A Christmas Reflection: One Solitary Life

Instead of a traditional Christmas message, this year Archbishop George Stack invites us to self-reflect on two texts in light of where we find ourselves at the end of 2018.  The first, the thirteenth Chapter of St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, where St. Paul invites us to reflect on the true meaning of Love in our world.

Read 1 Corinthians 13

And in the context of those words we consider One Solitary Life.

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book.  He never held an office.  He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never travelled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he remains the central figure of the human race. I think it true when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned- put together – have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.

Attributed to Dr. James Francis

Wherever you find yourself this Christmas may the peace and joy of the Holy Season fill your heart. Nadolig Llawen, a very Merry Christmas.