Tuesday, December 28, 2010

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

8 comments:

JoJo said...

Great Post. I live in a small Park we call the Village. We have joined forces with the Fire Dept. to help out families in need. I belong to a crochet club here and we make hats, scarves, blankets, and the more talented(which I am not) make mittens sweaters and other warm things. We also gather toys and food. The food is all year long. Just before Christmas we hold a dinner and honor the Firemen. Donations are taken and raffles are sold. We love doing this and this year we helped 15 familys in need.The numbers are grow each year. It is a great feeling to know that I can give back as I raised 4 kids on my own and I needed help sometimes.
When ever a call comes in for needed items such as the soft beanie hats for cancer patients or lap robes for the VA we jump right in and start to crochet. Any one who can knit or crochet and would like to help all the need to do is call their local cancer center or VA even Nursing homes and ask them if they need these items. Thanks for letting you use your blog for this.
I am enjoying your daily posts on the 7 days of Christmas.
thank you
I sent you and email and I hope you recieved it, if not can you please let me know how to contact you to place my order for the dishes. Or if you would like for me to send you my e-mail address.

MamaHen said...

Hey Jojo! that's really, really wonderful thing ya'll do! We have such knitting and crocheting circles here too but alas, I cannot do either. Never have been able to get the hand of that.

So far I have not received the email. You did send it to edificerex@hotmail.com? The spelling on that is a little tricky. I will keep checking.

JoJo said...

Annie I resent the e-mail, if you don't get this one I will try using Yahoo instead of Windows Live hot mail.
jo_harmon_147@q.com or want2go60@yahoo.com

HermitJim said...

I do thank you for the information about the different days of Christmas. This is something I didn't know!

Never too old to learn something new, I reckon!

Anonymous said...

Hi Annie. Christmas memories are always wonderful, but as you say some have gotten worn out and if they can't be revived then it is time for some new ones. This was the first time in 3 years that Beatrice and i were at home. We brought her mother down from NJ, and invited friends, all who would have been alone, over for Christmas eve and Christmas day dinners. A wonderful new tradition. So glad you enjoyed yours.
Grenville

MamaHen said...

Hey Jojo! I think I got one through to you.

Hey Jim! I reckon! and you are welcome!

Hey Grenville! that does sound like a wonderful new tradition! what a great thing ya'll did. I would like to do something like that myself.

JoJo said...

And I hope you received my reply

MamaHen said...

Hey Jojo! I did! and replied again.