The meaning of the feast

I wrote last year about the night Christmas became real for me. It was very difficult to write that tale - I'd never told it in full before, and even now there are parts of it that I don't share in public. Nevertheless, it was a life-changing Christmas for me. If you haven't read it before, you might want to click over there and do so.

For this year, I'd like to recall the essential simplicity of the Feast.

This child was born to men of God
Love to the world was given;
In Him were Truth and Beauty met
On Him was set at birth the seal of Heaven.

He came the Word to manifest
Earth to the stars He raises;
The teacher's errors are not his
All men should sing His praises.

He evil fought and overcame
He took from Death the power;
To all who follow where He goes
At last He shows the Kingdom's sacred power.

The secret flower shall bloom on earth
In them that hath beholden;
The Heavenly Spirit shall be plain
To men on earth as once it was of olden.

And by the Spirit shall be known
Heroes and saints and sages;
Yea, they shall walk in all men's sight
Amid the light God sent to crown the ages.

("The Secret Flower": trad. German hymn, 17th century: tr. Eleanor Farjeon [1881-1965])

My grateful thanks to all of you who've joined me on this blog over the past year. May God bless you this Christmas, and grant you peace in the coming year.

I'll be taking a short break from blogging over the weekend. More posts will be up on Sunday night. Until then, please celebrate safely, and for those of you in the path of the current winter storm - stay warm!

Peter