OCR Text |
Show CONTEMPLATIONS OF YULE-TIDE BIBLICAL STORY OF CHRISTMAS ! . - s-jMAGINE yourself a child again. Now iPT(3)y your happiness is complete. It lasts ISvt unt e ay reani vanishes and : aS&in J'ou are a man. But while it 'CBol 'ass vou wou exchange riches, ambition and the world's adulation 1 ,1 a pair of knickerbockers and copper-toed shoes, i , w persons who. if given three wishes by the tra- f; linnal fairy, would not choose first to be a child I !.( other two postponed until the first was realized. : !nn as a child the wish would be to bring the earth :. rarer the sky, because the sky must be very near j ;.i heaven. Of what value is all' that we have achieved, sup-nosing sup-nosing it to be extraordinary, if we get away from 1 lie childhood of man's development? None whatever. what-ever. The illusions of childhood are worth more to human happiness than wealth or fame or philosophy ! f lu-ing to any man. It is good for men to think so. It is the usual I and not the rare thing in man to act out such thoughts. Yesterday the writer saw a friend pushing push-ing his way through a crowd of Christmas shoppers on Main street, both arms hugging a load of parcels Christmas presents. In the bunch was a small Christmas tree. Not an unusual sight at this time, i except the Christmas tree in the arms of this man. lie is an atheist a conscientious supporter of the philosophy of materialism and an opponent of the divinity of Christ. "I am what I am," he said, in I . an effort to reconcile the Christmas tree with his philosophy, "and these are for the kids." I The Christmas tree was for the kids. Would that I the father could be one of the kids! SOME PEOPLE are never satisfied unless they are proposing something to take the place of something else. If that cannot be done, then the 'something they aimed to destroy must be minimized, so as to appear ridiculous or even harmful. These iconoclasts would tear from the heart of the child Rood Saint Nikolaus, more popularly called Santa I Klaus. It is a pagan idea, they say, and one pro- Iducing in the mind of the child erroneous impressions impres-sions of the real benefactor. Let it be a pagan idea, if it is, and remain a pagan idea, if it will. It has not worn out, or seemed less I beautiful, in nineteen centuries of Christian truth. I Santa Klaus isrfor children, not for theologians. De- I stroy that childish idea and you rob the little one of I blissful slumber. Snatch the stockings from the line I to vindicate your Puritanism and you but vindicate I a religion based on the dismal rather than the joyful I in life. I No love for the Christ-child is lost because a little I idol called Santa Klaus shares company. I HAIL THE CHRIST-CHILD! Already the Star , of Bethlehem is set in the heavens, and through the light it sheds far away in the desert we catch a glimpse of those eastern kings on their journey jour-ney to see the Christ-child. In spirit we follow these three monarchs of the races beyond the Tiber, upon whose banks majestically rises the pagan Mistress of-the World; beyond the Euphrates, whose waters nourish the soil of Judea and the lands of God's chosen people; the races who built the pyramids, made Carthage a mighty power, and Arabia, Egypt and Abyssinia the Babylons that tempted the con-quests con-quests of the Persian kings. Now they are approaching Judea, these three wise monarchs, trudging along without the glamour of retinue ret-inue and asking of those whom they met, "Whither shall we go to find the Child?" A strange question to put to those whose messiah would come with a glory greater than Caesar's in order to overcome Caesar! "What child? Of whom do you speak? The king of the Jews born in Bethlehem? We know nothing of such child!" Thus did He come among His own, but I lis own received Him not. Unspeakably wonderful is this scene of nineteen centuries ago! These kings giving worship to the King of Kings! He who lay helpless in a manger the incarnated Creator of all things, from whom a word alone could bring heaven and earth together to glorify His birth, beyond the realization of worldly splendor! The Ruler of the Universe consenting to the most abject surroundings, from which the poorest of the children of earth would turn away with a shudder! shud-der! Could any example of God's love for man be made greater, except the Death on the Cross? Is there anywhere in this wide world a man so poor that will not rejoice on Christmas Day that the Son of Man was born in poverty; one who will not feel that his lowly condition is an easier means to salvation salva-tion than wealth could bring, and whose heart is gladdened on Christmas by thorns rather than by roses! The great festival is so near at hand that already X we can fix our minds on the Holy Family, the kings and the shepherds in adoration at the crib, and almost hear the angelic choir in rapturous melody, singing "Peace on earth to men of good will." It is so near that already we begin to bury resentments and cultivate culti-vate that spirit of peace which the world cannot give. It is so near that our hearts are melted with appeals from beggars, for even such may be angels in disguise. It is so near that already we have made intrigue with Santa Klaus to surprise the children and keep alive in their hearts the innocent illusion. Before the next issue of this paper is received by its readers the Christmas festival will have come v and gone. That it may bring joy and gladness to T every heart and peace to every home, and that meditations medi-tations on Christ's humanity and humility will bring surcease to sorrow, is the wish of The Intermountain Catholic to its thousands of friends. mw ""ifc v ' n flit U - l;fl V: rlvlm ' ;CT ' 1 Wil |