This evening reflection on the Nativity of our Lord and Savior leads me to a friend’s Christmas card of this year which bears the poem of Oratorian Father and author Wilfrid Faber. Indeed, Father Faber is a terrific and powerful poet who exercised his ministerial priesthood with warmth and insight. Join me in celebrating he birth of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Dear little one! how sweet thou art, Thine eyes how bright they shine, So bright they almost seem to speak When Mary’s look meets Thine.
How faint and feeble is Thy cry, Like plaint of harmless dove, When Thou dost murmur in Thy sleep Of sorrow and of love!
When Mary bids Thee sleep thou sleep’st Thou wakest when she calls;
Thou art content upon her lap,
Or in the rugged stalls.
Simplest of babes! with what a grace Thou dost Thy Mother’s will! Thine infant fashions will betray The Godhead’s hidden skill.
When Joseph takes thee in his arms, And smooths thy little cheek, Thou lookest up into his face
So helpless and so meek.
Yes! Thou art what Thou seems’t to be, A thing of smiles and tears;
Yet Thou art God, and heaven and earth Adore Thee with their fears.
Yes! dearest Babe! those tiny hands That play with Mary’s hair, The weight of all the mighty world This very moment bear.
Art Thou, weak Babe, my very God? O, I must love thee then,
Love Thee, and yearn to spread Thy love Among forgetful men.
– Father Wilfrid Faber, Cong. Orat. (1814–1863)