That you might love him back…
This December 14 is the 40th anniversary of Catherine’s death. Once again we thank God for the gift of her life and the many ways she encouraged and challenged us, day in and day out, to take our life with God seriously.
Here is her Christmas letter from 1962.
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All around us is the struggle for political autonomy, power, and glory.
Every country seeks its own glory at the price of someone else’s. As a result, the ordinary little people suffer in silence, and pray and hope for someone who will come and truly set the world free.
The tragedy is that half the world doesn’t know—and the other half has almost forgotten—that the King has come in power and glory.
He came as a spring breeze, as a gentle wind in the summer comes to refresh us. He came as the mysterious whispers of the night when tree talks to tree, and grass whispers to grass, and flower to flower.
He came in the dark of night, humbly, the child of poor folks. He was born in a cave. His first human contact was the gentle hands of his mother. His first sense impressions were the gentle whispers of the straw in which he lay and the sound of ox and ass chewing some hay.
The only people who came to render him homage on that holy night were the humblest of the humble — the shepherds of Israel. The only mysterious signs of his heavenly origin were the angelic choir and a strange light in the sky.
How far removed is his gentle coming from our centuries-old war and struggle for power which still continues.
But make no mistake! The Child who lies in the manger, listening to the sound of the straw and the munching of animals, possesses all power and glory! He has dominion over life and death, and not a hair of your head falls but he knows it and wills it.
Even as you read my words, your life lies in the palm of his hands. Nothing escapes his dominion, and his will reigns supreme over a thousand universes.
Man prides himself on his discovery of space, but in the eyes of the Lord, a thousand universes are like a grain of sand. He has made all the laws which have brought them into existence. They are created by him and are subject to him.
Yet it is the same Child in that manger, the same humble carpenter of Nazareth, the same Man who walked barefoot in Palestine and died naked on a cross, who possesses all power and glory. He is an eternal King, to whom nations and universes are but a footstool. Note how he rules, the Just One:
A bruised reed he will not break, a sinner before him finds mercy, gentleness shines in his footsteps; in all he does, love sings its eternal song.
Dearly beloved, this Christmas my heart goes out in torrents of love to each one of you. As I kneel before the crib in the MH chapel, I ask the Lord of Hosts, the King of power and glory who lies before me—a little Child—that you might meet him in both guises. I ask that you might know the Child and the King, the Man and the God in one person.
I ask that you might know him who has called you so specially to himself, who changes himself into a tremendous lover, and desires of you but one thing: that you might love him back by surrendering totally and completely to him.
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If, by some miracle of God’s grace, you were to find yourself transported to Bethlehem on this holy night, and Christ the Child were to ask you directly, as he did to Peter, “Do you love me, Sally, Dick, Jo Anne, Joe?” what would you answer him? Could you answer like Peter, “Lord you know that I love you!”?
Or would you have to say, “Yes, I love you, Lord, thus far, but no further! I love you, Lord, but I find it so hard to grow in love.” Perhaps others of you would answer, “Yes, Lord, we do love you!”
But before you answer, you should be very sure that you understand what he understands by love: a total surrender, a total consecration, a total dedication. That’s what he considers love, and that is what it truly is. That’s how he loved us.
We are not kings or tribal chieftains or men and women of importance. Nevertheless, we seek to be kings and queens when we glorify our own wills and enjoy our own power.
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Let us beware of ourselves, and let us implore Emmanuel, the Child who is the King of love, of gentle power, and of hidden glory to teach us the one virtue which will bring us to our knees before his face—the virtue of humility, which is only another word for truth.
In this humility, we can tell him that we love him and that we want to be his completely; we can also humbly and truthfully beg him for the grace todo so.
I will pray for this before the crib, and I will ask the Divine Infant for one special gift for each of you. This is my Christmas present to you. Pauper of the Lord that I am, I have nothing to give but my love and prayers. They are yours in their totality because you are Christ’s and he is yours, dearly beloved.
I wish that the coming year be one of growth in faith, for as you grow in faith, you will grow in love and surrender, and that is really all that matters!
From Dearly Beloved Vol. I, (1989)pp 291-293.
