CHRISTMAS STORY

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 50, 17 December 1924, Page 13

CHRISTMAS STORY

Noel

(By Marie Gamier, in the Queen's Work.)

Oh, how 1 looked forward to it all —to the wonderful unknown ceremony of a midnight Mass! How that excitable little heart of mine thrilled with the girls’ tales of previous Christmases, and with anticipation of the one 1 was about to share! Not even the long hours of choir practice could lessen the glamor, for was not I to sing a solo? A iimple one, to be sure, but still a solo. And wouldn’t all the girls tell who sang it and that dear little Mother St. Simeon sang the alto with me? Day after day we checked off in our prayer /)ook calendars, until the twenty-fourth actually, and almost miraculously we thought, dawned on our lives. We were sitting that afternoon in our recreation room, marvelling it the beauty of our chapel as we had seen it at our three-o’clock visit, speculating as to who would be unable to stand the strain if the coming event and ignominiously faint, listening to and giving minutely identifying descriptions of the home people expected to attend, and generally anticipating as long as possible what we were to realise so soon, when into the room burst Ann — our Ann, never known to weep —a living fountain of grief. We couldn’t move; we were too astounded. We let her rush by without a word, watched her bury her head on the corner table, and even listened to several wails of pure woe before we could rouse ourselves to the occasion. Then we found it all out. Her father couldn’t come to midnight Mass, her mother couldn’t come, nobody could come, and nobody pared anything about her, and how could she stand it, and how could she possibly go home when no one was coming for her? She was desolate, and so were we. It seemed a lifeblow to us all, • so great as the tension, even, of sturdy Ann of three years! experience. ,

Our rose-colored hours turned to ashy gray, and our Christmas joy was tiptoeing away, and away .and "still farther away, when in came Mary Louise from her practice hour. Now Mary Louise was not bright. Day after day she got forty per cent, in arithmetic, and sadly negative head shakes from Mother St. Rose in practically all her recitations. We liked her, but we pitied her, { and helped her more or less grudgingly. She f was so terribly slaw...- But to our immense astonishment she now proved to be more clever than all. of us put together. When told of the catastrophe, she merely inquired, "Well, which one of you goes the nearest to Ann's house? That's- the way she'll get home." Imagine! We had ail been too stunned to think of this simple solution, and Mary Louise had had to think of it for us. So Ann got home, for Quebec abounds in kindly people to whom a four-mile extra drive at two o'clock on a Christmas morning is but a trifle. I slept soundly that Christmas Eve, soothed no doubt by the warm, comforting drink brought around by Mother St. Pierre just before "lights down." I have often wondered what it was—it was so smooth and spicy and satisfying. Probably but another instance of the glamor of the time. How weird it was, getting up but a scant four hours after one's bedtime! With the first daze over, all was excitement. The warning voice of Mother St. John, "But fifteen minutes to dress, young ladies," was in itself enough to upset the most steady of minds. What if I should be too late! Would they go without me? After an almost heartrending search for my white veil, I hurriedly joined the snakei like line of girls in the corridor to button V and be buttoned. At least they could not slip away without my knowing it. Reassured at length of my safety, I began to look about me. Crouched in the corner, with the overhead light shining on her yellow braids, was Beatrice, lacing her new topboots. Rushing down the dormitory corridor came Mary Jeanne, both hands full of prayer book, veil, pins and handkerchief, dress entirely detached, and just fallen off one shoulder. After her came Margot with her springy step and bobbing fluff of tawny hair. Standing at the door of their, room I could see the two Thompsons, black eyes flashing, black heads nodding, sure signs of family trouble. Then Mother St. Lucie appeared, full of cautions for our singing, but unable to express them intelligently either in our English or her own native French. Just as the little ones were filing down to join us, and the "middle-aged" girls—girls of ages from nine to twelve —were coining on the opposite side, our immaculate Hope appeared perfectly groomed, the only truly unflusterod one in that whole group of excited girlhood. She was of a certainty exasperating. Luckily the forming into lines took our minds 'off her and our own lost possibilities. Downstairs we filed, singing old-time Christmas hymns as we went, putting every -good sentiment and impulse into our song, past Mother Superior's office, past the vestibule with its few belated comers, whom we attempt to see without slipping the bonds

of convent decorum, to the very door of our chapel. Before us was a blaze of staix.y~ tapers, a richness of lovely flowers -mingled; with golden lace and rich-hued tapestry. On both sides in our wonted seats were, the, parents and friends of the girlsstrange 1 furry shapes, for the night was cold. Past them we walked, slowly and reverently,-two long lines of black-robed, white-veiled girls,' up to the very altar rail. Then two by two wo bowed in deep recognition of "the Presence there. A turn to the" right; a fleeting view of the crib with all its touching symbolism, then up the jube stairs, back -of the kneeling line of serving men and .maids, to our places by the organ, . , • -f •'• Surely our prayers were ' answered sang as we had never sung before, Mary's; rich, high voice soared again; Ruth's deeper voice thrilled us through and through; and; I—'why I felt as if I could sing the whole Mass through and do it justice.: Again the long lines formed, this time to kneel in turn at the altar rail and receive from our dear abbe the sacrament of life and hope. Reverently we yielded our place to others and followed back to the jube. How proud we were of our tall, kindly abbe as'he turned to give the blessing! Our heads bent low iii whispered prayer—the prayer Of lives spent in the midst of holy suggestion and practice. But how scenes can change! One minute a congregation silently bowed .in homage, the next an eager, living throng, nodding, smiling, leaving the chapel of the midnight Mass to the exultant music of the orchestra above. Outside in the parlors guests and. girls .mingled in friendly confusion. Staidness and ceremony had vanished; laughter and'cheery talk had supplanted them. The unusual sound of men's hearty voices and the stray whiffs of their cigars added a strange spici--11 ess to the moment. Prom without came the jingle of many bells, the crunch of. ,ne ; r.-. ; vous hoops on the frozen snow,, and the' greatly excited and somewhat profane ejaculations of the French coshers.' 'Mother••'§%.' Pierre good-naturedly brought Scattered families together; Mother Superior stood guard to see that toutes mes enfant* were properly bundled up; and Mathilde the portress formed a go-between for the waiting drivers and the guests within. One after another the now doubly freighted sleighs clashed down the whitened avenue., all towards homea Christmas day at home. Of course, we were left, a dozen or more girls from the States or distant Canadian points. We bunched together under Mother Superior's kindly wing to talk it all .over. Then, comforted by her motherly ways, and refreshed by another savory cup,_ we wandered off to bed, with thoughts., of the home boxes of a certainty waiting for -below. <><>- " '• ;.- Prayer is one of the oldest adjuvants to health that we have found, and one of the most efficient. Instead of being out •of ' date" it is quite as powerful for good now as it ever has been in times of trial, a source of consolation and strength that makes good health ever so much easier to attain and maintain than without it.

, T tJK THRIVE MASSES: THEIR SYMBOLICAL -R E KEHENCE ACCORDING TO : ■ ■: • c- v {; -ST. THOMAS. Since'tiro earliest times — the days of Him .-.(jirelaWn .and Gregorian Sacramentaries —it lias 'been the custom] for each priest to isay. thl-ee' Masses on. Christmas Day. According' to v the : symbolical explanation of St. Thomas Aquinas, the first, which was supposed to be said always at midnight, was to commemorate the birth of Christ in the bosom of His Father in eternity; the second, to be said at .dawn, to commemorate the birth of Our Lord in time, at Bethlehem, when He appeared visibly among men; the third, to be said : some .time during the morning, was, according to the interpretation of the Angelical Doctor, to call to our minds the birth of Christ in the individual soul. ■ The “Gloria” was sung only at the first Mass on this .day, and in Catholic countries its singing was accompanied by the ringing of bells, and often by fireworks. Various churches of Christendom used different colors at the Christmas Masses, not white, as is the custom now. Thus, for instance, in some places in Italy, Germany and-England, the liturgical colors were black, white, and red. In France, more particularly in the diocese of Narbonne, the colors were red, white, and violet. Other churches had their own usages, all of them based .upon some touching symbolical reason. Durandus, who wrote the first book on the liturgical symbolism of the Church, gives a great many reasons for the variant use of colors. M