The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 22 December 1921, Page 45

The Family Circle

K TO THE INFANT JESU3, \. ; MW, •"•. Sleep; Holy Babe;" ~~- %■■''..:'. 'Upon ;Thy Mother's breast; > ', ;" Great Lord of Earth and Sea and Sky, £- How sweet it is to see Thee lie In such a place of rest! ;>:- ; Thine angels watch around, |Jg|f: All bended low with folded wings, Iff-^-H 1 Before the Incarnate King of Kings, ; In reverent awe profound. • .7" Sleep, Holy Babe, r ~~" While I with Mary gaze In joy upon that face awhile, ~- |- Upon the loving Infant smile, p ■ "Which there divinely plays. Sleep, Holy Babe, « Ah! take Thy brief repose; v y Too quickly will Thy slumbers break, ■■:~ : ■■■:..'" - And Thou to lengthened pains awake That death alone shall close. ■-^ r Then must those hands "Which now so fair I see, Those little pearly feet of Thine, '■sP . -,. . ■ So soft, so delicately fine, ; _ Be pierced and rent for me! > • Then must that brow •:-'.„ Its thorny crown receive; : __ That cheek, more lovely than the rose, : J Be drenched with blood and marred with blows, .-•:-- That I thereby may live. Edward 0. Caswell. THE DIVINE CHILD. b' The Divine Child, He Who is the splendor of heaven, - lay in a crib. A "little straw formed a bed for Him to p; ; ... Whom the earth and all it contains belong. And she who ;.:/ is Queen of Heaven and Earth is near that crib. There I: ■-■■■■■[ she watches- and is attentive to all the wants of her Divine fgg Son. With what respectful care she touches Him to be pp her Lord and her God! With what joy and confidence she J embraces Him and presses Him to her bosom! She was .< . the most humble of creatures, she was also the most pru-p^'-:-"dent and watchful. She was never wanting in the most r „;., tender care for Him, and during His whole life upon earth :;■:<■ she never failed in the least in the fulfilment of any duty £...„--.toward Him. —St. Bonaventure. pc : THE CHRIST CHILD. Over nineteen hundred years ago, in a cave in the : :: - heart of the hills of Bethlehem, Mary, the mother of God, > "brought forth her first-born and wrapped Him in swad- .£ dling clothes and laid Him" in a manger." j I * The Word was made flesh and came to dwell amongst us. The heavens shone with glory and resounded with the song of angel choirs. A few shepherds, to whom the . 7 Angel of the Lord had announced tidings of great joy, knelt in reverence to the Saviour of mankind. Heaven and earth were united in the angelic message of "Peace on _ earth to men of good will." . ■"-' - u To the Infant Christ in the humility of the manger, the shepherds gave full possession of .their: hearts, for they were the children of God. The little Child of Bethlehem „had come to His own and His own gladly received Him. p? t T ? er ® was no room for Him in the inn at Bethlehem, but there .was' welcome, peace, and adoration in the hearts of : : : . those who had been awaiting the fulfilment of the Words of the Prophet. , . ; _ - ■ of Pity, indeed, it were, if~that:welcome,/peace and addrPity, indeed, it were, if that welcome, /peace and ador|j^ were but for a day, and that Bethlehem should grow

cold to the hearts of men. But the coming of ': the ' Christ"? Child "was riot to be in vain. The Infant in swaddling clothes was to warm for all time the hearts jof those who ,-f' would, but follow Him. ._ ' _ -■< ? J i " '*/ v ; Down through: the course-of the centuries the host of S shepherds multiplied and each recurring Christinas found>;' at the crib of Bethlehem the increasing homage of a joyful world. The love of Christ was to endure forever, for the gates of hell could not prevail against it. Man could not but surrender his heart to Him who was to bring redemption. . - . , ~ May the present Christmas bring to humanity a lasting recognition of the only hope of salvation and a complete conversion to "The Way, the Truth, and the Life." On Christmas the Christ Child is leading: it is the day of incarnate love, the day that has made us brothers in Christ, the day which fills our hearts with the peace of- heaven. That peace, and that peace alone, has left the impress of true happiness on the World throughout the long, long years. It will never fail to warm the hearts of the children, of light and be to them an inspiration and " a benediction. —William Cardinal O'Connell. THE SLEEPING CHRIST. 0 swing and sweep of circling angel wings,. 0 roseate sea of Heaven's transcendent grace! Dear Bethlehem the Blest, white-wreathed place Of this sad world's divinest visionings! We seem to see the holy Light that flings Celestial splendor on the narrow space Where a glad Mother first beholds the Face Of her rare Glory-Babe, our King of Kings. And, as we gaze, a mighty wave of love Still sweeps us on to unimagined deeps. The Calvary-love has won us. From above Garlanded cherubs smile! And still He sleeps, The Virgin-Born, as pure as buds that spring From ruddy stems in rose-white blossoming. —Caroline D. Swan.

THE INCARNATION. On this day Our Saviour is born; let us rejoice, for there should be no sadness where life appears. This life removes all fear and gives v us the joy of a promised eternity. This day should be a day of joy to -all, because Our Lord, the destroyer of sin and death, has come to deliver us. Let saints rejoice because, grace and perseverance are secured to them; let sinners rejoice because pardon has been purchased for them; let the Gentiles be filled-with confidence, for they are called to eternal, life. The Son of —in the fulness of time, Which-He Himself in the inscrutable-designs of His infinite wisdom had determined —took human nature to reconcile man with his Creator, in order that the demon, the author of death, might be vanquished by that which he had caused. —St. Basil. , CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. The manner in which Christmas was celebrated by the people of the Middle Ages is a topic calculated to challenge much interest in these days when so much enthusiasm is shown for things medieval. There is something about the Christmas season which easily conjures up curiosity as to how the Catholic people of those picturesque days observed one of the greatest festivals of the Christian year. i . The prevalence of the one faith in those days naturally gave to Christmas a flavor which is lacking to-day among the people as a whole. The great prominence of the Church in the life of the people is especially revealed in records of feast day observances of the time. It was a time of great pageantry, of great art, and of remarkable Catholic life, and it is easy to see how the facilities of the time afforded scope for striking celebrations of . the great days of the Church. . }■■'.:"" :-"'-,/ "■':■■ ■' _' : '-' : - ■'■:':■■'-'.■ -^ : --- ■ /"'?■: -_v-- ;: V eval English parish is 'indicated \in Cardinal,■■ Gasquet's Parish Life in Medieval England* > Christmas observed - with " the customary three Masses, :at midnight, preceded by Matins; in the early morning, and^ at the usual time of nine or ten o'clock. \ ,'-..-"'... f "" . _ / i- Plays \ and sacred dramatic pieces ' were a prominent :--' feature of the .season. In many,, places Christmas time, a religious play appropriate to the season .was-given, and

"■'<'■ it impressed on the minds of Spectators leading incidents, in the history of Our Lord's birth. - :; The coming of the Kings at the Epiphany-was a subject which lent itself to picturesque illustration. At Great ■' ' Yarmouth, year after year, the people kept the "Feast of ~ > the Star." Entries were to be found in accounts of the . ■ "■ time, such as "for' making a new star," "for leading the % star," "for a new balk-line to the star and ryving the same." % CHRISTMAS NIGHT. The shadows on Juda's hills are falling p}i -'■'-■ ; And soft night winds around are calling, - £?;"-:' While tired shepherds sleep. ■<■'.' A dim far light across the wold; :?- A shepherd stirs. "The night is cold." Darker the shadows creep. s Soft, strains of song, like the softer, snow, Drift out from Bethlehem, and lo KI The tread of angels' feet. ; The shadows lift, and through the night A rush of song and a gleaming light, A wondrous mystery near. Now loud the alleluias ring V On the midnight air, and angels sing: ;.'., "Oh, hear, ye shepherds, hear; In a manger-crib across the way The Christ .the Lord is born to-day, The tidings glad we bear." . .. The light is paling, the echo dies, But the shepherds are come where Jesus lies, And the gentle, bleating sheep. The morn on Juda's hills is red And o'er the world the light is sped Where the shadows once were deep. - Raymond P. Sullivan, S.J., in the Messenger of the ; Sacred Heart. LESSONS OF CHRISTMAS. Christmas is a season of joy and recollection. It presents to us the glorious spectacle of the Son of Man coming in poverty and meekness to illumine our way and make easy our eternal salvation. It brings before us a most beautiful mental picture. Joy is blended with sorrow, power with weakness, riches with poverty. In the Christ Child was embodied the helplessness of infancy, yet the splendor of the Godhead and the glory and majesty of the Second Person of the Most Adorable Trinity shone about Him. The comforts" of the poorest cottage were esteemed too good for Him. He must be born in a cave. Only Mary, His mother, and Joseph, with the shepherds from r. the neighboring hillsides, witnessed this event which ushered in a new era for humanity and brought about a reign of love. ' —._ i c-." sNever was it so clearly manifested that God's ways ..are not man's ways as in the lowly birth of our Redeemer. The world had looked for the coming of Christ amid earthly splendor and magnificence. It had regarded Him as a r King and had prepared to greet . Him amid regal surroundings. Alas, how disillusioned were the minds of "men when He came amid conditions considered degrading to Zy the great dignity of king! But herein the world had erred. God's ways are not man's ways, and "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" in true humility of spirit and fled those,,. who would take Him and make Him ; an earthly king. . • \ What.a profundity of lessons there are for us in the I " birth of Christ! Meekness, humility, and obscurity were- ■ dear to the Son of .God. He would teach us that a life *;/" modelled His is a sure passport to the kingdom of heaven; He would tell us by His nativity' and the sad conditions that surrounded it that life is a success even V; though we do not win the acclaim of men. We may go >/•:. through ,' v life; obscure, unknown, and depart unwept, but . if we have learned true humility, if we have imbibed of j?£: His spirit of love and charity, our lives are a : success in spite of what the world may say or think. , § spite of what the world temporal and eternal standards I How contradictory temporal and eternal standards! . > The /race, for the fading crown begins with the opening*

years of maturity and usually closes with death: V- The world estimates a man's worth according,, to the ridhes he has amassed, the honors he has won j the 'applause he ; has. ~ t received. Yet all this is As the poet says: "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 'v'?"Bethlehem 'gives .a true estimate of the things of time \ in the light of eternity. It preaches the vanity of life \ and the grandeur of the soul's destiny. It teaches us that we must lose our lives to save our souls. It leads us through the narrow road of Christian perfection to the Feet of God. As Father Faber. very /beautifully said: "The Babe on Mary's lap has lifted us up above ourselves, and has borne us swiftly and softly as a dove's flight, and has laid us and left us in our old home, now a secure, everlasting home, the Feet of our Eternal Father." "GOING HOME FOB CHRISTMAS. "Going home for Christmas!" Oh, the magic and the mirth . Thrilling through four throbbing words—four words so - . wonder-worth! How the happy pulses leap, and how the eyes shine bright! How the springing feet keep step to song" from morn 'till, night! How the bores and bothers bore and bother us no more Nothing is worth noticing, with such a joy before Makes us keen to do our bit to help the sad old earth; "Going home for Christmas!" Oh, the magic and the mirth! . - "Going home for Christmas!" My, how pleasant strangers are Not a one but has a smile for every jolt and jar! - \ "Not at all! My fault!" they say, all smiling back at you Wonder, now, if they're all going home for Christmas, too! Sort of like to ask 'em, but there's never time to stop, With everybody shopping just as hard as they can shop! Best of jokes are jabs and pokes from bundles in a car! "Going home for Christmas I-"- My, how pleasant strangers are. "Going home for Christmas!" What a dream for day and night! Was there ever dream more dear and beautiful and bright ? Nearer comes the time, and now we dream it more and more • ' ■ i Yet— never did our daily work so well before Can't get tired, somehow, now, and crossness doesn't fit With the dream that's singing, singing— not a bit! All the tasks are easy ones, and all the burdens light. "Going home for Christmas!" What a dream for day , and - night! • "Going home for Christmas!" It's so good it must be true! Isn't it about time that the jolly postman's duef Every day or so they write to say we "musn't fail!" Just as if we wouldn't walk, in lack of rail or sail! THE NATIVITY. The Nativity has found its best treatment in painting. The early painters dealt only with the fundamental" theme—the Virgin, in humility and adoration and without the holy joy that the Christ Child had been born into the world, largely introduced by later artists; St. Joseph, gravely, wonderingly silent, the shepherds and the hymning angels.' ■ "" v x v ; ; ; . The chronology of the several events generally grouped under the subject of, the Nativity has, of course, scant observance, as a rule, at the hand of the artists, t The, adoration of the Magi and the Annunciation to the shep- . herds are depicted on the same canvas. ■ For instance an altar piece." now -in the Metropolitan Art Museum, Hew York, makes use of the simultaneous scene in its arrangement. The shepherds are hearing the message of. angels, -„> ; and, the kings come—not, however, as commonly shown, with v gifts of gold, frankincense, and -myrrh, but unattended. . ~,:.-,,..