Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Solstice, New Year- and rejoice!

[mary_j_59]

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It is the weekend of Gaudete Sunday, so Im posting this. Here's the incomparable Maddy Prior and Steeleye Span, singing "Gaudete". Someone has kindly provided a translation of the verses in the comments; the chorus is "Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born of the Virgin Mary! Rejoice

Comments

[anne_arthur]

Oh I love this - it's one of the Piae Cantiones, isn't it? Thanks for posting it - and yes, there seems to be so much misery in the world at the moment, but there is much that is good, true and beautiful also. Happy Christmas!

[mary_j_59]

Thank you! I actually spoke to my parish priest about this, because December 14 was the two-year anniversary of Newtown - and then came the assault on those poor little kids in Pakistan. I said to him, "My heart broke when I read that story." He answered, "Christ's heart broke, too." And yet, there really are things to rejoice about, this season and always.

[anne_arthur]

Oh, absolutely!

[eeyore6771]

This does seem to be a year when we need to be reminded that we have many blessings. Mary, I like your parish priest's response - we often need to remember that. Thank you for posting this.

[mary_j_59]

You're welcome! Pakistan hadn't happened when I posted this, but I think we who are Christians must remember that Christ IS present and alive in this world. In these stories, (Luna the whale and the two school attacks)I see him in the affection of the poor little whale and the people who tried to help him, in the suffering children, and, most of all, in those two principals. Dawn Hochsprung ran toward the gunman to save the children, and the headmistress in Pakistan proclaimed, "I will not leave my children alone with those beasts". I am in awe at their heroism, and also deeply grateful that I've never been tested that way.