Christian Reflection and Prayer

PRAYER: O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel! Amen.

A Gift We Will Love
December 25, 2010
Christmas Day(A)

Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalms 98:1-6; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18

"The Word became flesh and He lived among us" (John 1:14). 

It was December 22nd and the mother of several children suddenly realized that she hadn't sent out any Christmas cards.  In dismay, she sent her 10-year-old son to the drugstore for a box of Christmas cards.  "Hurry," she said, "I'll barely have time to get these in the mailbox before the day's final pickup."  The boy ran all the way to the store and soon returned with a box of twenty-ive cards, all alike.  Quickly, without even looking at them, she signed them, addressed and stamped the envelopes, handed them to her boy who promptly deposited them in the corner mailbox.  Later, the mother noticed that there was one card left in the box.  She picked it up and looked at the verse.  It read,

"This little card is just to say,
a gift you'll love is on the way."

Most of us get caught up in the Christmas hustle and bustle: The Christmas cards, the Christmas trees, the Christmas lights, the Christmas lists, the Christmas shopping, the Christmas presents, and on and on.  But these are not the essence of Christmas.  All of the hustle and bustle is the tinsel of Christmas, the icing on the cake, so to speak: the trappings.  And they can be wonderful, but they also can be so distracting that the real meaning of Christmas somehow gets lost.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... The Word became flesh and He lived among us" (Jn. 1:1,14).

Puccini's operas -- La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly -- are among the world's favorites. After he was stricken with cancer in the early 1920's, the great composer was determined to write a final opera. He entitled it "Turandot," and it is considered to be a magnificent work, his most polished score. Struggling as he was with the cancer, Puccini was implored by his students to rest; to save his strength. But he continued to work, saying, "If I do not finish my music, my students will complete it." In 1924, he was taken to Brussels for surgery. He died two days later. His students did finish "Turandot" and, in 1926, the premiere performance took place at the famous LaScala opera house in Italy, under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. When the point came in the score where Puccini had been obliged to put down his pen, Maestro Toscanini, his face wet with tears, put down his baton and said to the audience, "Here ends the master's work." After a pause, he picked up the baton, smiled broadly, and said, "But his friends finished his work."

Our blessed Master came into this world to do the Father's work. Before leaving this world, He asked His friends to carry on and move the work toward completion. We who claim to be his friends are privileged to pick up the task; to enlarge the score with beautiful harmonies of peace, and soaring arias of love.