The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1960-12-23
By HUBERT DUNPHY, O.F.M. Conc.

From fhe new book CHRISTMAS EVERY CHRISTMAS.
Bruce Publishing co.,
EDITORS NOTE: Fr. Hubert Dunphy received his Mas
ters degree from Fordham University. Christmas Every
Christmas is his third book. The others are The Virtues Re-
visited 1883 and In Blood Burnt Footsteps 1850. His
articles have appeared in several magazines. Father Dunphy
was recently named editor of Friars Fieldl
All nature held its breath the night Jesus was born.
Everyone knew the time for the Redeemer was at hand.
The prophets had foretold His coming and now the expecta-
tons of the ages were about to be fulfilled. Nowhere in all
Judea was the air more charged than in Bethlehem, the
royal city of David. Let us try to re-create the scene in our
LET THERE BE MOONLIGHT" dropping on treetops
like a blue cobweb" and sparkling on ice crusty branches
as though nature had put on cold jewery for this night of
nights.
Let there be a light winter wind capriciously running
about among blue-green cedars and along rooftops, a wind
softly %murmuring spritely winter melodies such as man
play on harpS and flutes and viOinS.
SUDDENLY THE SKY is split with a heavenly light
and there are angels singing as no earthly choir has ever
sung. And VINO is the exclusive audience for this extra
ordinary concert of heavenly harmonies a few rough
shepherds, coarse and dirty, the smell of their flock heavy
upon them.
At that time shepherds were a despised minority. The
Pharisees had no use for them because they neglected the
innumerable and impractical rituaistc publications.
SHEPHERDS WERE NOT even acceptable as legal wit
nesses. Why, then, were those poor men the first to hear of
the Nativity? Why not the important and influential Phari-
sees sitting warm and comfortable by their fires at home?
Why was not the message of the angels first delivered
to the court Of Herod the Great, just six miles to the north
Ill JCIuSdiCH!
The shepherds were the first to be told of the birth of
the Messias because in this way God intended to show His
love for the poor. From the first moment of His Birth, Christ
was to be a sign of contradictions; from the beginning He
identified Himself with the underdog, not with the success
full and powerful of this world.
When the shepherds found the Nativity caves, they
saw a carpenter, a virgin, and a Child in a manger. The
carpenter, of course, was st. Joseph, the unsung hero of the
Christmas drama.
FREQUENTLY. WE PICTURE St. Joseph as a gray
bearded old man, already bent and STOPPING with age. There
is no evidence in Scripture for such a portrait. Why should
we not think of St. Joseph as still a young man, perhaps
just a few years older than Mary herself? Mary was only a
teen-ager, for Jewish girls married young at that time.
There are several arguments favoring st. Joseph's
youth. Certainly a spouse close to Marys age would make
a more sympathetic companion, would be better able to find
work and provide for the Holy Family. Moreover, If we
think Of St. Joseph as fairly young, the virtues we associate
with him become even brighter. Patience, for example, we
rather expect in seasoned and experienced men; it is all the
more notable in the young.
ST. JoSEPH'S SILENCE appears more praiseworthy;
we do not have one word spoken by him in the New Tesla
ment. His absolute confidence in God and unquestioning
obedience to His orders as when the angel appeared to
him during sleep instructing him to flee with mother and