The Holy Innocents, by Giotto di Bondone
Holy Innocents ping.
I've always felt a sense of sadness at Christmas. Starting after Thanksgiving, I listen to a lot of Christmas music, mainly versions of traditional carols. Many of them seemed tinged with sadness. While this is a season of "joy," we need to remember why it is that Jesus was born, and what it took to accomplish and complete his work.
Coventry Carol
1. Lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child.
By, by, lully, lullay.
2. O sisters, too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day;
This poor Youngling for whom we sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.
3. Herod the King, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day;
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young, to slay.
4. Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee,
And ever mourn and say;
For Thy parting, nor say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.
The Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Feast Day
December 28th
Giotto di Bondone
No. 21 Scenes from the Life of Christ
Massacre of the Innocents
1304-06 -- Fresco
Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua
Gospel - Matthew 2:13-18
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you: for Herod is about to search for the Child, to destroy Him." And he rose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called My Son."
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
"A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation:
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled because they were no more."
Note: Scripture readings are from the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition
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SALVETE, flores martyrum,
quos lucis ipso in limine
Christi insecutor sustulit
ceu turbo nascentes rosas.
Vos prima Christi victima,
grex immolatorum tener,
aram sub ipsam simplices
palma et coronis luditis.
Iesu, tibi sit gloria,
qui natus es de Virgine,
cum Patre et almo Spiritu,
in sempiterna saecula. Amen.
ALL hail! ye infant Martyr flowers
Cut off in life's first dawning hours:
As rosebuds snapt in tempest strife,
when Herod sought your Savior's life.
You, tender flock of lambs, we sing,
first victims slain for Christ your King:
beside the very altar, gay
with palms and crowns, ye seem to play.
All honor, laud, and glory be,
o Jesu, Virgin-born to Thee;
all glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.
Thank you.
Catholic ping!
The mystery is that God does things so unexpectedly. Nobody expected the Messiah to be born this way, nor to die the way He did. I always think of 1 Kings 9 -- God is revealed as a still, small voice.
Christmas day weather for Jerusalem:
High 46 F
Low 38 F
Sing lullaby!
Lullaby baby, now reclining,
Sing lullaby!
Hush! do not wake the infant King!
Angels are watching, stars are shining,
Over the place where he's lying;
Sing lullaby!
Lullaby baby, now asleeping,
Sing lullaby!
Hush! do not wake the infant King!
Soon will come the sorrow with the morning,
Soon will come the bitter grief and weeping;
Sing lullaby!
Sing lullaby!
Lullaby baby, now a-dozing,
Sing lullaby!
Hush! do not wake the infant King!
Soon comes the Cross, the nails, the piercing,
Then in the grave at last reposing,
Sing lullaby!
Sing lullaby!
Lullaby, is the baby awaking?
Sing lullaby!
Hush! do not wake the infant King!
Dreaming of Easter, gladsome morning,
Conquering death, its bondage breaking;
Sing lullaby!
(Sabine Baring-Gould,1834-1924)
Here's another "dark side" carol:
Bethlehem Down
"When He is King we will give Him the Kings' gifts,
Myrrh for its sweetness, and gold for a crown,
Beautiful robes," said the young girl to Joseph,
Fair with her firstborn on Bethlehem Down.
Bethlehem Down is full of the starlight,
Winds for the spices, and stars for the gold,
Mary for sleep, and for lullaby music
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.
When He is King, they will clothe Him in gravesheets,
Myrrh for embalming, and wood for a crown,
He that lies now in the white arms of Mary
Sleeping so lightly on Bethlehem Down.
Here He has peace and a short while for dreaming,
Close huddled oxen to keep Him from cold,
Mary for love, and for lullaby music
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.
(Bruce Blunt)
Music here - splendid work by Peter Warlock/ Philip Heseltine.
My baby's baptism in Ohio was, according to earthly judgment, a disaster. The weather was miserable, icy, and cold. No one's cameras would work. The bishop decided we might as well immerse the baby fully, which was okay with us, but turned out to be not okay with the baby, who commenced screaming his lungs out at the unexpected bath, and not okay either with the bishop's elderly mother, who was quite horrified. And circling around us the whole time was our three-year-old, who seemed to have absorbed the demons driven out of his brother during the exorcism part of the rite, and who would not, in the face of many and varied threats, be still. He raced like — yes — a demon, in and around the church, constantly, through the whole affair. I've helped out at many baptisms in my work in parish ministry but this one was, I think, the worst.
But perhaps it was more fitting than it first appears. Trivial problems, yes, but still an apt metaphor for the Christian life begun there, and yet to come for Baby Michael: not the warmth of a tidy, neat manger scene, with everyone gathered in comfort, calm, and peace, but something startling and new, a shock to the system, entered upon in a world of frustration and discord, circled by forces intent to disrupt.
Glad tidings of comfort and joy, and Merry Christmas indeed. But without awareness of the risk of discipleship, and the reality that the baby in the manger ends up hanging on a cross, those words have about as little power to change the world as "Happy Holidays."
She surely does....
Mary's Son
Perfectly little baby,
Mary's little son,
lying in her loving arms
While Joseph looks on,
The joy of his mother,
God's only son,
and the heavens sing out their song
while shepherds look on.
Wondrous young man,
Mary's little son,
sitting in the temple
while the teachers looked on.
Frightened was his mother
for God's only son,
Feeling how the sword would feel
As she searched on.
Battered was his body,
Mary's precious son
as they pulled him off the cross
as soldiers looked on.
The sorrow of his mother
for God's only son
when they laid him in her lap
so hard to look on.
Empty was the tomb
Gone was Mary's son
when the stone was rolled away
as soldiers ran on.
The joy of his mother
for God's only son
Still echos in that empty tomb
As Heaven sings on.