Christmas 2007, Our Lady of Grace 4:00, Midnight, 9:30AM.
Midnight Mass readings.
“Great Joy” – a story written to help us understand
the true meaning of Christmas: The week before Christmas, a monkey
appeared on the corner of a very busy street.
He was wearing a green vest and wearing a red hat.
With the monkey was an old man, an organ grinder, who played Christmas music
for the people on the street.
In the daytime, when the sun shone, the monkey’s vest
glittered and flashed, and from the window of her apartment little Frances
could see the tin cup the monkey held out to the people who walked by. If it were very quiet for just a minute, she
could hear the music. The
songs sounded sad and far away like the music from a dream.
The little girl said to her mother, “Where do they go at
night?” “Who?” her mother asked.
“That man and his monkey.”
“Oh Frances,” the mother said, “Don’t ask me questions that I can’t answer. I’m sure they go somewhere.
Everyone goes somewhere at night.”
“But where?” said Frances. “I have no idea” her mother said. “Now turn around so that I can pin the
bottom of your robe” her mother said.
“Now all I have to do is hem it, and you’ll be ready for the Christmas play. Have you memorized your line?” “Yes” Frances
said. “Are you excited about
the Christmas play?” “Yes” Frances said as she turned away
from her mother to look out the window again at the monkey and the old man on
the street.
That night Frances
made herself stay awake very, very late.
She hummed songs to herself and said her multiplication tables. She named the capitals of all the States. Every time she felt as if she might fall
asleep she shook her head and pinched her arm.
Finally at midnight France
got out of bed and crept down the hallway to look out the living room window. She looked down onto the street. She saw the organ grinder, but where was the
monkey? Her heart thumped.
And then she saw him tucked inside the old man’s overcoat, his small red hat
still on his head. The organ
grinder saw Frances
watching him from the window.
He took his cap from his head and raised it up toward her.
The next morning Frances told her mother, “They
sleep on the street, even when it snows.
Maybe they could come to our house for dinner?” “No they can’t” her
mother said. “Why
not?” Frances
pleaded. Her mother
said, “They’re strangers, that is why. Now eat your breakfast Frances.
You have a big day ahead of you with the Christmas play.”
It snowed all day and by evening Frances had to wear her boots to
walk to church for the Christmas play.
The old organ grinder and the monkey were still on the corner. Frances ran up to them and put a
nickel in the monkey’s cup. “I
am going to be in the Christmas play tonight,” she told the old man. “I have one line to say. Do you want to come and hear
it?” “Frances”
her mother said. “Come along
now. We are going to be late
for the play.” Frances
yelled back to the old man. “Please
come to the play. The church is just
down the street.” The organ
grinder smiled, looked sad, and said nothing.
When Francis got to the church everyone was already in
costume. The shepherds walked
out on stage first and Frances
followed them. The choir
director looked at Frances
and whispered “Now”. Frances
opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
One of the shepherds poked her and whispered, “Say it, say
it.” Frances could not speak. All she could think about was the old organ
grinder standing in the snow and the little monkey.
Then it happened.
The big doors at the back of the churched opened and in walked the old organ
grinder and his monkey. Frances
threw open her arms and shouted, “Behold, I bring you tidings of great
joy! Jesus has come and no one will ever have to stand alone outside in
the cold ever again.”
(Modified from the book of Kate DiCamillo)
The large picture of the Holy Family behind the altar was
painted by one of the orphans at the orphanage in Nicaragua that two parishioners and
I visited a few weeks ago. We had it
enlarged as a gift from that orphanage to us on Christmas.
While we were in Nicaragua
we watched four to seven year old orphans do a special performance of their
Christmas play for us. When
Mary and Joseph entered Bethlehem
and made the rounds of various places to stay, the child acting as the
innkeeper yelled out a firm “No” as Joseph begged for a room. The little boy who played Joseph looked very
upset at not being able to find a place for his wife and for the baby who was
coming very soon. Many of the
children in the play knew what it was like to be homeless because they had been
living on the streets or had been abandoned by their parents. There was a lot of deep feeling in the room.
Watching these little orphans retell the Christmas story
reminded me that we are all alone, lost and lonely at times. Christmas expresses God’s love for the
orphan in each of us.
Some of us have lost our parents in death.
I had my mother until she was 93, but now that she has gone to God I have
become an adult orphan with a lonely place in my life that is especially sharp
at Christmas. Maybe our
favorite grandma or grandpa has gone to heaven.
As we grow older in life or just move on in life, even from grade school to
high school, we leave friends behind and we experience loneliness in our lives. Family members move away, fellow
workers change jobs, we face a challenge or illness that others have difficulty
understanding. The fact that
we are only a speck in a very large universe can leave us feeling abandoned and
unimportant. There are times
when we all feel like orphans, alone and unimportant in a world that is much
too big for us.
Then it happens.
Jesus opens the door of our hearts and enters into the darkness within each of
us. Christ alone is the answer
to the orphan that hides inside.
I proclaim to you great Joy – Jesus has come and no one will ever have to
be alone outside in the cold again.
Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too,
pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to
bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give
the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum
pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum,
Shall I play for you,
pa rum pum pum pum,
On
my drum?