A MORE TRANQUIL CHRISTMAS VISION

WINTER IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD - 2015

The other morning, I was horrified to hear newscasters advocating for the best way to DISPOSE OF Christmas cards, in light of the need to recycle paper goods. I had a quick vision of friends tossing my cards in the recycle bin, along with all my effort (and expense!)

I spend many hours on my Christmas cards and typically write a personal note in each one. Choosing just the right card was, for every year of my adult life, a really special tradition. I treasured every card I was given in return, and although some personal catastrophes forced me to eliminate nearly all of my possessions at three separate points in time, I eventually resumed the habit of saving the cards I was given each year.

"Nativity at night"

by Geertgen ton Sint Jans

1490

Not many people put as much effort into their cards as I do. Many just sign their names, but the cards themselves are often graced with the most exquisite art works! In years past, I have cut the picture side from the card and placed it in a beautiful little frame, displaying it in a pretty corner or on my desk during the Christmas season. I may even frame it informally in a little wooden frame and hang it on the wall above my writing desk or cosmetic vanity.

I remember one year when I cut the image from the cards I'd been given and wrote "thank you" notes for Christmas presents on the reverse, using them as post cards, while affixing a thrifty post card stamp on it.

L'ADORATION DES BERGERS

by Georges de la Tour

1644

Currently, I am saving cards and images from magazines to use in several decoupage projects - applying the images to some lightweight wooden boxes, to be later displayed and used as jewelry boxes, hair tie boxes, and the like. [This is the type of project that is especially suited to your older children, by the way - being a lesson in the "reuse" portion of the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra.]

While it is true that most Americans are drowning in little bits of this-and-that (even poor people) I think it's important to differentiate between the generic machine-made, artificial blobs of STUFF and those things into which people have infused some effort and personalization. If it is really the thought that counts, then let's act like it!

If you receive a card, it means someone thought of you. There was some effort in picking out the card, the right pen, the stickers, the stamps. On top of all that inherent value, sometimes a personal note from someone like me will be layered. There are so many coats of thought and intention applied to those Christmas cards, they're like little paper vitamins for the soul and the mind! It isn't just about the holiday, though it is the reason for the season for which there is plenty of meaning imbued on its own.

CHRISTMAS TIME - THE BLODGETT FAMILY

by Eastman Johnson

When I was a little girl, my mother, my sister and I spent several Christmas seasons making our own Christmas cards at the kitchen table. We loved it! Being poor as church mice, we couldn't give anything but our time, a few sheets of paper, a little glitter, and some postage stamps. If you have a lot of time on your hands, and your Christmas card list is not long, you may become ambitious and make personalized cards uniquely your own. It's a risk that all your work will still end up in the rubbish bin, though, so keep that in mind.

Looking at this from yet another angle, I want to encourage each person who reads this to stop and consider how cavalier most of us have become about the astonishing availability of beautiful images on commercially made objects.  We take them for granted, for the most part. A couple hundred years ago, none of this was possible. How easy it has become to throw away images originally created by the great masters! There was a time, not so long ago, when you only got to see that image if you stood in front of the original painting.

NATIVITY

by Jean Baptiste Marie Pierre

(1714-1789)

Classical works of art, and many modern ones, as well, have particular lines and shapes organized along the geometric planes of whatever ground one chooses to hold the images, which lines and shapes stimulate the mind, as there are particular organizations of structure that appeal to the brain in an organic, natural fashion.

How does this translate to a more tranquil Christmas vision? I offer to you a lesson I have learned since become disabled 15 years ago. Here it is: I am not rich, and neither are you. Instead of flogging ourselves to buy as many people as much stuff as we possibly can squeeze out of our meager funds, how about all of us reduce the number of presents we feel compelled to buy and, instead, do one thing really well? I am not suggesting we should tank the economy by withdrawing all purchases entirely - just focusing our attentions more narrowly so that we are not perpetuating that constant stream of junk that is entering into the world.

THE NATIVITY

by Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti)

late 1550's - reworked 1570's

Since I don't have money to supply all my necessary wants, I am relieved from buying presents for anyone, since everyone knows my situation. I did give a few tokens of affection this year (mostly scarves I crocheted), but Christmas has become, for me, all about the CARDS. What I concentrated upon was writing personal notes in each of the 50 cards I sent out. They weren't expensive cards. A postage stamp cost a lot more than most of them, but because I am relieved from giving presents, for the most part, I made an effort with the cards, in which I tried to instill as much of the LOVE of Christmas that I could muster.

It occurred to me, while I was hunkered down with all those cards, that a good rule of thumb would be for everyone to give people what would fit in a card. If the person has plenty of junk clogging their shelves and cupboards and really needs nothing that you know about in particular (like most Americans) donate money to a good cause that appeals to you or to them, and include a note to that effect in the card. If you are close to the person and would like to render personal services, make your own "redeemable upon demand" coupon, and slip that into the card. If the recipient is someone whose needs exceed their income, then put some crisp bills in that person's card and you'll have their undying gratitude. They can go out and purchase the exact thing they need and love.

CHRISTMAS PAINTING

by Stefan Baumann

On Christmas Eve day, I made East Indian spiced tea and modest snacks at my house for a few other disabled ladies in my apartment complex. We savored our simple snacks, the Christmas music and our cheerful conversation. On Christmas day, I spent time with a cousin and his mate, relishing a surprisingly expert meal and the company of a few lovely people who went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. The best Christmas ever.

Throughout the Christmas season, I am making an effort to be available to friends for conversation and simple friendship, taking one out for a short grocery shopping excursion, being attentive to another who is suffering with a personal difficulty, etc. Because my Christmas has become modest, in terms of shopping and preparations, I am better able to serve others in a quiet manner, since I have the time.

Victorian Christmas Mantel

I am really enjoying the  Christmas season this year more than any other Christmas I've ever had. I am feeling really happy, and I attribute it to paring down purchases to the bare minimum, concentrating on giving a small piece of myself in Christmas cards and spending time with people, reveling in Christmas cheer. I highly recommend it!

Silver Rose

EVERYTHING IS GONNA BE ALRIGHT

With both The Church and The Government in chaos, it would be easy to throw up our hands in frustration and just give ourselves over to the fates, but we can't give in to the temptation.

Now is the time when our faith in and understanding of Jesus and our heavenly father is tested. He is with us through the chaos. That is the gift. Whether he allows events, directs them, or has no part in them at all, one thing is certain, and that is his presence.

The Practice of the Presence of God is a wonderful little book the contains a collection of teachings of Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite monk of the 1600's, which was compiled by Father Joseph de Beaufort. It is one of the primary books that I leaned upon while a nun in the Hindu convent and which is largely responsible for my conversion to Catholicism and its wonderful mystical tradition.

The development and maintenance of a constant inner awareness of the Divine remains an essential element of my spiritual journey and one which I recommend highly to everyone because, in the end, it is God alone on whom we can depend to accompany us through every trial and travail. While he may or may not step into the procession of events in this world, as far as changing the action or the outcome, he is certainly with us in love, regardless of what happens.

If you want to give yourself over in relationship to the Lord, you can feel the love of God, feel him within you, and enjoy his presence. Much of the contemplative tradition is about this process of inclining the mind toward the Lord and residing within him, and He in us.

There are stages in which we may not be gifted with the consolations of feeling God within us. That does happen, but usually only for the advanced practitioner. Mother Teresa of Calcutta experienced it for 30 years - something I was terribly surprised to learn after she died. One doesn't think of the saints suffering in THAT way, at least I never did. The saints do not enjoy the constant beatific vision while floating 6 inches off the ground with choirs of angels singing in the background. No. The saints suffer. They believe, in spite of it.

If anything can put that stupid "prosperity gospel" to shame, it is a thorough education in the lives of the saints. There are no better people than the saints, yet nearly every single one of them had wretched lives. Remember that.

The particular value of Brother Lawrence for our modern, busy lives is that he makes the case for God being more present to us in our daily activities than even in  "the choir stall." The Lord is with us in our duties which occupy most of our time. While I love my practice of contemplation, and enjoy all the beauty of the shrines, holy pictures, candles and incense, even I cannot spend the entire day communing with God with my eyes closed. Like everyone else, I need to be "up and doing." God is "up and doing" with all of us throughout our day. He does not reserve his love for the hour and a half one is at church or sitting at prayer in front of one's altar.

If I wasn't suffering like the saints, I would buy a thousand copies of The Practice of the Presence of God and give them all away, but all I can do is recommend that you read it and hope you pass it along to someone else who might benefit.

Currently, there IS a version you can read AND HEAR online, through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, which you can access on THIS LINK. I prefer the actual book, which is fairly small and can be carried with you, but the online version will certainly do until you can obtain a copy.

Let us all remind one another to grasp the Lord's hand firmly while we walk through the chaos of this difficult era. Everything will be alright because He will be with us through all of it.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose