A Christmas thought from Sr Joan Chittister and a Link to a special ‘Silent Night’
A CHRISTMAS THOUGHT FROM SR JOAN CHITTISTER
“…For the Christian community the Light that was Jesus has conquered the darkness. Now it is up to us to live in this light, to fear no darkness ever again, to understand that the people who walked in darkness have, indeed, seen a great light. We are, after all, the people of the cross and the tomb as well as of the light. We know that the two events are really one. No manger, no cross. No cross, no empty tomb. It is all of a piece.
Now it is for us to make the Light known, to bring it to others, to bask in its certainty, however dark the nights ahead. The Christmas season can ignite the spark that will lead us through the darkness of our own lives every day of the year. It is the light of Christmas within us that will take us, if we have the insight to cling to it, beyond a fairy-tale rendering of the great truths of the faith to an understanding of what all the dark days of life are about.
Christmas is not meant to leave us with nothing more than a child’s perception of what it means to see a baby in a manger scene. It is meant to take us to the level of spiritual maturity where we are capable of seeing in a manger the meaning of an empty tomb. It is meant to enable us to see through the dark days of life to the stars beyond them….”
