Sedona, AZ
December 25, 2024
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
– Christina Rossetti and Gustav Holst: In the Bleak Mid-Winter
The search for universal essence began…like so many things…in ancient Greece, on the shores of Ionia.
The first philosophers sought the primary substance that sustains the world…what St. John later called The Word, which was “in the beginning with God”, without which “nothing was made that was made.”
Thales thought this animating element was water. Anaximenes assumed it was air. And Heraclitus hypothesized for fire. But more important than them positing answers is that they asked the question.
Philosophy, like mythology, is a quest…a pursuit of enduring answers and timeless truth. The questions, and the quest, continued for six centuries…around the Mediterranean, into the reign of Augustus.
Then an Answer was found where no one was looking: below a star and under the earth, by humble shepherds and wise Magi, in a small cave beneath Bethlehem.
Earthly eyes that for centuries searched outward through darkness looked inward to the Light. As Chesterton put it, “the God who’d been a circumference became a center.”
Word of The Word spread throughout Palestine and around the sea…from the cave, thru the catacombs, to the cathedrals.
Across the Roman realm…as with Saturnalia to Christmas, or hearth deities to patron saints…adherents deftly adapted pagan customs to Christian belief, and conquered an empire. Rather than throw out the baby with the bathwater, they wisely kept both, and (to again quote Chesterton) used the bathwater to baptize the baby.
The Chef d’œuvre of the World
To Christians, today is a new Creation: the sacred signing ceremony of a cosmic refinancing. We are the paper, God the pen, and the Child the ink.
The Incarnation is the fulcrum in time and the chef d’œuvre of the world. It’s arguably the most important event in history.
But it’s not the only historic one to occur on this date. In fact, it almost certainly didn’t occur on this date.
We don’t know precisely when Christ was born. It wasn’t till Constantine converted to Christianity and co-opted pagan practices that December 25 was decreed to be Christmas.
It’s traditionally a festive occasion, but a quiet day. Stores are closed, performances are paused, and mail doesn’t move. ‘Tis the season for bulls and bears to let bygones by bygones, as we relax and rejoice with family and friends.
A Mixed Bag
But not everyone enjoys a Yuletide lull. Some holiday happenings don’t huddle at home, or on the bottom corner of the back page. Occasionally, they hop into the history books.
Some shenanigans that occurred at Christmas…like the Federal Reserve Act or bombing of North Vietnam…have been fraudulent or heinous. Others, as when the Soviet Union collapsed, were welcome and warranted.
Like a pile of random presents under a community tree, it’s a mixed bag. Let’s open a few, and get a glimpse at some grand moments on Christmas Day.
Christendom Consolidated
At the turn of the ninth century, the King of the Franks crossed the Alps. The year before, the Bishop of Rome had gone the other way. In each instance, Cross and Crown were trying to preserve the realm and protect the Faith.
For the Feast of the Nativity, a large crowd gathered at St. Peter’s in Rome, where the Vicar of Christ was to consecrate the king’s son. But as the king rose from prayer, Pope Leo III placed a crown on his head, and acclaimed him the “new Augustus.”
From that moment, Charlemagne was Holy Roman Emperor, and the Church affirmed its authority to recognize rulers. On Christmas Day in the year 800, Christendom was consolidated.
The Carolingian Renaissance (such as it was) united Europe in an interlude of cultural, educational, and religious revival. But as so often happens when a father plants promising seeds, what actually sprouted were wayward weeds.
Charlemagne’s successors made a mess of things. The next couple centuries, the Franks fell on hard times. The Norseman descended, and gave their name to the north of France.
