Fr. Joseph Mohr lived another thirty years after writing his poem. In spite of the hymn’s popularity, the composer died penniless. He had spent his earnings as a parish priest to care for the elderly. Fr. Mohr was buried in the churchyard of Wagrain where he had served as pastor for ten years.
If you consider the number of times Silent Night has been printed and recorded, the royalties would amount to millions, perhaps billions, of dollars. Yet, for his poem, Joseph Mohr gained neither money nor fame. It was not until after his death that the world recognized its author. Fr. Mohr had received his poem as gift – it had come to him in an evening of quiet inspiration. What he received, he gave as a gift, first to his parishioners, then to children and adults throughout the world.
The story of the hymn “Silent Night” is appropriate for Christmas. The true greatness of Jesus was not understood from the beginning. He came among with the modesty befitting a truly great gift.
Before we can appreciate the gift of the Christ Child, we need to ask ourselves what any gift means. It is surely a great joy to receive a present and an ever greater joy to be able to give one. It takes a certain childlike wonder to really get the point. A man who had that sense was G.K. Chesterton. He said:
Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?
Life itself is obviously a very great gift. None of us created our own self or thought up our own existence. Everything we enjoy depends on the initial gift of life.
Yet there is an even greater gift. That is what we celebrate tonight. We experience life as a combination of longings and limitations. We each have a hidden self which we wish to reveal to someone who can really understand and embrace us. That someone does exist. We celebrate his birth today.
A young man, who never knew his own father, experienced that embrace. On a lonely night he wrote a beautiful poem about that experience. We normally sing only three stanzas of Joseph Mohr’s hymn. The original poem had six stanzas. I would like to conclude with one we usually do not hear:
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From Archives:
Other Homilies
Seapadre Homilies: Cycle A, Cycle B, Cycle C
Bulletin (Why Christmas is Celebrated on December 25, Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays, Celebrations at Holy Family)
Must be a pony in here somewhere (Newsweek's "bait and switch" article on the Nativity)
Bill Donohue analyzes Holiday Greeting Cards:
There are 31 categories of Christmas cards, one of which is “Religious.” There are 7 e-cards dubbed “Risque” that are replete with sexual gags. In the “Rude” category, there are 17 scatologically oriented cards. All of the 12 Hanukkah cards are respectful, most of which have a menorah or Star of David. All of the 24 Kwanzaa cards are respectful.
Another Reason for Dem Decline--Hollywood
From After Abortion:
This blog entry is by a high school student. She is talking about her math teacher, a man who is known among his students to be "messed up" because years ago his prom date got pregnant and had an abortion.
Catholicism is in the bulls-eye of the entertainment medium
Designer babies, gender, science and a ghost
And from Seattle's Liberal Larry: Christians Ruining Christmas for Everyone
