Ramblings from Spiritual Director

Merry Christmas to All,

Since this is my last column as CSD I wanted to send you special greetings. I want to commend all of you for the blessed Walks we have had in 2007. I believe the power of Prayer made the difference in 2007. We really need to perservere in prayer for the coming year and give the new board our support..

Let me share something I learned about the Twelve Days of Christmas.

You are all probably familiar with the Christmas song, The 12 Days of Christmas. To most it is merely a delightful nonsense rhyme set to music. However, it had a quite serious purpose when it was written. It is much more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts. For Catholics in England during the period of 1558 to 1829, were prohibited from ANY practice of their faith by law – private OR public – until Parliament finally liberated Catholics in England. It was a crime to BE a Catholic. Thus, this song was written as a memory aid in England as one of the catechism songs to help young Catholics learn the principles of their faith, when to be caught with anything in writing indicating adherence to the Catholic faith would be imprisoned. In those unhappy days, Catholics in England were prohibited from practicing their Vatican faith – so they went underground. To the Elizabethan FBI, the song was nothing but a carol with a pretty melody and nonsense words. The song's gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of their faith as follows:

The first day of Christmas my true love ~ God is our true love ~ gave to me,