In the stillness of the night

So Christmas at our house was quite subdued.  It was a little depressing honestly but I think I am the better for it.  But first a little background.

My wife and I have been battling a cough that has persisted after a cold for the past month or so.  It has been quite annoying to say the least.  We had recovered sufficiently to decide to carry on with our planned trip to New York.

We were there until Christmas Eve and we had a lovely time.  Not without cost however.  My wife's cough came back with a vengeance and she had quite a bit of trouble sleeping on the trip.  When Christmas Day came she was so ill we didn't even make it out to Mass that day. This we will be confessing later, not that we think we did wrong by missing Mass due to illness but like missing any big event you still want to apologize to your host for missing a party you wanted to go to.

So there I was late at night with my wife finally able to sleep and eating McDonald's, I began to feel lonely and depressed.  It was the first time I could remember not being around family on Christmas.

As I sat though I began to think about Christmas for the first time.  To simply sit and meditate on the awesome nature of God who became Man.  In the stillness of the night I found the true meaning of Christmas.  There is such a thing.

It is more than hope.  It is the new reality.  The night that the battle had been joined by God to win Man back.  It impressed me in that quiet how the true meaning of Christmas shines forth and the modern world seems hell bent on distracting us from that truth.

The work of the Cross and Resurrection begins at Christmas.  In fact one could say that evil was defeated on Christmas day.  In that singular moment the defeat of darkness was sounded.  A new day was dawning.

Christmas has one true meaning.  The coming of the Christ.  It is the defining moment in the history of the world.

In a night just like the night I experienced all was still on the earth.  But on the spiritual plane a cannon shot went out.  The first salvo of return fire from the Lord of Hosts against the Enemy.

Though it wasn't how I intended to spend Christmas I learned quite a bit from my forced silence.  To drink in the true mystery that is the coming of God into the world.  History pivots on that moment.  For this realization I am thankful.