The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
“What can be said about Christmas that hasn’t already been said?” This is the lament of homilists and writers I have known or worked with over the years. There are two solemnities that offer challenges like none other: Christmas & Easter.
In light of that, I simply offer, for your perusal, the following true story: “Christmas on Fourth Street.”
When Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was a boy he went with his father one snowy December 24 to run some last minute errands on Fourth Street in Cincinnati. He couldn’t wait to get home to trim the tree, hang his stocking, and join his family and neighbors for the traditional yuletide carol fest around the piano. Then, unexpectedly, a bleary-eyed, unshaven, disheveled old man reached out to him. Young Norman recoiled and the elderly man crept away. His father, whom Norman adored, had seen everything.
“You shouldn’t treat that man the way you did, son,” he said. “Ah, dad, he’s nothing but a bum.” “A bum?” his father responded. “There is no such thing. He is a child of God.” His father then pulled five dollars out of his wallet, a lot of money for a family back then (equivalent to one hundred dollars today). He told his son, “”You will do exactly as I tell you. You are to go up and hand that gentleman this five dollar bill and respectfully tell him you are giving it to him in the name of the Christ child.” “Yes, sir,” the boy responded sheepishly.
Reluctantly, young Norman ran after the old man and said, cap-in-hand, “Excuse me, sir. I give you this money, sir, in the name of the Christ child.” Taken aback, the old man seemed to take on an aura of dignity and answered, “I thank you, young sir, in the name of the Christ child.”
With no Christmas tree in sight nor carols to be heard, unexpectedly, on Fourth Street in Cincinnati, Christmas had begun.
-Timothy J. Cronin