“Do you know what damage you may cause by throwing stones with your eyes blindfold? “Neither do you know the harm you may cause — and at times it is very great — by letting drop uncharitable remarks that to you seem trifling, because your eyes are blinded by thoughtlessness or passion.“ (The Way > Charity > Number 455, “The Way,” Josemaría Escrivá)
A tip of the hat to padrejorge, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this quote.
Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City. (December 3, 2022) via CNA
We’re celebrating a very special birthday.
“And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
The Two Turkeys watching “Wayne and Wanda’s Eggnog Nightmare.” (2015)
I’ll be sharing some very odd 19th century Christmas cards today. And rambling a bit about holidays, history and whatever else comes to mind. Briefly, for me.
Christmas and New Year’s Eve: a Double-Header Solstice Celebration
Many if not all folks who experience non-equatorial seasons where they live have some sort of winter solstice celebration.
My native culture has two: Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Although decorations for each are distinctive, we celebrate both in about the same way: gathering in large groups and making a lot of noise. With a recovery period of about a week between them, most of us can thoroughly enjoy both.
Weather permitting, which it very likely won’t this year. And that’s another topic, which I may or may not get around to discussing.
Our Christmas celebration has changed over the years. I expect it will keep changing, except for parts of a very special birthday celebration. I talked about that a few days back. You’ll find a link to “Advent 2022: Remembering the Big Picture” near the end of this post.
Some of the changes involve technology: like television Christmas/holiday specials, which often present my culture’s “true meaning of Christmas.”
Then there’s a more recent development, which hasn’t become a fixed tradition. Not as far as I know, at any rate.
Anyway, here’s last year’s “Happy Holidays from Expedition 66” — a cool yule from low Earth orbit.
Celebrating a Secular Selection of Seasonal Salutations
“Holiday Viewing Marathon” (2015)
Holiday/Christmas videos from the ISS may not join traditions like ‘Freezeroni Saves Christmas’ and plum pudding: since the ISS is due to be deorbited in 2031.
And that’s yet another topic.
I’m giving myself a few days off this week, so today’s piece won’t have the usual ‘for more information’ footnotes. And I haven’t done nearly as much digital footwork, like tracing where each of these Victorian-era masterpieces (?) came from.
But, since you might feel like doing some sleuthing yourself, here’s where I got most of today’s stuff:
Sir Henry Cole’s Christmas Card: first of its kind. (1843)
The plum pudding’s origins may be obscure, or maybe they’re not. I haven’t checked.
But we do know who had the first mass-produced Christmas card printed, and when he changed at least one aspect of our holiday celebrations.
Sir Henry Cole was an assistant to Sir Rowland Hill. That’s a lot of “Sirs,” and obviously both lived in England.
Sirs H.C. and R.H. were implicated in the introduction of the penny post. I think making postal service affordable to folks in my economic class was a good idea: but I wouldn’t be surprised if some staunch Victorians saw it as the end of civilization as they knew it.
If so, they were right, and that’s yet again another topic.
Anyway, Henry Cole was a celebrity of sorts. He got a lot of letters around the Christmas season, which may have felt good. But his culture’s customs demanded that he answer each letter, which would have cut seriously into what little free time he had.
So Henry Cole had painter John Callott Horsley design a card, which was then lithographed in a print run of 1,000 cards. Then each card was hand-colored by Mason. Whether or not Mason had more than one name, that I don’t know.
Marching Frogs, a Dead Bird and Other Weirdness
Sir Henry Cole’s celebrity status, new printing technologies, and an increasing number of folks who had a bit of spare change left over at month’s end added a flood of these newfangled Christmas cards to the season’s celebrations.
I gather that many Christmas cards followed Sir H. C.’s sentimental lead.
Some did not.
“May yours be a Joyful Christmas.”
That dead bird and “Joyful” caption may have been an instance of Victorian passive-aggressive behavior. Or may have been seriously sentimental.
Killing a wren or robin for good luck on December 26th may have been a Victorian tradition, but that’s something I haven’t verified.
No, you’re not hallucinating. That’s a mouse riding a lobster and carrying a banner emblazoned with “Peace, Joy, Health, and Happiness” — in French.
“May all jollity ‘Lighten’ your Christmas hours.”
Whew! That’s a relief. It looked, at first glance, like an avian mob with torches — on their way to pick up pitchforks.
That’s a card with a moral message: mamma said “no,” and now the frogs know why.
More frogs. Being merry with insects this time. I’ve no idea why so many of these oddball Christmas cards involve frogs.
Maybe Victorians had a thing about frogs. Maybe these just happen to be the cards that got preserved, or maybe something completely different.
Another “joyful Christmas to you” card. I’m not sure which wins the strangeness race in this one: a fox that’s so slow that the two hunters are keeping up, the two hunters keeping up with a fox: or a wooden horse that’s breathing.
A wooden horse. That’s breathing. Now there’s an idea.
And that’s all I have this week.
I said I’d have a link at this point. Here it is, along with four others.
Pope Francis addressing the Roman Curia at the Vatican. (December 22, 2022)
When I saw “Vatican” and “elegant demon” in my news feeds, I cringed. Just a little.
But not because I feared that the four horsemen of the Apocalypse were saddling up and the Antichrist was running rampant.
Lurking Demons in the News, and a Pleasant Surprise
The self-described “Christian” radio of my youth left me with low expectations.
And some sympathy for folks who apparently believe that religion is a psychiatric disorder, and that Christians are ignorant and easily led — which is almost another topic.
So, between youthful experience and more recent encounters with clueless reporting of “religious news,” I was pleasantly surprised.
The AP and a couple other secular news media sources apparently understood what Pope Francis had said. So did Vatican News, but that wasn’t unexpected.
I checked, and Holy See > Pope Francis > Speeches > December 2022 has his “To the employees of Vatican City State for the exchange of Christmas greetings (22 December 2022)” — in Italian.
Previous experience suggests that an English translation will be available in a few days or maybe a week or two. The Vatican isn’t nearly as massively-staffed as my culture’s folklore suggests, and that’s yet another topic.
Meanwhile, CNA, Catholic News Agency, did a pretty good summary of today’s speech. Yesterday’s, actually, by the time I post this.
“Elegant Demons” and a Lurking Evil
Video at the Vatican, Pope Francis reminding that evil is still a problem. (December 22, 2022)
“Pope Francis warned the Roman Curia on Thursday that they need to be vigilant in the face of temptation by elegant demons and ‘the evil that quietly lurks among us.’
“In his annual Christmas address to the cardinals who work in Vatican offices on Dec. 22, the pope said that there is a temptation for those who serve ‘at the heart of the Church’ to think that they are ‘better than others, no longer in need of conversion.’
“‘Yet we are in greater danger than all others, because we are beset by the “elegant demon,” who does not make a loud entrance, but comes with flowers in his hand,’ Pope Francis said.
“The pope underlined that ‘it is not enough to condemn evil, including the evil that quietly lurks among us.’
“‘We need to respond by choosing to be converted,’ he said.
“‘Mere condemnation can give the illusion that we have solved the problem, whereas what really counts is making the changes that will ensure that we no longer allow ourselves to be imprisoned by evil ways of thinking, which are often those of this world.’
“Pope Francis added that one of the most helpful virtues to aid in temptation is ‘the virtue of vigilance.’…”
There’s more of what Pope Francis said in that CNA article. It’s a tad under 500 words, maybe a two-minute read, and worth the time. My opinion.
Part of “the virtue of vigilance,” the Pope said, is a daily examination of conscience.
That sounds like a good idea to me, but not one that I actually follow through on. So looks like that’s something I should add to my daily schedule.
A parish priest gave me, along with the rest of the household, an “Examination of Conscience for Adults and Teens” from The Fathers of Mercy (www.fathersofmercy.com).
It’s been sitting near my keyboard and mouse pad, so all that’s left is for me to actually start going through the thing. Which, again, strikes me as a good idea.
This particular “Examination of Conscience” is the first one that ‘clicked’ for me, probably because it had a modestly extensive checklist. And included short explanations of what specific virtues and vices are, in operational terms.
I’d suggest getting a copy from The Fathers of Mercy (Home > Store > Examinations) but they sell them in lots of 100, 500 and 1,000 — as a parish resource, I gather. So I don’t know if you’d think doing so made sense, or even if you’d be interested.
That’s about all I’ve got for the moment, apart from a list of allegedly-related posts.
“Oh, I yust go nuts at Christmas On that yolly holiday I’ll go in the red like a knucklehead ‘Cause I’ll squander all my pay “Oh, I yust go nuts at Christmas Shopping sure drives me berserk On the day before, I rush in a store Like a pure bewildered yerk….” (“I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas,” Yogi Yorgesson (1949) via JioSaavn.com)
On the whole, I like the season’s glitz and plastic pomp. Possibly because I haven’t bought into the ‘shop til you drop’ norm.
But I also think C. S. Lewis made a good point or two about “the commercial racket.”
“Three things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious festival. … The second (it has complex historical connections with the first, but we needn’t go into them) is a popular holiday, an occasion for merry-making and hospitality. If it were my business too have a ‘view’ on this, I should say that I much approve of merry-making. But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business.… But the third thing called Christmas is unfortunately everyone’s business. “I mean of course the commercial racket.…” (“What Christmas Means to Me,” C. S. Lewis (1957) via The Trustees of the Estate of C.S. Lewis and Tim Collinses/University of Rochester [emphasis mine])
I don’t see a problem with many traditions, like decorating Christmas trees. But some traditions I’d gleefully do without.
That’s why I’m not following my country’s old traditions by denouncing “…the exchanging of Gifts and Greetings … and similar Satanical Practices….”
Or conforming to our new ones: like protesting The [redacted] Village in Philadelphia.
Or complaining about [redacted] wreaths on New York City’s Holland Tunnel. Although, in fairness, the Tunnel trouble was more about spelling that seasonal celebrations.
Which brings me to the problem of sorting cause-effect relationships from things that happen around the same time but aren’t connected.
Folks working in emergency departments, for example, deal with a great many more patients around Christmas and New Year. And a whole lot of dead-on-arrival patients.
There are almost certainly cause-effect relationships involved.
One study, for example, showed holiday spikes in deaths due to substance abuse and “external factors.” External factors being events like accidents, homicides, and suicides.
I’m not sure why we don’t see op-eds calling for tougher holiday control laws, or a reboot of America’s 1920 to 1933 Prohibition experiment.1
Condo Killings: Murders, Motives, Maledictions and Making Sense
Another nonstarter, so far, is outrage over deadly attacks on condo board and block committee members.
“Vaughan condo shooting: Three victims were on condo board“ Nadine Yousif, BBC News (December 19, 2022) “The man who went on a shooting spree at a Canada apartment complex killed five of his neighbours, including members of the building’s board, police said. “The 73-year-old suspect went from apartment to apartment looking for his victims, though police have not disclosed his motive. “The alleged gunman, a longtime resident of the building, was shot and killed by police….”
“Italy shooting: Three women shot dead in Rome cafe“ (December 12, 2022) “…Those inside were meeting as part of a local block’s residents’ committee…. “A suspect, 57, is in custody. He has a history of disputes with some of the committee’s board, reports say….”
I figured BBC News has the good sense to realize that it’s early days to start guessing what sparked the Vaughn condo killings. Although one explanation seems likely.
“Victims of shooting at apartments in Vaughan, Canada, named“ (December 21, 2022) “Canadian police have identified all five people killed at an Ontario apartment complex in an attack that appears to have been sparked by a dispute with the block’s board. “Three of the victims in Vaughan, Ontario, had worked for the board…. “…According to court documents, the suspect had filed several lawsuits against the building’s condominium corporation that a judge later described as ‘frivolous’….”
“Vaughan shooting: Gunman had long-running feud with condo board“ (December 20, 2022) “…The board had also asked a judge to find Villi in contempt for violating a previous order not to contact them, according to the Toronto Star newspaper. “Court documents show the building corporation filed a restraining order against the suspect in November 2018, due to his ‘threatening, abusive, intimidating and harassing behaviour’….”
I haven’t, again so far, seen an editorial call for better laws against “threatening, abusive, intimidating and harassing behaviour.”
On the other hand, I have been seeing the culturally-normative maledictions directed at a particular technology. And that’s another topic.
I’ll be glad that, despite both mass-murders happening during Advent: there isn’t a “Save Lives, Abolish Advent” campaign in progress. Not that I’ve seen, at any rate.
About murder, mass- and otherwise, I think it’s a bad idea and we shouldn’t do it. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2268-2279)
That’s partly because I think my life matters. But it’s not all about me.
Since I’m a Catholic, I must see all human life as special: sacred, a gift from God. I must see everyone as a real person, a neighbor, someone who matters. Someone who’s created in the image of God. And someone I must love. No exceptions. (Genesis 1:27; Matthew 5:43–44, 22:36–40; Mark 12:28–31; Luke 6:31, 10:25–37; Catechism, 1789, 2258, 2260)
As ideas go, it’s pretty simple. And incredibly hard to do. Consistently, anyway.
But I still think it’s a good idea.
And now for something completely different: a 2016 “Modern Nativity” scene.
Hipster Nativity: Trendily Non-Traditional in 2016
(O trendy night? Casey and Corey Wright’s “Modern Nativity” scene. (2016))
I can almost see why some folks apparently saw the magi on Segways was “sacrilegious.”
But I can also see why Boston’s better sort saw dressing up for Christmas and exchanging greetings as “Satanical Practices.”
Making educated guesses about perceptions and attitudes is one thing. Accepting them as my own doesn’t strike me as reasonable. Not in this case.
Granted, the “Modern Nativity” may fall short of displaying the Holy Family with dignity. But to my eyes, it’s better than some seasonal ‘Jesus junk’ that hasn’t been denounced.
Besides, I think The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue was right.
“…Those who want a new twist on the traditional crèche can buy a 10-piece Hipster Nativity scene that features Joseph sporting a lumberjack beard taking a selfie; baby Jesus and a peace-flashing Mary, holding a Starbucks cup, are included. The three wise men show up on Segways holding Amazon boxes full of presents; there is also a cow draped in a sweater with a ‘100% Organic’ seal on it. “This depiction is more trendy than it is offensive….” (“Hijacking Christmas Turns Ugly,” Bill Donohue, The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (2016))
Ordinary Folks, Unique Events
Lotto painted “The Nativity” in 1523.
That’s when he signed and dated “Adoration of the Christ Child,” at any rate.
Maybe he called it “Adoration of the Christ Child,” maybe not.
I don’t know where “Adoration…” came from; although it’s probably related to “Adorazione,” Francesco Colalucci’s moniker for the painting.
Colalucci discussed what another scholar called a “mousetrap.” It’s in the painting’s lower right corner. He said the “mousetrap” isn’t a mousetrap, and so it isn’t an anti-demon talisman.
According to Colalucci, it’s a mortised hunk of wood. Which makes sense, since Joseph was a carpenter.
Mousetrap or not, “The Nativity” is a fairly conventional nativity scene. The infant Jesus is in a wooden box. Mary and Joseph kneel nearby.
But there’s something odd in the background of Lotto’s “The Nativity,” over Joseph’s shoulder: a crucifix.
I don’t have a problem with that. Or with the chap carrying a (spear? fishing pole?) back on the hillside.
Artists have considerable leeway in what’s appropriate in a Nativity scene. My guess is that there’s an informal consensus that the picture’s tone should be dignified, with Jesus, Mary and Joseph front and center.
Canon law says Christmas and Epiphany are feast days, but I haven’t found rules about what must and must not be in Nativity scenes.
Which doesn’t mean such rules don’t exist.
Anyway, what about that crucifix?
It’s a reminder of our Lord’s messy and painful death. As such, it clashes both with contemporary culture’s opulently festive holiday spirit, and with the conventionally cute winged trio singing and winging overhead.
The tiny trio near the top, by the way, are putti: ancient artistic conventions rebooted in the Renaissance. Donatello’s generally given credit for European religious art’s tradition of depicting cherubim as putti: pudgy little boys with wings.2
Artists and Art, Telling a Story
“You are the rock….” Print from Catholic University of Peking. (1925-1952)
Lotto’s two adults — I’m back to “The Nativity” now — are wearing colorful outfits and all three look European.
So do the folks in most religious art I see.
I don’t have a problem with that.
Partly because my recentish ancestors came from Europe. And partly because most folks where I live look a little like me.
Besides, I think religious art, nativity pictures included, are illustrations. Their job is telling a story, or showing readers and viewers what the text is about.
Late medieval and Renaissance artists almost certainly knew that folks living around the eastern Mediterranean didn’t look Germanic. Or even French.
But they made the Holy Family look like their neighbors and patrons, anyway. Or enough like them to seem familiar. That’s because Advent and Christmas stories involve ordinary folks and anything-but-ordinary events.
One way to illustrate that contrast is having the ordinary folks look, well, ordinary.
For artists living in Europe, that means showing Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all with European features. And, sometimes, wearing contemporary clothes in familiar settings.
At least some illustrators at the other end of Eurasia have our Lord looking like someone who’s not overly out of place in their neighborhood.3 Most likely for the same reason that Jesus looks European in European religious art.
Again, I think Mary and Joseph are holy people. And Jesus is unique. But they’re also ordinary folks: ordinary on everyday economic and social scales.
Zachariah
Then there’s Zachariah. We hear about him in Saturday morning’s Mass readings.
“Then Zechariah his father, filled with the holy Spirit, prophesied, saying: “‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people….'” (Luke 1:67–79)
Zachariah’s a few steps up from Joseph and Mary of Nazareth on his era’s social scale.
He’s “a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.” (Luke 1:5)
Zachariah hadn’t talked since his interview with Gabriel:
“Then Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.’ “And the angel said to him in reply, ‘I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. “But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.'” (Luke 1:19–20)
Well, Zechariah had asked “How shall I know this….”
And Gabriel gave him a explanation, along something to remind him of just who he’d been talking to.
This is the fourth and last week in Advent, so we’ve been getting into what my culture thinks of as the Christmas story: Matthew 1:18–24; Luke 1:5–25, Luke 1:26–38; and so on.
That bit from Matthew’s Gospel is where Joseph learns that he’s involved in a very special mission.
All things considered, he took the news rather well. Certainly better than Moses had.
Moses tried to talk his way out of his job in the ‘burning bush’ interview. By my count (and in the current New American Bible), he said “but” four times and finally pleaded with God to send someone else. (Exodus 3:11, 13, 4:1, 4:10, and 4:13)
He hadn’t said “but,” obviously. Today’s version of English was millennia in his future, and that’s yet another topic.
Joseph’s Decision
Joseph had at least as much reason to balk as Moses did.
“Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit. “Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. (Matthew 1:18–19)
Footnotes explain that a betrothed man and woman were considered husband and wife.
Look at the situation from Joseph’s viewpoint. Here he was, betrothed to someone he thought was a fine young woman: and she’s pregnant. Infidelity at this point was adultery, which could mean death by stoning.
If Mary hadn’t been pregnant, the betrothal would probably have lasted a few months, after which she would move into Joseph’s home.
I suspect, but haven’t researched this, that Mary could still have moved in with Joseph. Folks would simply have assumed that the couple got impatient.
But Joseph knows he’s not the father, which must have hurt. He had reason to think Mary was lacking in good sense, or had Gomer’s habits. (Hoseah 1:2–3)
That sort of thing doesn’t get a person permanently blacklisted, though.
Rahab was a prostitute. We meet her in Joshua 2:1. She met someone named Salmon, settled down, had a son named Boaz, and all three show up in our Lord’s family tree. Like it says in James 2:25, what we do matters: and she did good. (Matthew 1:5)
“A Righteous Man”
Okay. Joseph was “a righteous man,” devoutly observing the Mosaic law: uncomfortable about Mary’s apparent infidelity and unwilling to let her get killed.
Let’s see how Joseph’s plans for resolving his awkward situation worked out.
“Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.…’ “…When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.” (Matthew 1:20, 24) [emphasis mine]
Let that sink in: “For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”
The ‘other man’ was — God.
Maybe Joseph didn’t argue because the angel showed up in a dream. Maybe he feared that the Almighty would get angry if he didn’t go through with the rest of the marriage.
Or maybe he saw orders from God the way Mary did.
And knew that trusting God made sense in the long run. Let’s remember that there’s more to the Old Testament than ‘thou shalt not’ and death by stoning —
“But you, LORD, are my Lord, deal kindly with me for your name’s sake; in your great mercy rescue me.” (Psalms 109:21)
“But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance.” (Wisdom 11:23)
“You that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy, do not stray lest you fall.” (Sirach 2:7)
Sometimes waiting for God’s mercy means waiting a long time.
“Azariah stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud: “‘Blessed are you, and praiseworthy, Lord, the God of our ancestors, and glorious forever is your name. “For you are just in all you have done; “all your deeds are faultless, all your ways right, and all your judgments proper…. “…Do not take away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one, “To whom you promised to multiply their offspring like the stars of heaven, or the sand on the shore of the sea.” (Daniel 3:25–Daniel 3:36)
Azariah’s Babylonian name in that bit from Daniel is Abednego.
He, along with Shadrach and Meshach, had decided that not bowing to a king’s statue was a good idea. I think they were right.
And Azariah’s prayer was answered. Eventually, when Cyrus the Great okayed a return to Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:1–6:22)
Now, finally, I’ll talk about Mary.
Mary
John Waterhouse’s “The Annunciation.” (1914)
I don’t know why Zachariah asked a question and got silenced, while Mary asked a question and didn’t.
“But Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?’ “And the angel said to her in reply, ‘The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.’ “And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; “for nothing will be impossible for God.’ “Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:24–38)
I suspect Zachariah’s and Mary’s attitudes, and how they phrased their questions, made a difference.
And so, maybe, did Gabriel’s knowledge that Mary would shortly be his boss: “Queen over all things.” (Catechism, 966)
Angles aren’t human, not even close, but they’re people. (Catechism, 328-336)
And that’s yet again another topic.
Anyway, after Gabriel outlined how she could have a son:
“Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:38)
No “buts,” no “what ifs,” just “may it be done to me according to your word.”
Mary was probably in her teens at the time.
She lived in a society that was unsympathetic toward women in her position, at best.
She would have known the risks she would face.
Her “may it be done to me” was “submissive,” since she submitted to God’s authority.
But I do not think she was “submissive” in the sense of being passive or servile.4
Recognizing competent authority is one thing. Mindlessly doing what I’m told would be a bad idea for anybody. (Catechism-, 85-87, 156, 1897-1904, 2256)
I think Mary’s “may it be done to me” took guts and grit: qualities she’d need, a third of a century later.
But I’m getting ahead of the story.
The Best News Ever
I still haven’t talked about that crucifix in Lotto’s painting.
Many Nativity scenes get along without a reminder of our Lord’s exquisitely unpleasant death.
Displaying a dead body clashes with my culture’s traditional “mistletoe and holly” holiday theme.
“Oh, by gosh, by golly It’s time for mistletoe and holly Tasty pheasants, Christmas presents Countrysides covered with snow….” (“Mistletoe and Holly,” Dok Stanford, Hank Sanicola, Frank Sinatra (1957))
Make that clashes with contemporary culture’s holiday theme. Holly, at least, dovetails nicely with both Christmas and crucifixes. And I still haven’t discussed symbolism and Druids. (December 12, 2020)
The opening essay in “The Magnificat® Advent Companion” (2020) discusses Lotto’s “The Nativity” crucifix.
“…The shadow of the cross colors each chapter of the Christmas mystery. The joyful event of the Incarnation brings sorrow to Saint Joseph….” (Christmas and the Cross, James Monti in “The Magnificat® Advent Companion” (2020))
Two millennia after our Lord’s birth, seeing the Incarnation and associated events as joyful is easy. Fairly easy. We know what happened after our Lord stopped being dead.
But two millennia back, in Judea?
The world was about to be changed.
Because Mary said “let it be done.”
And because Joseph did his job.
“Do Not Be Afraid….”
And most of all because our Lord carried a cross to Golgotha, died and — but I’m getting ahead of the story again.
Starting this Sunday, we’ll be celebrating our Lord’s arrival.
“The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. “The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. “For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.” (Luke 2:9–11)
That, and what happened later, is the best news humanity’s ever had.
I’ve talked about that before. So has my late father-in-law:
“Distinctive Xinxiang Series of Biblical Illustrations“ Hye-jin Juhn, East Asian Studies Librarian; Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) at Notre Dame; Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Indiana (March 25, 2019)
4 Cultural norms, words, and me:
I remember the ‘good old days,’ when folks who acted as if they’d read Ephesians 5:22, but not Ephesians 5:21-30, were taken more seriously. I do not miss the ‘good old days.’ Men and women have equal dignity, and I’m expected to love my wife as Jesus loved the Church. (Catechism, 1601-1617, 2331-2336)
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Life, the universe and my circumstances permitting. I'm focusing on 'family stories' at the moment. ("A Change of Pace: Family Stories" (11/23/2024))
Blog - David Torkington
Spiritual theologian, author and speaker, specializing in prayer, Christian spirituality and mystical theology [the kind that makes sense-BHG]
I was born in 1951. I'm a husband, father and grandfather. One of the kids graduated from college in December, 2008, and is helping her husband run businesses and raise my granddaughter; another is a cartoonist and artist; #3 daughter is a writer; my son is developing a digital game with #3 and #1 daughters. I'm also a writer and artist.
![Great Seal of the United States, 'Annuit coeptis Novus ordo seclorum' 'He favors/has favored [our] undertakings - New order of the ages' (2008) rendered by Ipankonin, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.](https://i0.wp.com/brendans-island.com/blogsource/20170721ff/20170720-Great_Seal_of_the_United_States_reverse-329.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
