1. O little town of Bethlehem:
How still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light.
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.
Strangely, I did not know this famous carol until I heard it in the most suitable place of all, the Shepherd’s Field near Bethlehem, on Christmas Eve in 1977. (I caught a glimpse of the spot from a bus many years later and it seemed to be spoilt by being built up; but it may not have been the same location: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/bethlehem-shepherds-fields.)
The words were written by Rev Phillips Brooks in Philadelphia in 1868 on his return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The usual tune is one adapted by Ralph Vaughan Williams (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRuXdOb6TrA&t=3s) I hear that Fr Robert Ormond, Cork & Ross, remembered for his great piety and charity, disliked this hymn, perhaps thinking it too literary and aesthetic, looking at Christmas from outside, in a distancing, objectifying way. Is it better consigned to the confectionary of carol services rather than used in the liturgy? Well, today’s first reading from Micah would provide a good pretext for smuggling it in.
2. Ephratah, mentioned by Micah as another name of Bethlehem, is the place where Rachel died in giving birth to Benjamin. But some scholars locate it elsewhere, near Bethel. Indeed, some scholars locate the birthplace of Jesus in Nazareth rather than Bethlehem. As the city of David, celebrated in Micah’s prophecy, Bethlehem was the most suitable birthplace for a Messiah; yet it was already a place of pilgrimage in the second century; just as the sites that the Holy Family visited in Egypt are places of pilgrimage there since https://aleteia.org/2017/05/18/the-path-of-the-holy-familys-exile-in-egypt-to-become-a-world-heritage-site.
That factual history should be enhanced by theological legend need not trouble a mature faith. The recognition of Jesus as Messiah is based on his public impact, his teachings, miracles, death and resurrection, and the retroactive shaping of his infancy in light of this experience is a theological statement of great depth and beauty.
3. The name “Bethlehem” means “house of bread” but more anciently “house of Lahem”, a Canaanite fertility god. A place of nourishment and fertility rather than of vain pomp. Its existence is recorded from more than 3,500 year back.
“Bethlehem is a collection of very fertile villages that grows almonds and, more importantly, olives for oil. It’s so fertile because Bethlehem sits on an enormous aquifer, which eventually became the water source for Jerusalem in around 200 BCE. There were so many Jewish pilgrims coming to Jerusalem that the city couldn’t cope. The older water supply was contaminated by the animals slaughtered in the temple. They needed fresh water and this came from Bethlehem.” (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/bethlehem-christ-birth-blincoe)
Yet when we think of this fertile town we also think of want and need. Forever associated with the plight of migrants and the cruelty of Herod, Bethlehem resonates with that ongoing human struggle today. The child that dominates this Christmas season is the 7-year-old Guatemalan girl Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin who died from dehydration and septic shock and exhaustion after being taken into Border Patrol custody in the USA. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqA2G5Wdztg)
The back story is chilling:
“Last Wednesday, a nonprofit group that provides humanitarian aid to migrants in the Arizona desert released a lengthy report alleging Border Patrol agents were intentionally destroying supplies left for migrants in the desert, the group said, to ‘condemn border crossers to suffering, death and disappearance.’
“What received wider attention, however, was a video that the Tucson-based aid group, No More Deaths, also distributed with its report. The footage, taken between 2010 and 2017, showed Border Patrol agents kicking over water jugs that had been left in the desert. In one clip, a male agent sneers at the person filming him, demanding to know whom the water is for, as he empties a gallon bottle of water onto the ground.
“In the report, the group called the systematic destruction of supplies meant for migrants’ survival part of a ‘culture of dehumanization’ within the Customs and Border Protection agency.”
Herod the Great looms over the birth of Christ (Mt 2), as his son Herod Antipas gets a look-in at his execution (Lk 23:6-12). Movies and operas have accustomed us to think of them as buffoons or pantomime villains who came to sticky ends, but they were no doubt highly honoured in their glorious reigns. The only one to die spectacularly is Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, who dislodged his uncle Herod Antipas, martyred the apostle James, imprisoned Peter, and when he declared himself divine was smitten by the angel of the Lord and eaten by worms (Acts 12). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Agrippa). His son Herod Agrippa II, the eighth and last of the dynasty, the fifth to bear the title King of the Jews, was a jolly fellow, the pal of the Emperor Claudius, traveling with his elegant sister Queen Berenice (Acts 25:15-26:32).
Herod is alive and kicking today. In 1992 I met an Iraqi wandering in Tokyo and I asked him how he’d been affected by “Desert Storm” in 1991. He replied that his village had been wiped off the map. I hope he did not return to his ill-fated land to face “Shock and Awe” under Bush II in 2003. Tempestuous theologian Eugen Drewermann was too much for his prim diocese to handle; they published a book to justify their expulsion of him; it includes a sample of his allegedly bad preaching, a sermon on “Desert Storm” ending with the prophetic words, “Let us make sure that this never happens again.” In how many little towns throughout those Islamic lands are women and children dying in poverty, pain, and fear, victims of our Christian bombs? Rachel continues to weep for her children, and will not be comforted (Jer 31:15; Mt 2:18).
4. Bethlehem is a flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian tensions, another painful subject on which it is impossible not to muse at Christmas. On that evening in 1977 I heard a bomb explode behind me in the Manger Square. I asked some fellows behind me if it was a bomb and they replied, “We’re Palestinians, bombs don’t worry us!” The next day I chatted with them in Dheisheh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dheisheh); they talked about their advocate Felicia Langer (1930-2018), and her book These Are My Brothers. After lunch in one of their simple homes (the village is a refugee camp), I strolled along with three on my left and three on my right, feeling as if I’d strayed into the Gospels: “What did you come to see, Israel or Palestine?” “I came to see the biblical places.” On my second trip to Israel I came in close proximity to a much more serious bomb, which killed a whole busload of passengers.
5. Stepping back from these grim events, can we hear the carol as anything other than escapism and false consolation?:
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth.
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
Wherever a child is born, no matter how great the dangers all about, a mother rejoices with wondering love. The Bethlehem of Christ’s time was a dangerous place, but it is there that the message rings out: “Peace to men on earth.” Bethlehem gives a voice to the little people, while monarchs rage and kill, and its star shines undimmed by the centuries of bloodshed.
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given.
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming
But in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive him still
The dear Christ enters in.
The actuality of Bethlehem today is that Christ is born in our hearts, a theme dear to Christian mystics from Origen to Eckhart. Christ is born anew in this world of violence wherever love prevails. Every family on earth is a place where love is prevailing, and the great army of loving families is a mightier power than any agents of death. Christmas brings us back to this basic tonality of human existence, to the love that flourishes amid so many tragedies, so much destruction. Jesus will wrestle with the forces of violence to the bitter end, but his mission begins here, amid a humble, loving family, and it is this that gives him a joy and confidence that nothing can dint or daunt.
O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell.
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel.
“In how many little towns throughout those Islamic lands are women and children dying in poverty, pain, and fear, victims of our Christian bombs?”
To this uplifting message of hope and joy:-
“ Christ is born anew in this world of violence wherever love prevails. Every family on earth is a place where love is prevailing, and the great army of loving families is a mightier power than any agents of death.”
Joe, this was fascinating reading. I learned so much.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, your knowledge and insights and long may you continue to challenge and inspire us. Beannachtaí na Nollag. 😀
Thanks for a great and timely application of the Christmas message. I second Mary Vallely’s appreciation, and completely join her in urging you to “continue to challenge and inspire us” into 2019.
Happy Christmas to you, and good health for the New Year 2019.
Joe@1, thank you for that wonderful reflection and, like Mary, I also found it fascinating reading. I, too, learned so much.
You continue to educate us, Joe. I hope you keep it up. Thank you for all the knowledge you have shared with this last year.
I want to wish you a Happy and Peaceful Christmas and my very best wishes to you for 2019.
PS. Joe, I took the liberty of sharing your post on the Scottish Laity Network (SLN) Facebook page. SLN is a new group of reformed minded lay Catholics here in Scotland.
Paddy.
Bethlehem: A Light of Love in a World of Violence
1. O little town of Bethlehem:
How still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light.
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.
Strangely, I did not know this famous carol until I heard it in the most suitable place of all, the Shepherd’s Field near Bethlehem, on Christmas Eve in 1977. (I caught a glimpse of the spot from a bus many years later and it seemed to be spoilt by being built up; but it may not have been the same location: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/bethlehem-shepherds-fields.)
The words were written by Rev Phillips Brooks in Philadelphia in 1868 on his return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The usual tune is one adapted by Ralph Vaughan Williams (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRuXdOb6TrA&t=3s) I hear that Fr Robert Ormond, Cork & Ross, remembered for his great piety and charity, disliked this hymn, perhaps thinking it too literary and aesthetic, looking at Christmas from outside, in a distancing, objectifying way. Is it better consigned to the confectionary of carol services rather than used in the liturgy? Well, today’s first reading from Micah would provide a good pretext for smuggling it in.
2. Ephratah, mentioned by Micah as another name of Bethlehem, is the place where Rachel died in giving birth to Benjamin. But some scholars locate it elsewhere, near Bethel. Indeed, some scholars locate the birthplace of Jesus in Nazareth rather than Bethlehem. As the city of David, celebrated in Micah’s prophecy, Bethlehem was the most suitable birthplace for a Messiah; yet it was already a place of pilgrimage in the second century; just as the sites that the Holy Family visited in Egypt are places of pilgrimage there since https://aleteia.org/2017/05/18/the-path-of-the-holy-familys-exile-in-egypt-to-become-a-world-heritage-site.
That factual history should be enhanced by theological legend need not trouble a mature faith. The recognition of Jesus as Messiah is based on his public impact, his teachings, miracles, death and resurrection, and the retroactive shaping of his infancy in light of this experience is a theological statement of great depth and beauty.
3. The name “Bethlehem” means “house of bread” but more anciently “house of Lahem”, a Canaanite fertility god. A place of nourishment and fertility rather than of vain pomp. Its existence is recorded from more than 3,500 year back.
“Bethlehem is a collection of very fertile villages that grows almonds and, more importantly, olives for oil. It’s so fertile because Bethlehem sits on an enormous aquifer, which eventually became the water source for Jerusalem in around 200 BCE. There were so many Jewish pilgrims coming to Jerusalem that the city couldn’t cope. The older water supply was contaminated by the animals slaughtered in the temple. They needed fresh water and this came from Bethlehem.” (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/bethlehem-christ-birth-blincoe)
Yet when we think of this fertile town we also think of want and need. Forever associated with the plight of migrants and the cruelty of Herod, Bethlehem resonates with that ongoing human struggle today. The child that dominates this Christmas season is the 7-year-old Guatemalan girl Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin who died from dehydration and septic shock and exhaustion after being taken into Border Patrol custody in the USA. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqA2G5Wdztg)
The back story is chilling:
“Last Wednesday, a nonprofit group that provides humanitarian aid to migrants in the Arizona desert released a lengthy report alleging Border Patrol agents were intentionally destroying supplies left for migrants in the desert, the group said, to ‘condemn border crossers to suffering, death and disappearance.’
“What received wider attention, however, was a video that the Tucson-based aid group, No More Deaths, also distributed with its report. The footage, taken between 2010 and 2017, showed Border Patrol agents kicking over water jugs that had been left in the desert. In one clip, a male agent sneers at the person filming him, demanding to know whom the water is for, as he empties a gallon bottle of water onto the ground.
“In the report, the group called the systematic destruction of supplies meant for migrants’ survival part of a ‘culture of dehumanization’ within the Customs and Border Protection agency.”
Herod the Great looms over the birth of Christ (Mt 2), as his son Herod Antipas gets a look-in at his execution (Lk 23:6-12). Movies and operas have accustomed us to think of them as buffoons or pantomime villains who came to sticky ends, but they were no doubt highly honoured in their glorious reigns. The only one to die spectacularly is Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, who dislodged his uncle Herod Antipas, martyred the apostle James, imprisoned Peter, and when he declared himself divine was smitten by the angel of the Lord and eaten by worms (Acts 12). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Agrippa). His son Herod Agrippa II, the eighth and last of the dynasty, the fifth to bear the title King of the Jews, was a jolly fellow, the pal of the Emperor Claudius, traveling with his elegant sister Queen Berenice (Acts 25:15-26:32).
Herod is alive and kicking today. In 1992 I met an Iraqi wandering in Tokyo and I asked him how he’d been affected by “Desert Storm” in 1991. He replied that his village had been wiped off the map. I hope he did not return to his ill-fated land to face “Shock and Awe” under Bush II in 2003. Tempestuous theologian Eugen Drewermann was too much for his prim diocese to handle; they published a book to justify their expulsion of him; it includes a sample of his allegedly bad preaching, a sermon on “Desert Storm” ending with the prophetic words, “Let us make sure that this never happens again.” In how many little towns throughout those Islamic lands are women and children dying in poverty, pain, and fear, victims of our Christian bombs? Rachel continues to weep for her children, and will not be comforted (Jer 31:15; Mt 2:18).
4. Bethlehem is a flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian tensions, another painful subject on which it is impossible not to muse at Christmas. On that evening in 1977 I heard a bomb explode behind me in the Manger Square. I asked some fellows behind me if it was a bomb and they replied, “We’re Palestinians, bombs don’t worry us!” The next day I chatted with them in Dheisheh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dheisheh); they talked about their advocate Felicia Langer (1930-2018), and her book These Are My Brothers. After lunch in one of their simple homes (the village is a refugee camp), I strolled along with three on my left and three on my right, feeling as if I’d strayed into the Gospels: “What did you come to see, Israel or Palestine?” “I came to see the biblical places.” On my second trip to Israel I came in close proximity to a much more serious bomb, which killed a whole busload of passengers.
Christmas has too often been a bombing season: Nixon’s Christmas Bombing of 1972 (http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=2204); Indonesia, 2000 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Eve_2000_Indonesia_bombings); NIgeria, 2011 (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-16328940); Alexandria, Jan 1, 2011 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Alexandria_bombing) and Cairo, 2016 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/with-bombing-victims-still-dying-its-a-somber-christmas-for-egypts-christians/2017/01/07/95d27a9c-d162-11e6-9651-54a0154cf5b3_story.html?utm_term=.91169d7a2bd7); Baghdad, 2013 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Iraq_Christmas_Day_bombings); Pakistan, 2017 (www.straitstimes.com/asia/isis-claims-pre-christmas-suicide-bombing-of-pakistan-church-eight-dead).
5. Stepping back from these grim events, can we hear the carol as anything other than escapism and false consolation?:
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth.
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
Wherever a child is born, no matter how great the dangers all about, a mother rejoices with wondering love. The Bethlehem of Christ’s time was a dangerous place, but it is there that the message rings out: “Peace to men on earth.” Bethlehem gives a voice to the little people, while monarchs rage and kill, and its star shines undimmed by the centuries of bloodshed.
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given.
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming
But in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive him still
The dear Christ enters in.
The actuality of Bethlehem today is that Christ is born in our hearts, a theme dear to Christian mystics from Origen to Eckhart. Christ is born anew in this world of violence wherever love prevails. Every family on earth is a place where love is prevailing, and the great army of loving families is a mightier power than any agents of death. Christmas brings us back to this basic tonality of human existence, to the love that flourishes amid so many tragedies, so much destruction. Jesus will wrestle with the forces of violence to the bitter end, but his mission begins here, amid a humble, loving family, and it is this that gives him a joy and confidence that nothing can dint or daunt.
O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell.
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel.
From horror, shame, despair:-
“In how many little towns throughout those Islamic lands are women and children dying in poverty, pain, and fear, victims of our Christian bombs?”
To this uplifting message of hope and joy:-
“ Christ is born anew in this world of violence wherever love prevails. Every family on earth is a place where love is prevailing, and the great army of loving families is a mightier power than any agents of death.”
Joe, this was fascinating reading. I learned so much.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, your knowledge and insights and long may you continue to challenge and inspire us. Beannachtaí na Nollag. 😀
Hi Joe,
Thanks for a great and timely application of the Christmas message. I second Mary Vallely’s appreciation, and completely join her in urging you to “continue to challenge and inspire us” into 2019.
Happy Christmas to you, and good health for the New Year 2019.
Pat Rogers
Thanks, Mary and Pat — for your good wishes and your inspiration all round. Every blessing for Christmas and the New Year.
Joe@1, thank you for that wonderful reflection and, like Mary, I also found it fascinating reading. I, too, learned so much.
You continue to educate us, Joe. I hope you keep it up. Thank you for all the knowledge you have shared with this last year.
I want to wish you a Happy and Peaceful Christmas and my very best wishes to you for 2019.
PS. Joe, I took the liberty of sharing your post on the Scottish Laity Network (SLN) Facebook page. SLN is a new group of reformed minded lay Catholics here in Scotland.
Paddy.