The Burning Babe

The title of this post, in honor of the 3rd Day of Christmas, is a poem by the 16th century Jesuit martyr Robert Southwell. It has been turned to a song by Sting on his "If On A Winter's Night.." album, which I highly recommend. The poem recounts a vision on a winter's night of the infant Jesus suspended in the darkness and burning for the sins of man. Yes, quite macabre I guess but it begs us not to forget the little children during this season, especially on this Holy Innocents Day or Childremass.

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel,

wounding thorns,

Love is the fire and sighs the smoke, the ashes
shame and scorn;
The fuel justice layeth on and mercy blows the
coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought are men's
defiled souls,
For which, as now on fire I am to work them to
their good,
So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my
blood.

The book I have on the 12 Days says 'we should reflect on our own childhood and honor it, remembering the good times as well as the bad. What we are as adults come from what we were as children, so it is worthwhile to remember on this.' And we should definitely remember this when interacting with children. Adults can affect children in so many ways for the rest of their lives and not always in a good way.
I have a lot of nice memories of Christmas when I was a child. All of my family was alive then, including my Aunt Corinne, who made Christmas a lot of fun. I guess part of the reason Christmas has become sad for me is because so much of my family is gone. But in that case you just have to start new memories and traditions, which I am trying to do.
As such, today is a day for giving to children's charities. I think this is a big part of the Christmas ritual. Of course, it's good to give all year long but I like to make it part of my celebration. So, if you are inclined please remember any of the wonderful organizations such as St. Jude's, Running Strong for American Indian Youth, the Christian Appalachian Project or just the Red Cross.

*Sting