Into Small Silence

I just had a weekend that made me want to run off and join a monastery. Friday after work I went up to a Catholic retreat house and participated in a silent retreat under which the rule of silence was observed until Tuesday morning, just before lunch time. Of course, I thought of one of my favorite saints - Mother Teresa of Calcutta. One of her quotes were "The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace." This seems to be a continuing theme in my life. There is one stickler though. I know my ministry involves heavy interaction with the faithful.

One of the things I thought about this weekend was my deep love for Christmas. I love it slightly less than Easter (which is my very favorite holiday of all times). My love is different though. I have not been able to vocalize the difference, even though I thought about it quite extensively. This past weekend I was finally able to draw the distinction. The Easter joy is much different than the joy of Christmas. Easter joy is introverted and Christmas joy is extroverted. What I mean is that Easter stimulates the soul while Christmas stimulates the senses. My joy at the resurrection of our Lord is rather inexpressible, usually. While I am no less excited, expectant, or happy, it is usually less visible than Christmas. As we celebrate the birth of our Lord it is largely sensational. I say that with hesitance, because it makes it sound more superficial, but it's not. Memories of walking around Kris Kringle Market in Nürnberg, listening to Christmas music, seeing the fabulous decorations, smelling nutmeg and the taste of Lebkuchen are all permanently associated with Christmas for me. These are far from being the only associations, and much less the most important associations with Christmas for me, but I bring them up to help draw the distinction between the Easter and Christmas joy.