Dear Members of the Providence College Community:

We all have our favorite pieces of seasonal music.  Mine is Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1951 operetta, Ahmal and the Night Visitors.  As the opera opens, Ahmal, a crippled shepherd boy, and his widowed mother are wondering where their next meal will come from when they receive some unexpected night visitors: the wise men following the star and searching for the newborn king.  After a festive evening of village hospitality, the wise men and their retinue retire for the night.  Ahmal’s mother then begins to brood on the fundamental unfairness that this newborn king should receive so many lavish gifts while her own son struggles merely to survive.   She decides to take just a little bit of the gold for her son.  When she is caught in the act of stealing, Ahmal begs the kings to spare her.   Melchior compassionately forgives her and sings the following beautiful aria:

Oh, woman, you may keep the gold.
The child we seek doesn’t need our gold.
On love, love alone
He will build his kingdom.
His pierced hand will hold no scepter.
His haloed head will wear no crown. 
His might will not be built on your toil.
Swifter than lightning
He will soon walk among us.
He will bring us new life
and receive our death,
and the keys to His city
belong to the poor.

The Mother then gives back the gold and sings:

For such a King, I have waited all my life.
And if I weren’t so poor
I would send a gift of my own
to such a child.

Then Ahmal sings:

But, Mother, let me send him my crutch.
Who knows, he may need one,
and this I made myself.

When Ahmal gives his crutch to the wise men, he is suddenly healed.  As he begins to scamper around the stage, everyone gives thanks for the birth of the newborn king. 

As Melchior reminds us, God comes into the world to embrace the Cross and a crown of thorns rather than the trappings of human power.  God does not rule by imposition demanding obedience but by love calling on love.  In the great exchange of Christmas, God takes on our death and gives us a share in his eternal life.

In the face of this gift of God, we should want to give something back to God.  Not because God requires or needs our gifts, but because we need to give in order to show that we recognize what we have received.  The kings, the Mother, and Ahmal all understand this.  Ahmal’s gift of the only thing he had, like the widow’s mite, brings him healing and wholeness.  When we imitate the generosity of God, who holds nothing back, we reflect the divine image and realize our deepest identity as children of God. 

It is my hope and prayer for all of us that we be touched by the generosity of God to give of ourselves both to others and to God.  In this season we must especially be conscious of those who are poor, for it is to such as these that the homeless child born in a manger came to give himself.  I am pleased to announce that we raised $1,705 in donations for the Bishop’s Heating Fund last Friday evening at our Christmas party.  May God bless you for such generosity.

In addition to the gifts we give to those in need and those whom we love, we are asked to give to God of our praise, our gratitude, and our worship.  The words of Christina Rosetti come mind:

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part--
Yet what can I give Him,
Give my heart.

At the same time that I wish a Merry Christmas to all those who believe in Christ, I would also like to wish a Happy Hanukkah to all our Jewish brothers and sisters.  We remember together with them God’s loving care in providing his faithful people with hope and light in times of darkness.  In this great season of light, may we all be beacons of the one true light that inflames the College’s symbol and binds us all into one family.

Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P.