• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

The Antidote to Violence

Fr. David Friel · December 18, 2012

ATE FRIDAY MORNING, I was over at a nearby cemetery doing a committal service. On my way back to the parish, I turned on the local news radio station, because I wanted to hear the details about the pitching trades the Phillies had made earlier in the day. What I actually heard, though, was something about a school shooting in Connecticut. To be honest, I didn’t think too much of it, probably because you hear about so many shootings these days. But, when I parked my car back at the rectory, something subconsciously made me walk through our school on my way back to the parish offices.

I walked down the hallway with our kindergarten classrooms, and I saw a few of our youngest students standing at the classroom door. As I walked by, one of the little girls looked right at me. She had two ponytails, bangs, and a gap between her front teeth. Looking up at me, she took her little hand and waved it at me feverishly. As I waved back, I thought to myself, “Isn’t she precious?” Then, all of a sudden, it hit me. Yes, she is, literally, precious—beyond price, unrepeatable, and irreplaceable. I couldn’t fathom, in my wildest imagination, how anyone could intentionally harm such a beautiful, innocent, happy child.

We live in a culture that does awful, wicked things to children. Our culture exploits children. It neglects children. It abuses children. We contracept children. We kill children before they’re born (and even while they’re being born). We live in a culture that does awful, wicked things to children.

But still, how could someone shoot a first grader? It’s one thing when a soldier or police officer shoots a person because they are being physically threatened. But no one is threatened by a simple child. So, why do we act so threatened by children? Today’s average American family has only 1.8 children. Four thousand American mothers “choose” to kill their baby every day. The most dangerous place in the United States isn’t Camden or Detroit or LA. It’s the mother’s womb, because there’s a 27% chance you won’t make it out of there alive. What’s the big threat? Why are we so afraid?

We’re not the first people ever to feel threatened by children. There was once a man named Herod the Great, who ruled over the Jewish people. He heard whispers about a Baby to be born. Three kings from the east had told Herod that this Baby would be a great King. He felt his own authority being threatened, so this “Herod the Great” ordered that all the baby boys in Bethlehem be killed. In our Church, we call these children the “Holy Innocents”; we celebrate their feast day on December 28th. Herod felt insecure, and so he did something heinous. He committed an atrocity so he could feel safe and to protect his own convenience.

All of this goes to show us something about ourselves and our situation. I daresay we have (collectively) lost the ability to welcome the child. Whereas Jesus says, “Let the children come to me,” we say, “Take them away; don’t plague me with children.” Maybe that’s why God became a Baby at Christmas: so that we could learn to welcome Him. In just over a week, we are going to see the Christ Child lying in a manger. He came as a harmless Baby, and yet He inspired fear in the heart of Herod.

But God is not threatened by children. In the Book of Zephaniah, He actually refers to us, with great affection, as His daughter. He says, “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Be glad and exult, O daughter Jerusalem!” (Zep 3:14). He goes on to promise that “He will rejoice over [us] with gladness” (Zep 3:17). Now that’s an image of how we should respond to children: with joy & gladness & rejoicing. We should take a lesson from God, Who calls us His daughter and rejoices over us. We must learn to welcome the child, which is what Advent is all about. After all, in the eyes of God, we are all children.

When I saw that beautiful girl with the ponytails waving at me, I felt powerfully how precious every child is. I hope that, when we see the Christ Child in the manger this Christmas, we will all be moved just as powerfully. And I hope we will learn that Jesus demands that we welcome His children with joy & gladness & rejoicing.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Church officials frequently asked Tomás Luis de Victoria for his opinion on cathedral appointments because of his fame and knowledge. He was faithful to his position as convent organist even after his professional debut as an organist, and never accepted any extra pay for being a chapelmaster. Held in great esteem, his contract allowed him frequent travel away from the convent, and he attended Palestrina’s funeral (in Rome) in 1594.”

— ‘Dr. Robert Stevenson, 1961 (mod.)’

Recent Posts

  • Vespers for Easter Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
  • Hidden Gem: Ave Regina Caelorum (Steven Talley)
  • Four (4) Shimmery Hymns for Lent & Passiontide
  • “Go!” • The Word That Changed My Life Forever
  • Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.