Wishing the Mercy and Blessings of This Christmas Season on All
As St. Paul writes in Romans 10:12, “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him.” This most momentous intervention is not God’s appearance as a man, in some momentary role as an emissary, but God’s incarnation.
God Himself actually becomes man (which the Arians denied). He lives a human life, suffers rejection and humiliation, and Himself becomes the sacrifice. He is the newborn mortal child wholly dependent on others to shelter and nourish him. He is also, at the same time (but not in time), the ageless and immortal God on Whom all creation depends. As the poet John Crowe Ransom puts it, “Why, the ribs of the earth subsist frail as a breath/ If but God wearieth.”
We must not get used to this reality, must not trivialize what W.B. Yeats called the Nativity—“The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor.” We stand in need of the mercy that lies at the heart of this uncontrollable mystery. All of us at Wyoming Catholic College wish you the mercy and blessings of this season of Advent and Christmastide.
David’s Town
David’s town bedded down, and the world was so cold;
Song was stilled, hearts were chilled, and the world was grown old;
Then was born Christ the Morn, Shepherd of the one fold:
David’s town bore the crown, as the prophets foretold.Adam’s race, shorn of grace, begs of Mary reprieve:
“Be we blessed through your Yes that we too may believe,
By what’s heard God’s own Word in our hearts to conceive.
Guiding star fore the dawn, be our true Christmas Eve.”Mary’s boy, be my joy when the martyrs shall sing,
When the Judge shall appear and the trumpet shall ring.
In the day of dismay to the Infant I cling:
Who the Baby has borne needs not fly from the King.This piece, “David’s Town,” was composed by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski (a professor at Wyoming Catholic for the first eleven years of its existence), and features lyrics by Dr. Jeremy Holmes (currently Professor of Theology at the College).
