Otford, Kent, was said to have been created after Becket was displeased by the taste of the local water. Two springs of clear water bubbled up after he struck the ground with his crozier. The pilgrims to Canterbury grew greatly in number. (Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales mentions Becket)

More

5 minute biography

British Museum’s 2021 retrospective on how Becket became a revered saint and pilgrimage draw for Canterbury..

T.S. Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral” in a British Museum event.

Scene from Becket (film, 1964)

YouTube historian gives you the history of Henry II.

Five Golden Rings ... | Manassas Park, VA Patch

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, in the spirit of Becket, 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: Guide me on the difficult path of discernment and trust

Christians often talk a good game when it comes to “speaking truth to power” but we mostly keep to ourselves. We even have problems talking to each other! So we can get locked into going with whatever the latest graceless thing the government is doing, even acting as if political power is all that matters. This day calls us to change our perspective.

Pray with your journal and ask the Lord to show you what you actually trust. It might be the fear-led defenses that protect you from experiencing lack of trust! It may be some substitute for God that promises safety in a troubling world.  It may be yourself. “Who or what do you actually trust?” is a basic question we all need to answer, right?

4th Day of Christmas / Holy Innocents — December 28

Holy Days,
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]

Four Colly Birds — sharing - celebrating - printing

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.