Go into any monastery today and I wager you’ll find monks or nuns in various stages of happy exhaustion. The liturgies of the great feasts don’t just happen, any more than the festive meals in the refectory. Christmas requires effort, no matter how low-key our celebration, and we have twelve days of it in which to go on making more effort, not to mention the last ‘look-back’ at Candlemas. I’m sure most lay people can identify with this in their own way. But there is one aspect of the monastic Christmas that impresses me more and more as each year passes and it may not be so easily found outside the cloister: silence. Yes, we sing our hearts out in choir; and yes, we do relax the rule of silence on Christmas Day itself to engage in friendly community chatter, but in between times there is a rich, joyful silence that is very far from being emptiness. When the Divine Word takes flesh and appears among us, our human words fall away. Only silence can begin to comprehend the mystery. It forces us to our knees, loses us in wonder and adoration. Christ is born on earth and we dance with the angels for very joy (St Basil). If we cannot dance outwardly, let us dance inwardly. Rejoice!
CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL
Rejoice. Warm wishes to you on this Christmas Day. Thank you fir all you do.
Silence. Music. Dancing. Thank you dear Sister. I’m doing all with varying degrees of aptitude! God Bless you all. Merry Christmas!
Light breaking through the darkness. Silence and a bit of cheerful chatter. Sending you much gratitude and best wishes for a lovely Christmas!
Thank you Sister.
Words I am taking to heart as I sit on Christmas Day afternoon. It is both powerful and refreshing.
Peace be with you.
Christmas blessings to you and yours, Sister Catherine.
Christmas blessings Sister Catherine its Sunday 27 Dec Here in. Australia