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SIXTEEN
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
DECEMBER 24, 1955,
GOD IS GREETING YOU
AT CHRISTMAS
By Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.
(Author of “The Man Who
Got Even With God”)
Excerpts fro m Father Ray
mond's new book. LOVE DOES
S I/ C If THINGS, condensed
and reprinted through the courte
sy of the author and by special ar
rangement with The Bruce Pub
lishing Co.
“Joy,” said Chesterton, “is the
secret of the Christian.” But not
erioug'h Christians know their
own secret; and those of us who
do know it, have kept it too long
and too well. That is why our
world is so sad. It does not know
that all joy lies in the .one word
‘Christmas.”. But that word
must be heard from the lips of
God, and understood in the lan
guage of God when He says to
each human being: “A Merry
Christmas to you!”
Oh yes, God says that to you.
If. you have not heard Him, you
cannot possibly know what
“merry” means, nor what
'“Christmas” is.
Of course. God has a language
Of His own; but there is no one
who cannot understand it. Hu
mans greet you with words; but
God, with his Only Word. And
while humans may favor you
with gifts, God gives you a Gift
who is - a Person. At Christmas
God gives more than a greeting:
He gives you a Gift, a Gospel
and a Goal.
When God says “Christmas,”
He means CHRIST and His
MASS. When He says “Merry”
He not only wishes us to meet
His Christ, but wills that we be
come His MEMBERS. He not
only wishes that we learn about
Christ’s Mass, but wills that we
LIVE it. Unless we have heard
all that, we have never heard
God’s greeting. Unless we do all
that, we have never returned it;
lor we have missed the Gospel,
rejected the Gift, and will never
attain our Goal.
Why should God beggar Him
self, as it were, in order to give
as at- Christmas the gift of His
only Son? There is only one an
swer: LOVE DOES SUCH
THINGS!
The Love that does such things
has been working a long, long
time for you. And when He
speaks, it is with slowness so
that you may hear aright. When
He greets you at Christmas it is
with a single Word whose every
tetter is of eternal import.
Let us spell it our together.
and eternity.” For God has lov
ed you with an everlasting love,
and has had Christmas thoughts
about you from that timeless
moment when He decreed to
create.
One of the earliest lines in
Genesis tells of the first human
who was- to taste death, and it
says of him that he “was a shep
herd.” One of the last lines of
the Apocalypse speaks of a
Lamb that “was slain from the
beginning of the world” and
who is that Lamb of the City of
God which is your heavenly
home. The letter “S” and all it
signifies will enable you to grasp
what God has done, from Abel
to the end of the Apocalypse:
focus on Christ who is the Lamb
of God and your own Good
Shepherd!
The Lamb of God was to be
laid in a manger which stood
in a cave hollowed out of one of
the chalk cliffs near Bethlehem.
Almighty God was the sculptor.
Year after slow year, with wind
and rain, He sculptured. It is not
often you think of wind and rain
as instruments in the hands of
God; but now that you have
been reminded how the cave was
fashioned, you can know that
every storm or wind and every
showier of rain will be the Voice
of God speaking lovingly to you.
And when you find yourself in
the midst of spiritual storms,
you will know that God is hol
lowing out a befitting birthplace
for His Son, sculpturing a cave
where His Christ may be born
anew—within you.
God made the manger for His
Lamb. But he did so through the
calloused hands of some Beth
lehem shepherd who was only
intent on fulfilling the ordinary
task of his calling. He not only
readied a manger for his bleat
ing sheep; he shaped a crib for
the very Lamb of God. And you,
as you now toil at your daily
tasks, must wonder what extra
ordinary thing you are accom
plishing for God, as you achieve
something ordinary for yourself.
“The Lord is my Shepherd,
and nothing do I want.” Though
you might be wanting every
thing — home, work, food,
clothes, friends—you lack noth
ing that is necessary to your
eternal merry Christmas! God
has given you a Gift which you
can literally call perfect, of
which you can truthfully say:
“It was just what I wanted”—
meaning “of what I had need!”
Is the first letter of the
one word God uses in
greeting you at Christ
mas. The letter has to
with SELF—both God HIM
SELF, and you YOURSELF. But
to learn how literally true that
is, you will first let it stand for
shepherds and sheep. Then, as
you carefully spell on, you will
come to see that God, who has
been thinking of you and your
Christmas from all eternity, has
bad a shepherd and a sheep ev
er in His mind.
You need to know your own
worth if you are to live a happy
life. But never will you come to
that knowledge until you arrive
at the realization that almighty
God has been thinking of you
ever since He has been—and He
is without beginning!
If you are to tell the Christ
mas story in anything like
chronological order, you must
begin with “Once upon eternity
, . Yes, you must go back “to
the unbeginning of endlessness
Stands for angels!
Twentieth - century
Americans give little
thought to angels and
less to Annunciations. Yet in the
long history of mankind — and
even of God — no moment is of
greater import than the one
which saw an Angel announce to
the Maid of Nazareth that she
was to be the Mother of God.
That fact, coupled with its con
sequence — God’s becoming man
—staggers the intellect and sets
the whole mental world whirling
until you recall that “Love does
such things!”
A brother of Gabriel is bend
ing over your shoulder as you
read this. Another is watching
over your family; a third has the
duty of protecting your Church,
your parish and your diocese; a
fourth has been appointed to
care for your city; a fifth, for
your state: and you can be sure
there is a powerful angel
guarding your nation. For all
these are dear to God, important
parts of His plan. Small wonder
that angels surround you! For
God made you in His own image
and likeness—and angels minis
ter unto God and all things that
belong to Him.
“And Mary said, FIAT . . .
‘Be it done . . .’ ”
There is the word which
brought God Himself into flesh
when it fell from the lips of
Mary. It will bring Christ into
your soul with the Father and
the Holy Ghost, sanctity’s sun
shine into all your world, and
the everlasting God into all your
passing relations when it falls
from your lips. It will make your
life an endless Christmas.
At Christmastide every normal
person feels bigger, better. You
dimly realize that you are more
in love with God and much more
in love with your fellow humans
—at least for a few days. Actual
ly, you ARE a bigger and better
person at this season because
you are more nearly your true
self. God not only made you
great, He made you to be great
and to do great things for Him
and for your fellow man. But
men make themselves, and try
to make all other men, small.
God wants you to share in His
infinity; to live as He lives and
love as He loves. That is the ul
timate meaning of His Christ
mas greetings to you.
Tells of- your Virgin
|Mother and her first
njlj gracious act after con-
ceiving God in her
holy young body—the Visitation.
Hurry into the hill country and
with your Virgin Mother visit
the exultant Elizabeth.
You feel at home with these
two happy women. Your whole
heart and mind and being are
at ease in what seems so natural
and familiar—the joy of two ex
pecting mothers who talk bliss
fully about the new life that
throbs beneath their hearts. It
seems normal, natural, and most
human. But never was God
nearer to you.
The grace of Christ pours
forth to free the unborn John
from original sin, and sanctify
him in his mother’s womb. In
the Visitation you see how im
patient God was to find you. He
is but a tiny creature in the
womb; yet He must act the Good
Shepherfl and seek out His
sheep. He must sanctify, begin
scattering the gold of His yet
unsaid Christ-Mass. The first re
cipient, after Mary, will be that
child in the aged Elizabeth’s
womb, the one who will win for
himself the name of Baptist, and
be that “Angel which goes be
fore the face of God.”
John the Baptist leaped for
joy. ^His mother tells you that.
But it\is God’s theologians who
tell you Why he leaped with such
joy. He had been baptized, at it
Were, by Mary’s breath. The
shackles of original sin'fell from
his soul. He deceived a new, a
higher, a holy life! Grace went
into him. Do you know that
when Christ said of Himself, “I
came that they might have life,
and have it more abundantly,”
He was talking of this higher
life? This utterly unattainable
height, this Gift beyond every
mortal's reach, this unbelievable
generosity of God is nothing less
than a share in His own divine
Life. That is why God can wish
you a Merry Christmas.
oiL
Gives you God’s greet
tng in PERSON! “I
stands for the nativit;
of your God Incarnate
and for BEFORE He was con
3
ceived in His mother’s womb. It
brings you to the birth and to
that ceremony which fore
shadowed baptism; for it gives
you those holydays which are
world-wide holidays: Christmas
and New Year’s. They are fami
liar feasts, but they hold facts
that are not nearly familiar
enough to the minds and hearts
of millions. So for a few mo
ments blind your eyes to every
one and everything but the
Child; stop your ears to every
sound save that of the Word.
The first thing the Word says
to you is: “Kindly remember I
am Wisdom.”
That request is necessary. For
well-meaning persons, pious
souls, have inculcated into the
young the thought that they
should sympathize with the Babe
of Bethlehem, feel sorry that He
had no better bed than the man
ger, no better clothes than swad
dling bands, no better home than
the cave, no better company
than the traditional ox and ass.
You need to be shocked into the
realization that deliberately and
with clarity of foresight and
forethought, He very definitely
chose this cave, this crib, these
bands and these beasts. Sym
pathy is out of place. There is
room only for docility.
Can you not hear Him in His
manger saying to you “Blessed
are the poor in spirit”? Here is
His first sermon. It is a sharper
sermon than the Sermon on the
Mount, though it proclaims the
same Beatitude. It is sharper,
because actions speak louder
than words. The God of all
wealth and wisdom beggared
Himself of everything but a
baby’s body to teach you real
worth.
You begin to see where your
sympathy should go: not to the
newborn Babe who lies awake
in poverty, but to the adult
world that sleeps in its riches.
Miss the point that the Babe in
the manger is God and you have
missed he whole point of Christ
mas.
Does the message of the birth
of the crib become clearer? God
is telling you how to be TRULY
merry at Christmas: “My child,
you cap have treasure which
thieves cannot steal, without
having any of the riches or
wealth of this world. You can be
great with a greatness that is
real, without holding high social
position or knowing any social
prestige; powerful, without pos
sessing a single implement that
gives modern men and nations
a sense of power; happy with a
happiness that is true joy of
heart and gladness of soul, with
out any of the tinseled pleasures
of the senses; safe with a securi
ty unobtainable by any material
means, if you will but , listen to
Me' and learn wisdom. I, your
God, am wishing you, am willing
you a Merry Christmas. I am
showing you the way to that
merriment.”
Stands for OFFER
INGS. It tells of that
hour wheh Mary stood
radiant with joy as she
presented the Child in the
Temple. Jesus is but an Infant of
forty days, yet in Him is housed
all the Wisdom, Understanding
and Knowledge of the ages, and
of eternity.
Joseph purchased Mary’s Child
back from the service of God—
to which the first-born male was
obligated—by paying five shek
els to the high priest. But you
were bought back from the serv
ice of the Devil—to which all
mankind, sprung from our First
Parents, was destined—by thirty
pieces of silver some high priests
paid out that Mary’s Son might
be captured and given opportu
nity to say His Mass. Christmas
for you looks not only to the
cave outside the lowest and least
of Juda’s cities, but more es
pecially to the cross outside
Juda’s largest and holiest of ci
ties. Moreover, when God greets
you at Christmas He is speaking
not only of the birth of His only
Son, but of His life, death, Res
urrection and Ascension—all of
which come to mind when we
enter fully into the Mass.
Are you beginning to under
stand why God greets you and
what His greeting means? Your
most ordinary action can be
sphered in infinity; your normal
daily life can “fill out” Christ’s
Passion and death if you but
place it in the Child Mary holds
in her hands. You are a person
who can never fail—so long as
you live IN CHRIST JESUS.
But do . not misunderstand
God’s greeting. Although His
gift to you is such that you need
never fail, you must understand
in what success really consists.
You may fail externally. In the
eyes of all your fellow men you
may fail; but the eyes of Him
who sees aright are the only
eyes that can see whether you
succeed or fail eternally. To Him
it is the Mass that matters—and
the Mass is Christ—God’s , gift to 'jr
you. The Mass is the heart of '
this Christmas season — and
Christ is the Mass.
_. Stands for URGENCY
— and while we mor-
I tals know much of
urgency, especially as
Christmas nears, we are as
tounded to have God pressing
us as He does with all that is
connected with this letter.
This letter is important, not
despite its strangeness but be
cause of it. Love for you prompt
ed God to use it—-lest you be lul
led into false complacency. God
would never have that! He
wants you to be merry at Christ
mastide, but at no time does He^
want you to be foolishly com
placent. That is why He has His
Son, that Son’s Mother, and her
chaste spouse know real hard
ship.
This world is God’s world.
Therefore, it is wondrous. It is
no matter for wonder, then, if
this world should attract you.
Money, power, pleasure, fame,
popularity, society are ,all creat
ures, of God and all are very,
very good. But they are only
means, not ends; only creatures,
not the Creator; only instru
ments to help you praise Him.
They are only TOYS.
Christmas is the season of
toys. They can teach you pro
found truths about yourself and ' J r
your God, you life and your goal.
See what the mere sight of a
toy does to children. Their ev
ery feature takes on new light
and life; their hands go out to
have and to hold; their hearts
are filled with pleasure. That
is the proper function of toys—.
and God has filled the world
with toys for you!
We are still children, the old
est of us—and we can become so '
absorbed in the toys of time that
we lose not only Christmas Day
and the Christmas season but
even the endless day of eternity
and the very Christ! Hence we .
are not to lose ourselves in toys.
God is your beatitude. The
things of time are toys. You are
eternity’s child and your eterni
ty has already begun! There is
a compelling urgency to every
day and every hour of the day.
In it we are to witness to the
truth — that God greeted and
gifted us at Christmas.
God is speaking to you with
earnestness and urgency, for He
wants you to know that your
deathday will be your true birth- •
day by baptism was the day on
which you were given the as
signment to live for Christ and
one day to die for Him. God is
giving you “a reason to live and
(Continued on Page 17)