VincentWiki:Reflections/52 2006

Christmas and Holy Family, Year C

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son (Jn. 3:16)

The more frenetic the phase of life becomes during the holidays and the more demanding the consuming culture becomes with regard to meeting its expectations—along with the realistic prospect that the holidays for which I prepare so much are going to be gone as fast as they come—and the more I miss loved ones who are either deceased or live far away, the more overwhelmed and depressed I feel. But as I already indicated back on December 22, 1997, when such feeling sets in and the season of joy is starting to turn for me into one of sadness, a remedy I make use of is singing to myself a song composed many years ago by a classmate, Ray Delia. I take it from Ray that the lyrics are really the words of a poem by Daniel Berrigan, S.J. I do not even know the title of the poem, and I have not succeeded in locating the book where the poem is found. So, as I quote it here shortly, I like to make clear that I am citing from memory—mine, which is even less reliable now than before—and my classmate’s. As we two remember it, the poem goes:

In my morning prayer,

I saw love written upon every creature:

Men, on their foreheads;

Trees, on their leaves;

Houses, on their walls.

Christ has flowered in man’s flesh!

Let human nature rejoice!

Full Reflection at Christmas and Holy Family, Year C