Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store?
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?
And so people are warmed every year by this fanciful children’s story and
its enduring message amid the hubbub of Christmas commercialism about
what is really important. Christmas is always a celebration of hope – that
the coming of the Lord onto earth and into our lives really is the ultimate
Christmas gift that can transform any traces of Scrooge and the Grinch within
us and lift our spirit to heaven.
(BMH)
christmas yet-to-come: it’s a wonderful life
Another venerable Christmas classic is the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, which
was not a success when it was released in 1945 but has since been acclaimed as
one of the greatest movies ever made, and joins The Grinch as a must-watch
seasonal favorite.
Jimmy Stewart is George Bailey, a rock of integrity in his community of
Bedford Falls but whose world is suddenly shattered, leading him to the brink
of suicide. His guardian angel Clarence is sent to intervene and “earns his
wings” by teaching George an important lesson.
When George says, “I wish I had never been born,” Clarence is able to
show him what would have happened to Bedford Falls and his family if he had
not been born. It’s a sad picture and immensely distressing to George. We all
know the happy ending, when his friends rally to save his bank – and his life.
A grateful George suddenly realizes he is “the richest man alive” because of his
friends and family, and that it truly is “a wonderful life.”
Frank Capra said he made the movie “to combat the modern trend toward
atheism” and to uphold “the individual’s belief in himself.” But this is ultimately
another Christmas morality tale – this one all about the Lord’s providence.
We may all have “what if ” moments in our lives. What if I had never
been born? What would be different? What if I didn’t have that “unexpected”
meeting with the person who turned out to be my spouse? Our lives are filled
with apparently chance experiences that may forever change our lives. But it
is not chance that determines our lives. It is the Lord’s loving and guiding
providence:
Those who are in the stream of providence are at all times carried along toward
everything that is happy, regardless of the appearance of the means. (Arcana
Coelestia 8478:4)
There is no such thing as chance; apparent accident or fortune is providence in the
ultimate order. (Arcana Coelestia 6493)
595