Nature’s Prayer on Christmas Eve
December 24, 2023
THE weeks of hectic preparation have ended.
The mad, rushing rivers of traffic have come to a halt. The parking lots are empty. The stores are finally closed.
Human activity seems to cease. The famous stillness of Christmas Eve descends.
But there is something more — or rather something less.
From that very first moment, nature expressed its reverence. The ox and the ass lay by the crib in sacred stillness. The rock walls of the cave, with the immovable gravity and wordless wisdom of all stone, represented the mountains and hills of this wondrous earth, frozen in heavenward momentum.
The brilliant stars were so unlike any other that peasant shepherds, humble in heart, were struck dumb.
Nature is witness to God’s artistry every day. But on Christmas Eve, the very respiration of the trees slows, small creatures cease to stir in their winter lairs, the slumbering birds want for no food, the flames of candles leap upward and in this mysterious silence we hear the ineffable majesty of God and the peacefulness of his love.
O holy night, silent night, when creation itself adores and throngs of angels sing.
