The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1959-12-25
JOSEPH BREIC
If You
81
Loue Him

OIIlSJludS Ii d md1lN-ulluUUGO IElUlLllSs Dull al
this time of year, it would be good for each of us to
find a moment Of solitude in which to ask, What is
Christmas to me? What am | to Christmas"
1t is easy, standing at the Crib, listening to carols,
or revellng In the glow of colored lights, to think one.
self in love with Christ. Whose heart is not moved in
the presence of an infant?
And who is not reverent at the thought of omni-
potence helpless, of the divine entering the human for
our. sakeS? It is right and good that in the Christmas
season we should feel the romance of redemption, and
be lifted up.
ALL THE SAME, the Christ in the Crib is the
same true God and true man, the a Son of God
and Son of Man, as the Christ on the Cross, and as the
Christ Who taught and commanded,
He had seven level words for us that sum up
and define our right relationship with Him. eff you
love Me, keep My commandments. That is the test
we must apply.
If we love Him, we keep His commandments We.
do not, perhaps, begin by keeping them in complete
perfection, or continue invariably in total loyalty.
But at very least we fight our way toward that goal.
THAT IS OUR tAIM and our hearts desire. For
this we strive and do not stop striving. If we fall we
repent and get up and go on. Though we fall time
and again, we will not quit.
"He who hears you, hears Me" Christ said to
His apostles. "He who despises you, despises Me-"
And before that, He spoke to Simon-"Thou art the
Rock, and upon this rock | will build My Church, and
the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it"
IF you love Me, keep My commandments" And
among these are the commandments of the Church.
even the least of them, because Christ is in His Church
unto the consumation of the world"
Il WILL Civ to thee" Christ said to Peter the
Rock, "the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. And what.
soever thou shalt bind upon earth, 1T shall be bound
also In Heaven; and Whosoever thou shalt loose on
earth. it shall be looSed also in Heaven"
The appeal of the Infant in the Crib reaches out
to us, and to respond is easy. But the infant, like the
Man, would demand of US manfulness, were he to
speak. 'If you love Me, keep My commandments.
To limit these compartments to the ten given
on Mount Sinai and the six handed down by the
Church-to obey only the bare essentials of those
would not be the action of one who truly loved Christ.
Kneelng at the Crib, can we say that we are
proving our love by living the life of the Church, and
obeying and defending the many truths the Church
teaches? Or, perhaps, do we reject the Church'S stand
on the rights of those of all races?
DO WE HOLD our own narrow and selfish opin-
ion-and not the Church's-on the duty Of POWERFUL
nations to assist the weak? On the natural right of
human beings to migrate to areas where they can
prosper?
"If you love Me-, keep My commandments" One
commandment, given by Christ through the Church,
is as easy as not eating meat on Friday. Another is as
difficult as loving ones enemies, or keeping marriage
holy.
Each of us has his own special problems. For one.
1t may be a fierce nationalism, the ape of patriotism
that counsels against cooperation with other peoples.
For another, it is perhaps ~stinginess toward those in
need or toward ones parish.
MAYBE INTELLECTUAL attainment, or wealth,
or power, attracts us more than the call to holiness.
But Christ, with that level look says, What doth it
profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his
immortal soul?
Our weakness may be as contemplate as lying
abed when we ought to be at Mass; or it NAV be as
huge and hellish as pride that looks down upon some,
and fawns upon others. But IF you love Me, keep My
commandments" 81
The Infant in Bethlehem means that, every bit as
much as the Man dying on Golgotha. Christmas and
Cavary-they are of one piece.