Two-hundred years ago today — December 24, 1818 — was written this now ubiquitous Christmas carol by an Austrian priest named Josef Mohr, with Franz Xaver Gruber composing the music. Today it is often sung at Midnight Mass as a lullaby of sorts to Our Lord.
Continuing the idea of listening to carols in their native tongue, below is the 1977 performance by the Vienna Boys’ Choir. The Vienna Boys’ Choir is one of the oldest still remaining, dating back to about the 15th century or perhaps before. Boys’ choirs developed in the Middle Ages when treble voices were needed due to the acoustic designs of churches, and mixed choirs (i.e., with women) were still forbidden. These days, with the prohibition of mixed choirs having been relaxed, they are less common.
A few loops of that and it is easy to find a meditation. At this Christmas time, as people go about their business of celebrating without even giving Our Lord His due, I am reminded of something revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French nun and mystic of the 17th century, when Our Lord established the Sacred Heart Devotion, beginning just two days after Christmas 1673.
He told this humble nun:
Behold the Heart that has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify to Its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I feel most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me that treat Me thus.
And:
I feel this more than all that I suffered during My Passion. If only they would make Me some return for My Love, I should think but little of all I have done for them and would wish, were it possible, to suffer still more. But the sole return they make for all My eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat Me with coldness.
Truly… it is hard to read. But upon taking some moments to reflect on these words, I think we must resign ourselves to acknowledge… it’s true. And we’re moved to ask, “What else more could He have done for us, so that we would love Him?”
At no other time of the year must this indifference be so painful to Our Lord than during the frenzy and fuss of the Christmas season. We, as a people, have lost sight of the fact that He came — not to be a great king here on earth, and even less so that we can have an annual month of celebration — but rather, that He was born with the sole purpose of dying, so that He can be king of our hearts, and that we may live in His kingdom forever.
Meditating on these thoughts while listening to the carol above — even for just fifteen minutes — can truly nourish the soul.
So let’s take this great feast of Christmas for what it truly is, and re-double our efforts in the coming year to grow closer to our entire reason for being.
Merry Christmas!