Three French Hens....

This is about Boxing Day (yesterday, the second day of Christmas) from Sister Mary Martha:

Today is the day the Good King Wenceslaus looked out at the snow that was deep and crisp and even. Actually, it's not today, it's tonight, because the moon was bright (although the frost was cruel). The Good King spotted a poor man gathering wood for his fire. He asked his page if the page knew where the poor man lived, and the page knew exactly where the poor man lived. So Wenceslaus told the page to make up a box of groceries and stuff with a plan to bring it to the poor man so they could sit and watch him eat it all.
Nothing would have happened without the page, really. The king wouldn't have known where to find the man and even if he could have figured it out, he would have had to get the groceries together himself. I'll bet the page carried all the stuff once they went out, too, because otherwise, if you think about it, why did he have to go out there with the King? It wasn't the page's idea and he had already told Wenceslaus where to head.

We never hear anything about what happened once they reached the poor man's house. We are more interested in what happened on the way, when the poor page nearly froze to death but was saved by Wenceslaus' hot foot tracks.

Today is the second day of Christmastime, a time of hope and love. May your footsteps also leave a warm path in the world.

I am struck by several things:

(1) As modern Americans, we have lost what kingship means. Kings weren't crowned by acclimation---they held office by right. Some were good, some bad--but no matter which, you owed your king obedience--and he had great control over your daily life. And you didn't get to decide, one day, that you just wouldn't be subject to the king any more--he was yours for life. We have a good King indeed in Christ, who should, in fact, have sway over EVERYTHING in our life.

(2) Boxing Day, the day when in British Countries boxes of food are taken to the poor, are in a way a nod to Good King Wenceslas. He restored Christianity to his kingdom, bolstered the Church, took a vow of virginity in the service of the Church and was--as the song says--considered a good king. He was murdered by his brother for political reasons. In a slightly happier ending to the story than one might expect, the brother later repented, and returned Wenceslas' body to a royal resting place.

(3) Kings use their pages to get the job done. Christ usess us to be His hands in the world.

(4) The page is saved by the warmth of the King's footsteps as he followed according to the king's order. We are ordered to take up our cross and follow Christ, but in His footsteps is the way of life, even if there's trouble and hardship on the way. But by following in His footsteps we are saved. Christ did first what we are to do so that we would know the way.

The Church teaches we have several reliable ways to encounter Christ in our daily lives:

• In the Eucharist
• In the Church, her teaching and her works
• In the Scriptures
• In the priest in his priestly functions which he exercises through Christ
• In the poor

Advent prepares us to meet Christ--the Christmas season can help us prepare to carry Him into the world, serving, especially, the poor.

Turning to today's feast, we honor one of God's great pages: St. John the Evangelist, who. like Wenceslas' page, followed in the footsteps of his King. John is the Apostle of the Incarnation, the only of the faithful Apostles who was not martyred. His gospel is the most theological, the richest in the underlying truths of the faith. It has been described as the passion gospel, and John delves deep into the mysteries of the Incarnation. By modern standards it's not a long book--why not begin to read it today on John's feast day--and finish it before the end of the Christmas season?

It is said that at the end of his life, John simply preached, over and over, "Little children, love one another..." Love is not just an emotion, it is willing the good of the other as other, with no mind to ourselves. That's a good thought for meditation on the third day of Christmas. Perhaps deliver three French hens to the poor in John's admonition of love? Perhaps this might be a way to come face to face with Christ?