Christmas 2016

Two questions from the last post were:

Will I be ready to celebrate the arrival of Christ and to join Him on the path of humility through life's vicissitudes?

In every way imaginable, this blogger's answer to both is no, and he does not anticipate that he would ever be ready.

How does  one prepare oneself for the arrival of one's Lord and Savior?  John the Baptist said to repent but how can a sinner repent a lifetime of sins when the life has not yet ended?

And how is it possible to be humble like Christ Whose humility is neither the leading a life of seclusion nor one of passivity?  Christ's humility requires one to kneel before others to wash and dry their feet, and to accept unjust sentencing, physical torture and mental torment without complaint, and then to lay down one life for the sake of others willingly (one could conclude that by not doing anything to avoid or defend against harm is passive; on the other hand, one can also conclude that an exercise of one's Free Will, even if the action taken appears passive, is never passive).

Who on earth today does that?

Ready or not, Christmas 2016 is here, as is the current state of this world that under layers upon layers of denial is neither peaceful nor pleasant, that nobody wants to summarize objectively and take responsibility for; instead, what people do is point fingers at each other, forgetting that it is humility that would resolve many of the world's conflicts, large and small.

It would take the voice of One Who was born one holy night [1] not just to remind everyone the way to Heaven is through humility and  God but to also show how it is done, not that it was ever expected that sinners could do what the Son of God would do [2], to be the sacrificial lamb, foretold by His birth in a manger [3], Whose flesh would become the bread of life. [4], [5]

Amid the glittering lights and sounds of the holiday season, who would stop to think of music that would evoke a silent and holy night in Bethlehem where Christ was born? [6]  On Christmas Eve, in 1818, Franz Xaver Gruber did.  He composed the music to accompany the lyrics written by Joseph Mohr in Austria in 1816 "in Mariapfarr in the Lungau region where he was living at the time." [7]  It was a "melody for 2 solo voices together with choir and for accompaniment by guitar." [8], [9]

While the night was silent on earth, angels in Heaven were rejoicing, possibly, although unlikely, with the song Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, the lyrics to which was written by Charles Wesley in 1739 and subsequently revised by Rev. George Whitefield.  It was not "[u]ntil the mid-19th century, long after Wesley and Whitefield are gone [that] Felix Mendelssohn, the great German composer wrote in 1840 a tune to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Gutenberg printing press.  That's right. . . .music to celebrate technology.  Mendelssohn was adamant that his music NOT be used for religious purposes, but only for secular themes. Little did know that someday, his tune for 'Festgesang an die Kunstler' would be wed to Wesley/Whitefield's poem to celebrate the birth of Christ." [10] [EMPHASIS original], [11]

Christmas is truly wonderful, having Christ at the forefront of one's thoughts, but it ends much too early in the minds of most people, on the 26th of December.  Perhaps Christ is not being deemed an integral part of people's daily lives.  This disconnect can be attributed to the distraction by a cacophony of voices and noises, the weight of self-sufficiency, i.e., pride, and the lack of faith in God and attention to the almost imperceptible angelic message that from time to time clearly notifies the mind (once) which, when heard and heeded, will afford the protection against a future event that one does not wish to happen to oneself.

Angelic whispers may not be heard and heeded by all, but neither are the very specific words of Christ, but that does not mean that such whispers are non-existent and Christ's teachings are to be ignored in favor of self-determination and secularization, putting work, vacations, professional sporting events and all other forms of entertainment, Santa Claus and Christmas presents ahead of Christ.

Without Christ, one is without life.  Without the Blessed Virgin Mary, from Whose womb Christ was born, one is without the  most effective and unceasing Intercessor and Heaven's door would remain shut and there would only be water left for the wedding guests to drink after the wine is gone. [12]  Therefore, remember Christmas not only as an event of significance over two millennia ago, but also as an occurrence relevant to contemporary life, and the life beyond.

It is thus appropriate to continue to celebrate this Christmas 2016 beyond December 25th, ready or not, and join the King's College Cambridge singers in adoring Christ, the Lord with the song O Come, All Ye Faithful. [13]

Wishing all a Blessed
and
a Peaceful Christmas!

[1] As an aside, the song O Holy Night ("Cantique de Noel "), music by Adolphe Charles Adam, sung by Leontyne Price with Herbert von Karajan conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in a 1961 recording is in this blogger's opinion the best version of the song after listening to many, many who have tried to sing it.  It is on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEi9IDV3BzA; the vinyl LP version is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MXlm47iCzU
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A17-27&version=NIV
[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A1-20
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A56-59&version=NIV
[5] Panis Angelicus  by César Franck can be heard on Youtube.  This blogger's choice is the recording sung by Kiri Te Kanawa at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNk81Y6Sbk8
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A1-20&version=NIV
[7] http://www.stillenacht.at/en/origin_song.asp
[8] Ibid.
[9] Stille Nacht, an original version performance by the Vienna Boys' Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben) can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqUw4PgvytU
[10] http://www.aproundtable.org/history-blog/blog.cfm?ID=873&AUTHOR_ID=9
[11] This version of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing  on Youtube was sung by a lot of people in St. Paul's Cathedral in London: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDPwNPAV6tA, but that was not enough for this blogger because this song ought to be sung in unison and in euphony by the entire world population, to let the angels in Heaven hear the people on earth taking part in "the triumph of the skies [w]ith the angelic host proclaim: 'Christ is born in Bethlehem.'"
[12] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+2%3A1-11&version=NIV
[13] O Come, All Ye Faithful (King's College Cambridge singers, in English): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5rMQ6P12WY (2009); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRq8eywc57I (2013); Adeste Fideles (Andrea Bocelli, in Latin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7qQ8hl_X7s