Recently a Facebook friend (I‘ll call her “Lucy”) posted an essay
on her timeline telling us that she is depressed this Christmas and why. While it is a fairly lengthy essay, not once
did she give any hint of the fact that Christmas commemorates the birth of
Jesus. Additionally, not a single
response to Lucy (except mine) mentioned that Christmas is a celebration of the
birthday of Our Lord, the Savior of the human race. I fear that this is a symptom of the fact
that mankind has lost its focus, not just on “the reason for the season,” but
on the purpose of life in general. So My
Thursday Thoughts today turn from Lucy’s depression and sadness to the joy and
hope that can overtake her simply by her reading the Scriptures, specifically
the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2. In fact,
I suggested that she read this chapter in its entirety, slowly, out loud to
herself. If you are feeling down this
Christmas, I make the same suggestion to you.
Just the sound of the words describing what happened is good for the
soul. Luke 2:1-20 reads as follows.
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the
whole world should be enrolled. This was
the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own
town. And Joseph too went up from
Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called
Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with
Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she
gave birth to her firstborn son. She
wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no
room for them in the inn.”
“Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and
keeping the night watch over their flock.
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. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling
clothes and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly
there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and
saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’
“When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said
to one another, ‘Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken
place, which the Lord has made known to us.’
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in
the manger. When they saw this, they
made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been
told them by the shepherds. And Mary
kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and
praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to
them.”
To all the Lucys in the world:
May you hear these words in a new light and glorify and praise God, just
as the shepherds did that Christmas many years ago. Amen.
The photo is of a shepherd and his flock and was taken at the holiday exhibit at the Cristo Rey Catholic Church in Lincoln,
Nebraska.