The Spirit of Christmas
Polish Nativity (Szopka)
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
I thought how, as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’ unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down
from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow
of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth,
that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."—James 1:17-18

"How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts!
O! 'tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments."—Benjamin Franklin

"This is my Christmas message to you—the message that where your heart is,
there your treasure is also; the message that your home sweet home
is your heart where God is . . .

"Lo, the Brotherhood saluteth thee! Peace through the eternal cycles.
Peace through the years—and victory for all."—El Morya, 1963

"Blessed by the Christmas sunshine, our natures, perhaps long leafless,
bring forth new love, new kindness, new mercy, new compassion."
—Helen Keller

"It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas,
when its mighty Founder was a child Himself."—Charles Dickens

"Just a hurried line . . . to tell a story which puts the contrast between
our feast of the Nativity and all this ghastly 'Xmas' racket at its lowest.
My brother heard a woman on a bus say, as the bus passed a church
with a Crib outside it, 'Oh Lor'! They bring religion into everything.
Look they're dragging it even into Christmas now!"'—C. S. Lewis

"In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season: the Christians called it Christmas
and went to church; the Jews called it Chanukah and went to synagogue;
the atheists went to parties and drank.
People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!'
or 'Happy Chanukah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!"'—Dave Barry



"Listen to the angels who herald the dawn of the Christ consciousness in all mankind! Whosoever shall choose this day to serve the light shall receive the impetus of the Christ flame—even the matrix of the Bethlehem babe.

"As Saint Francis adored the holy child lying in the crèche fashioned out of his own love of the Savior, so know that the Lord God and the Cosmic Virgin have fashioned the image of the Christ Child aborning in the hearts of humanity. And in the retreats of the Great White Brotherhood—in each one—there is a permanent focus of the scene of the Mother with Child—holy, meek, and mild —with the guardian flame of the patron Saint Germain, whose freedom flame guards the increase of the soul here in the folds of the garment of the Mother.

"Angels of Christmas, come forth! Sing your songs of praise! Make your way with angels of Uriel’s band! Angels of the Prince of Peace, twelve legions outpicturing the Christ consciousness of the twelve hierarchies of the sun, come forth! And blend your energies with choirs of angels, men, and elementals, singing, “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!” He is the promised one, the Savior of the world. The Christ comes to every heart to champion the fires of immortality and to release the frankincense that will purify the atmosphere of the soul.

" . . . Christmas is a time for ritual, for the ritual of the angels of ministration and peace, service and love’s sweet release. As you decorate your home in anticipation of the honored guest, the Christed One, will you not include with the manger scene that you erect a focus of the gold, the frankincense, the myrrh—symbols of the balance of the threefold flame—carried by the wise men who came from the East. And will you also make a daily round through the home, carrying the urn of sacred incense. Oh, let it burn away the dross, the drudgery, the darkness of a year to make way for the birth of the little one and of the Son of the Sun!"

Archangel Uriel


"Blessed hearts, it is the hour and this is the day of the marking of the hour, November 1st, 1987. Mark it well, beloved, for it is a date written in the Book of Life.

" . . . This is the day that the path of thy Christhood must begin in earnest. Not [postponed] till tomorrow but today, my Christ, thy Christ One. Counting this day as the first day, if you will, of an earnest discipleship unto my Flame and Heart, I draw you if you will be drawn. I receive you if you will indeed be received. Therefore, beloved, know that I, Jesus, declare this day, formally with my Father, as the commencement of a path for Lightbearers of the world who know that in my mantle and in my momentum there is a gift to be received—to be earned and won.

" . . . I AM your Jesus. Now I say to you, Be my Christ!

"With the sign of our Oneness and the Law of the Word, I AM with you alway—to the end of your tribulation in this age.

" . . . In the Oneness of the All, I AM thy True Self."

Jesus Christ
November 1, 1987

How to Keep the Christmas Rose of Joy

" . . . Would you not know the secret of keeping the Christmas Rose of joy—joy perpetually in the heart that nothing can move or turn aside? Would you not become the invincible manifestation of my joy, beloved?

"I would also know you as the "joy fountains" in the earth where I may come and drink, where many who are without joy may drink of the fount and yet the fount should not decrease.

"Oh, the perpetual giving of the flame of joy!

"Oh, the laughter of the Christed ones who know this joy and who have discovered the secret of not letting go of it under any circumstance!

" Is this not the true joy of self-mastery? Indeed it is, beloved.

" . . . If you will, make a list of all those things that bring joy to you and affirm them. I will leave you to your deliberations as to how you will return to the point of joy, but I will suggest that gratitude in action is a most wondrous way to continually perceive the joy flame of life."

Jesus Christ
"The Point of Dazzling Joy" December 25, 1992


My beloved, I enter the Spirit of the Christmastide in the very heart of the Great Central Sun in your behalf. I enter into the Spirit of the Christ in the act of being born and descending.

The Spirit of Christmas is a being of great, great light and Buddhic attainment. I come to announce, then, to you this Presence of the Almighty individed in the individuality of the God flame.

The one known as the Spirit of Christmas is therefore come to tell of the birth of Jesus Christ against the backdrop of nature’s darkest hour of the year. The announcement at winter solstice of his star appearing is a great drama of cosmos; and it is here to teach us that in the darkest night of man’s longing, there does appear the star of hope and the birth of the Saviour.

I enter the Spirit of Christmas so that you may understand that it is entirely possible for more than one son of God to participate in a holy office, to co-occupy the divine intent upon the twig that is bent, upon the very point, the focal point of a quartz crystal embracing a world of fiery intent. Dear hearts, I therefore come as the Spirit of Christmas, as you might anticipate the coming of the one known as Santa Claus.

Remember the heart of a childyour child, yourselfthinking about the coming of Santa and how he would enter the house, and how you would leave him cookies and milk and perhaps even a snack for the reindeer. Remember how, in fullest belief, because your parents had told you, you entered into that Spirit of Santa. And remember also the disappointment upon learning that Santa was not real.

But this is not true! Santa is real. And I am here to tell you that Santa Claus himself is the typical vessel of the Spirit of Christmas, the one who embodies this very Presence which I have entered.

It is wrong to tell children that Santa is not real. It is right to explain to them the Spirit of Christmas is indeed a persona person made real in God, a person who is a cosmic being, who fills the hearts of the people with the anticipation of the greatest gift of all, the gift of personal Christhood.

 

 

Those things that bring delight to childrengames and toys and things and rings in stockings beloved hearts, originally the gifts given to the child of every heart were intended to enhance the child’s perception and realization of that Person of Christ. When you think about the gifts that are given these days, you realize that some gifts do assist the individual in a greater sense of identity, while others adorn the outer person and tend to create more maya of idolatry. And thus, attaching importance and attention to the outer self, the individual loses the great opportunity of this hour to truly enter into the heart of that cosmic being known as the Spirit of Christmas.

Therefore, beloved ones, understand that this Spirit embodies the collective consciousness of Christhood of the entire Spirit of the Great White Brotherhoodof all ascended beings and angels and masters, cosmic hosts of the Lord who are that Christ. Let us realize, then, that in all symbols there is reality; in archetypes there is the original pattern of the image made perfect out of Christ; and in Santa Claus himself is the lingering hope in all that the figure of the Cosmic Christ will come to bring the true joy, the joy of the heart filled with love.

I enter into this Spirit to bless many who have not yet contacted our word, our love, or our message. I know that you understand and can share with me in a certain sense of an increased desire, a fiery desire and intent to contact millions of souls who in truth have a propensity for the Light but need that special recipe, that special teaching and understanding, the visual aid, the uncovering of truth.

You know very well how the tastes of people the world around differ, and therefore the dishes from many nations have a very peculiar flavora peculiar way of eating. So the people of these countries, from all corners of the world, do have great differences of palate. Therefore, beloved, realize that, in the breaking of the bread of Life, one must develop a taste for a certain dish. And it is our desire to make tasteful the teaching of the violet flame and of all that we so cherishall that is a part of our climbing of the highest mountain.

And therefore, because each step of the way, each new altitude, each new mark of heightened sense of God-awareness requires a new teaching, so the volumes of our work must be like rocks that set the path to the summit of each man’s being.

Each volume must say to the wayfarer: Thou canst not proceed further unless this stone become the living bread of Life within thee. Sitting on the rock and reading the Book of Life, thou shalt truly become the Rock and ascend once again, saying over and over again, “Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.” <1>

Therefore, beloved, the desire to contact those is in my heart. It is my birthday wish <2> and call for dispensation to the heart of Alpha. I know that my own, each one of you, sense this great desiring that is in the heart of our Mother also. No thing is more important in the universe to our lifestreams than this breaking of the bread of Life, taking that bread and placing it in the open mouths of the birds that come to be fed.

Let the symbol of this Christmas be the World Mother, and the crown of a million stars be a giant nest where all of the birds of the universes may come and find their rest in that crown chakra of the Buddha and of the Mother.

O star-fire body of our appearing, year by year we bring the news of good cheer. Year by year we turn the page, that souls may view again a higher way and an inner understanding, a deeper sense of Selfhood.

We are most pleased, then, to announce our forthcoming publications, to present them to you during this holy week of celebrations. <3> We are most pleased at the effort and the striving. And we say to you, Think again. Think again in your heart: if you had not received that book, that teaching, if you could not study the Word, how would you know what it is or where to find it?

O now this year coming, be runners in the race. <4> Distribute our teaching far and wide, personally, physicallytwo-by-twoing, if you will, going door-to-door, if you will <5>speaking the Word where you are moved, but always with the seed, as Johnny Appleseed. These seeds are the books themselves. And remember the pages of the Bible that he would leave with those seeds, planting seeds in the ground and the Word of God in the hearts of men. <6>

Dear ones, our seed of the teaching must be given. We have watched how one article in our magazine, one chapter in a book has turned around the mind of an individual most entrenched in a downward cycle.

The logic and the reason why truth is true must be given. Most people on earth are not willing to accept truth as an absolute without explanation. They are tired of autocrats and bureaucrats, and they do not believe that the God of truth sends mandates without explanation.

Well, dear hearts, the Person of Christ as Teacher is the one who gives the explanation. And therefore, in the giving of that explanation and the transfer of this mighty flame of illumination that is in your hand, realize, O realize, how the mind of man can instantaneously become the vessel of the mind of God! This is the miracle of the Incarnationno longer a mystery but a miracle of the Advent.

My dear hearts, look at that flame. <7> It represents the illumination of our teaching. Soon the candle wax will be no more and the wick itself will be consumed. Before your very gaze, the lifetime of one candle is spent.

How many candle-worth is your life? And how can you become that candle? The candle is spent, but the flame must leap into your heart and you must become walking candles. I would see men as candles walking.

Beloved hearts, it is amusing to contemplate trees walking as men, men walking as trees. <8> Is it amusing to consider that the candle you bear could just as easily be the sacred fire of the Spirit of Christmas, and you could hold in your hand that Person of God and be seen as a cosmic being walking?



Wisdom and Cheer . . .

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill,
to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas."—Calvin Coolidge

I hold in my hand the Spirit of Christmas. And then I decide to climb inside, to enter in, to be the candle of the Buddha in Winter, to be the Cosmic Christ. And it is a fond embrace, for the Cosmic Christ decides to live in me. There is a mutuality of desiring in this love of the higher evolution for the lesser. There is a running to meet heart to heart. When hearts become one and the fire intensifies, truly it is perfect love.

Enter now the Spirit of Christmas and be it. Be it every day of the yearblessings. Blessings full
and not without cheer. Be the Spirit of Christmas, and see how much the Spirit of Christmas desires to be you. And realize, then, in all those years of looking forward to Santa’s coming, Santa has looked forward to coming to you, has desired to be one with you, has worshiped the light of the Christ in your heart, has sensed himself a servant gnomethe chief of gnomesin the worship of the newborn Child.

Santa, then, comes as a servant of the Light and as a chela of the Christ who is the Manchild. Santa might be a modern version of three wise men coming to bear the gifts of oldwise elementals who realize, no matter what the outer manifestation, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ must be that each member of the elemental kingdom brings a gift to some child of God.

This is the ritual of the elementals, beloved hearts. It is an amazing ritual to see how these elementals come to the bedsides of children who wait with expectancy. They bring little gifts they make, little houses that they construct out of nutshells, gathering things from the forest and using amazing techniques to re-create Hansel and Gretel forms, shapes.

Tender hearts are the elementals. And of course, they are greeted by little children in their finer bodies with such joy. Truly, this is the joy of Christmas, when sweet children can freely interact with elementals, and elementals can know the true worship of Christ and the hope that they, too, may become that Christ.

The hope of elemental life remains this yearhope in you, beloved. And their hope for immortal life remains predicated upon your victory, your Godmastery, and your Christhood. <9>

Thus, Santa Claus is the great attention-getter of all elemental life each Christmas, coming therefore with that elfin wink and that twinkle of mirth to gather bouquets of attention from the children as they thereby channel the love of their hearts for the blessing of these servants of fire, air, water, and earth.

I summon, therefore, all elemental life to the heart of the Buddha and the Mother. I summon elemental life to the Inner Retreat for the building of a new day, and to Camelot to learn how they, too, may teach men the way.

Most blessed ones, let us increase and multiply the opportunity for Montessori education to the lightbearers of a planet. Let us not be discouraged, but let us strive anew. Let every student of our school realize that his own Christhood sets a standard and an example not only for the school and the community, but for all youth of the world. It is not a collective standard, though Christ be one in all. It is an individual standard that you keep by cherishing some very special gift of God, some very special virtue.

Set the standard on a line that you can draw and keep, beloved students of the light. Maintain a standard and become a candle that glows with a single virtue that is one of noncompromise, and you will soon become known for your sense of justice, for your love, for your integrity, for your friendship, for your striving for truth.

Our school is built of many stones, and our aspiration is more than just a gingerbread cottage. We would build the pyramid of the new age, and we would build the temple of man. [13-second pause]

I pause, so that your heart may speak to me [7-second pause] and so that you may put before me the utmost question, the one of greatest import that sits upon your hearta desiring to know, a desiring to solve and resolve a problem.

Now I make myself manifold, and if you will have me, I would enter the Spirit of Christmas who is your very own beloved Christ Self.

Now, did you ever think that the Belovedthe beloved Christ Self is the person of Santa himself? Now you see him as the Christ, now you see him as the archetype of elemental life, and now you go to the very kernel of his heart and know him as the smiling Cosmic Christ, the smiling Maitreya, the smiling Gautama. Now after all, doesn’t Santa remind you of the Buddha in Winter?

We must become together the Great Giver of Life! We must enter into that givingness and realize that though our path is one of a striving to set aside that Inner Retreat and preserve the teaching, we are in fact giving our alms to the poor and helping those very ones in America who are without home or heat or food and yet are being helped by their neighbors and friends. And yet, though they are fed in body, these same ones still have a longing in spirita loneliness and a hunger that cannot be assuaged with physical food.

There are those whose calling it is to meet the immediate physical needs of those in want. And of course, you must always do this when you are face-to-face with those in need. But though the call be great, and even as a temptation you would go forth to sell all you have and divide it among the poor, even as Jesus taught, <10> you must have a higher understanding of selling all you have for the sake of providing for the poor in spirit <11> who must, must have the Inner Retreat and the teaching and the place prepared.

Come into the union of the community of light. I send forth the call to those who have never considered before this precept of the Lord: Go and sell all that thou hast, and then secure the pearl of great price. <12>

This teaching on the selling and the giving to the poor and on the selling and the purchase of the pearl of great price go hand-in-hand with the Buddhic path of nonattachment. Following the Guru and the Path means that all that one has, as the bubble of the aura, now joins the bubbles of auras of the hundreds and the thousands, making one great bubble of light, one great canopy for the poor in spirit.

Consider, then, how you may enter in and become a part of the mystical body of God by the very same requirements that I gave to my ownwhich Jesus gave to his own, and Moses before him, and Zarathustra and Gautamathat entering into the circle, that swimming into the sea of life, the drop entering the ocean.

There is the necessity of identification of the self with community and with the land. There is the necessity for some to reconsider their positioning in life. Therefore, let us enter the Central Sun.

I told you that I was entering the Spirit of Christmas in the Central Sun. I AM here and I AM there. I have set the forcefield of my being as a mirror here in this heart and upon this altar, and I have set my being in the Central Sun, therefore creating the oscillation of light waves and a stronger image and a magnified image. Thus, I AM in the Great Central Sun. Enter, then, by the mirror image which is reflected in my Electronic Presence here at this altar.

So, beloved, by my mirror image, set forth scientifically according to the same principles applied on earth, I have brought the Central Sun to this place. And you have entered, for the mirror image is the same, the one. Yet, in that mirror, the intensity can be turned down with a dial of consciousness. Thus, by example I would teach you that your soul is a mirror in itself, and you also can bring to earth (and to the earth of the Inner Retreat) the mirror image of the Central Sun and of Alpha and Omega and of the Great Throne Room and the Temple Beautiful.

As you are abiding now for a time with me in this great forcefield of light, I impart to you the vision, once again, of the chohans of the Inner Retreat, your place within itthe vision of “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” In the Central Sun you see the vision and the actuality of God’s kingdom. Standing in the Great Central Sun, you look down upon this point in space, and you see your soul as a mirror on earth. And you, in your causal body and I AM Presence, send to that soul the image of Self.

Now realize how important is the angle of the mirror of the soul, which is concaveas a flower petal cupped to receive and reflect the light. Imagine, then, if this gentle, curved soul and mirror would be tipped just slightly at an angle away from the Great Central Sun; it would become cold and dark and not reflect the fullness of the light or the vision of the kingdom. This is what happens when you take your attention off of the I AM Presence and Almighty God. There is not the direct mirror image on earth of what there could be.

“Well,” you say, “Lanello, I have many things to think about. I cannot simply think about the sun all day.” Well, beloved ones, there is an inner technique for this God-mastery, which I learned and practiced in my final incarnation.

In the back of your mind, in the recesses and the folds of the curtain, in the backdrop of that area of your being where you outplay the day’s role, there is that sense of awareness. You can feel it now in your spine. You can feel it in the energy which rises. There is an inner, an interior and an anterior sense of the Great Central Sun.

You have contemplated the sun and beloved Alpha and our Father so long that you retain the image and the inner direction, and you do not depart from it even in all of your service and all the busyness of life. And therefore, there is a constancy of the eye within you that is a part of all sons and daughters of God as they go about the business of our Father in heaven and our Mother on earth.

This, then, is the assignment: to so build the momentum of attention upon the sun of God as the I AM Presence, the Christ Self, the crown chakra, and the all-seeing eye, as well as your heart, that it becomes the automatic flow and current of your being even when you are diverting some of that flow to outer activity in the Matter spheres. This is something to be done and a great safeguard against extreme pitfalls and descents into areas of life that are very dark.

Some have a yo-yo consciousness. Some seesaw up and down to great heights of light and new lows of darkness. This can be overcome by centering in the very center of that point instead of centering oneself on the surface or the extremities.


Traditional Polish Nativity (szopka)
"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."—Charles Dickens

Now, my beloved, you are absorbing the patterns of the kingdom come, and specifically our Father’s kingdom as his design pertains to your area of life and service. There is a magnification by the great Spirit of Christmas of the area of your divine plan in this great mandala that represents the kingdom of God. And now there is a circle of light from your own God Presence that is amplifying that area on the map, as it were, of God’s kingdom, so that you can see, very specifically and particularly, what it is that you must accomplish, the way in which you must walk, and how you can achieve the inner kingdom.

Let the beloved of God lay upon the altar their life, their attachments, their possessions, and strive to enter in and become the One. The One is the fullness of the manifestationthe Inner Retreat, the base of our pyramid, the focal point of light.

God has a great magnifying glass, and through that glass he is sending a beam of light, a literal square of fire upon that land. And do you know, beloved, that the lens of that magnifying glass is your own causal body and the one causal body of all of the Spirit of the Great White Brotherhood.

This concentration is for a purpose. The portion of the kingdom amplified for you is sealed in the secret chamber of your heart; the inner man of the heart <13> is its custodian, and the map of that kingdom is also there. Square by square, the sons of God fill in the blanks.

As you bring your abundance to the Inner Retreat, so the abundant life will be multiplied for the very ones who hunger and thirst today. That they may be filled tomorrow is our prayer. For we recognize a process: that, though we would give them to drink today, it will take until tomorrow to deliver the cup, the seed, the book, the magazine.

Prepare, then, to enter in. Prepare to enter the Inner Retreat as you have entered the Central Sun in this hour. And prepare to have the vision perpetual of the beaming of the light that is seen as the square which is the base of your pyramid on that very land.

I have shown this square of light upon that land and that Heart to our messenger for many, many days. It is a vision that must be burned in consciousness, because when you see that blazing light of the square, it becomes the point toward which you gravitatethe Lodestone itself.

I AM your Father, Lanello. I seal you with the kiss of the crowning rose.

Return in consciousness to this sanctuary. Enter the vessel, enter the mirror of the soul, and redefine your goal.

I bless you, out of the heart of Bonaventure, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and in the name of the Blessed Virgin, Mary.

God be with you, as you reflect his glory.


Messenger’s Comments and Prayer:

Will you think now of this vessel of the soul, like a shallow bowl. And will you think of it as the cradle the soul as the cradle to receive the Christ. And will you see the divine Child laying in the crèche that your soul has become, and realize that in this great event, the kingdom of God is come into manifestation on earth . . .

Won’t you join hands in prayer with those who are nearest you.

Beloved Alpha, our Father, it is the prayer of this family and community of light that there be healing in our midst–healing, that we might be the more perfect vessel day by day.

I call for the healing of the minds, hearts, souls, chakrasetheric, mental, emotional, and physical bodies of this community of light-bearers worldwide. Heal the schism and the breach especially caused by harmful chemicals and drugs, radioactive fallout, and all harmful elements of the environment as well as the astral plane. Purge them. Pass through thy light, O God.

O Christmas Child descending, let shafts of light from thy heart pass through us now and make us whole. We decree it by the great power of Lanello upon us, by his mighty Electronic Presence, by the great Spirit of the Christ Mass.

Lord God Almighty, now let our being and our soul be not only the vessel and the reflector, but be the One–the one heart united now with the Electronic Presence of the Buddha, of Sanat Kumara, of this true Spirit of Christmas in the gnomes, in the Christ, and in our own Christ Self.

In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Mother, Amen.

This dictation by Lanello was delivered through the Messenger Elizabeth Clare Prophet on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1982, at Camelot. Prior to this dictation, the messenger delivered a sermon on Luke 11:29-54, “Our Message of the Sign of Jonas.” Dictation and sermon published on 16-cassette album The Buddhas in Winter (A83002), or available separately: cassette B83002.

1. Pss. 61:2.

2. Lanello’s birthday in his final incarnation as the Messenger Mark L. Prophet was Christmas Eve, December 24, 1918.

3. Refers to the new Summit University Press publications released during the New Year’s class The Buddhas in Winter (December 29, 1982-January 2, 1983, at Camelot): Heart, quarterly magazine “for the Coming Revolution in Higher Consciousness”; 8-cassette album Mother’s Chakra Meditations and the Science of the Spoken Word (A82162); 2-cassette album Incarnations of the Magnanimous Heart of Lanello: Louis XIV the Sun King (A82170); The Science of the Spoken Word, paperback.

4. I Cor. 9:24; Heb. 12:1.

5. See Elizabeth Clare Prophet, December 29, 1976, “Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock:
2 x 2 = 42,” cassette B7726. This address by the messenger, given in Pasadena, California,
at Energy Is God, should be played and studied by Keepers of the Flame.

6. Johnny Appleseed (born John Chapman, 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts) was an American pioneer and disciple of the Swedish scientist-philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg. Johnny, who regarded apple trees as a living meditation upon God, believed that the Lord had appointed him a mission in the wilderness to produce apple orchards and preach the gospel to all he met. As he traveled for 50 years throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, it was his custom, after a day of planting, to stop at a cabin and ask with enthusiasm, “Will you have some fresh news right from heaven?” He divided his books and religious tracts into multiple sections, rotating them among the settlers. At the time of Johnny’s death in 1845, his apple seeds had borne fruit over one hundred thousand square miles.

7. During Lanello’s dictation, each devotee held a candle, lit from the taper held by Mother at the altar.

8. Mark 8:24.

9. The deepest desire of the elemental beings of fire, air, water, and earth serving earth’s evolutions is to receive the flame of Life. They are not endowed with a threefold flame but await
the resurrection of every son and daughter of God in order to receive their own immortality. In a dictation given Easter, March 29, 1964, Jesus offered a portion of his own heart flame and his momentum of the resurrection to all elemental life so that they could feel “a part of the radiance of immortality” and “never again have the sense of death.”

On April 6, 1977, Diana, Princess of the Fire Element, announced: “The four Beings of the Elements stand with me...to anchor the light of the threefold flame on behalf of elemental life; and the anchoring of that flame is within your hearts . . . As we come forth from the heart of Helios and Vesta, we are going to deliver to all elemental life on earth this day, through your own threefold flames, for a period of one minute, the action of the threefold flame transferred to their consciousness, being, and worldthat they might have a foretaste of the flame of immortal life which will one day be their own . . . These beings, precious ones, adore the flame within your heart, they adore your lifestreams as the Christed ones . . . Understand then that these precious ones will have opportunity as you increase your decrees for them.”

“The Elementals Await Your Word,” published on Convocation of the New Birth in the New Jerusalem Easter 1977, 8-cassette album (A7720), or available separately: cassette B7721. See Mark and Elizabeth Prophet, “Servants of God and Man in Nature,” in Climb the Highest Mountain (1980), pp. 369-92; The Science of the Spoken Word (1983), pp. 167-69, 172-76; “Cosmic Cooperation between the Children of the Sun and Elemental Life,” in A Prophecy of Karma to Earth and Her Evolutions (Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 23), pp. 75-104. Invocations and decrees for elemental life: The Creation of the Cloud: Meditations on the Alchemy of Constructive Change and the Control of the Aura, 2-cassette album (A8063); Sacred Ritual for the Creation of the Cloud (cassette B83050), and accompanying booklet; 36-page booklet Violet Flame Decrees and Songs for Elemental Life.

10. Matt. 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 12:33; 18:22.

11. Matt. 5:3.

12. Matt. 13:46.

13. Eph. 3:16, 17; I Pet. 3:4.




"I have come in honor of the Manchild and the Blessed Virgin. The hour approaches for the celebration of the Christ Mass. Angelic hosts have circled the earth. The Virgin Mary has sent her emissaries in search of a manger, a manger where we might place our focus for this Christmastide —the focus annually displayed by many of the God-fearing of the nations: the manger, the Bethlehem scene, the cròche, the Christ Child, the figures of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, the wise men, the shepherds, and the sheep.

"Beloved hearts, wherever this Nativity has been displayed over the centuries, there the causal bodies of the participants of that great drama have been focused. And, in addition, all who played the role of lightbearer in the thirty-three-year mission of Jesus have also multiplied their light. As you know, secular individuals have acted to deny access to public places to those who have desired to display the Nativity. The very scene is denied day upon day in the continued actions of the abortionists.

" . . . Therefore in searching for that manger, even the ark of safety where the Nativity should be immaculately guarded, we have selected this very altar of the Holy Grail for the display of the Nativity that shall become a cosmic focus of the birth of Christ to this planetary body. We ask that the place where I am now standing be designated and indeed be established with the most suitable statues and accouterments that can be brought together by the loving hands of the members of this community.

"We are therefore beholding now the etheric lowering into manifestation of this Nativity, and the etheric blueprint is set, and now you can feel the light emanations of the hearts of the participants beginning to radiate from this very forcefield. I ask that this focus be sustained through the Christmas season.

"Through this focus, beloved hearts, we will establish anew a momentum of the Holy Family, the opportunity of sons and daughters to bring forth the Christed ones—opportunity for that magnificent cooperation of angels, ascended masters and men, elemental life without which there could not have been the Piscean dispensation.

"I encourage you to fast and pray that you might also have the vision of the Virgin and the Manchild, the very one whom I held in my arms and adored as the Saviour of the World. Thus by the duplication of the image and the replica of our life, worlds upon worlds can once again be established in this octave.

"This is a very great event for us, for seldom has there been such a place prepared on earth by souls of light who could receive so much that will be outpoured. Let this sanctuary be reserved for Keepers of the Flame. And during this season let all who enter these doors take off their shoes from off their feet, for truly it is holy ground. Thus in the darkness of the night from the stars in the heavens I have beheld this arc of violet flame burning and I have come by to see you, to share with you my heart and the heart of Mary and her angels.

"Let the Infant of Prague be recognized as the focus of the Manchild. Let the infant Christ Child restore in you, my beloved, your innocence. For truly all is not lost but you can regain that holiness of the little child. Truly to have innocence is to have the inner sense complete of the inner God.

"How beautiful! Could anyone ask for any other gift at Christmas than the gift of holy innocence? May you pray for the gift, search for it. May you ask for it. And may you receive it according to your fervor.

"I AM Joseph, shepherd in the Church, Father flame—if you will have me. I pray that you will come to appreciate the embodiment of my flame as Father, for I have many vessels and many sons to raise up. I smile upon the one and the many."

Saint Germain

The Lord's Christmas Day Address 1991


" . . . Yes, beloved, I wish you a very, very holy Christ Mass in this hour. And I come to celebrate with you the birth of the one Christ in your heart, one by one by one. I come to adore the Body of God that is one, yet individualized.

"And I am seeing with the full power of my being the emergent Christ of yourself/myself, for we are one. And all life is one and God is one! Though there be a billion times a billion rays of light of that Christ, there is but one.

"Celebrate, then, that God called me but celebrate also that he called you and that your star can rise. It can be a nova and through you the great Lord may contact many. Do not lose sight of this perspective; for if you do, beloved, if you lose the vision, you will forfeit so great an opportunity as has not come to you in many ten thousands of years."

Jesus Christ
December 25, 1991



Advent is a season of hope in preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Christian tradition established the use of the Advent wreath and Advent candles in anticipation of the birth of our Lord. The circular Advent wreath represents the eternity of the blessed Trinity without beginning or end.

The Ascended Masters have dedicated the four Sundays of Advent to the clearing of the four lower bodies and the records of karma lodged in those bodies. On each consecutive Sunday a candle is lit to symbolize these clearances and the emergence of greater light in the world.

The first Sunday of Advent is for the clearing of the etheric body, the envelope of the soul that holds the blueprint of your divine plan, and in the lower etheric body, the electronic belt. The first candle is known as the prophecy candle. Some interpret its purple color as a sign of penance and longing for the birth of the Christ.

The second Sunday of Advent is for the clearing of the mental body. The second candle is called the Bethlehem candle and some believe it represents the imminent birth of the Christ mind.

The third Sunday of Advent is for the transmutation of the records of karma lodged in the desire or emotional body. The third candle is known as the shepherd candle, and its rose color symbolizes our hope and joy that the Christ is coming.

The fourth Sunday of Advent is for the transmutation of karma lodged in the physical body. The fourth candle, known as angel candle, is also purple. In our church it might symbolize the violet, transmuting flame clearing the way for the Christ.

On Christmas Eve or Day all these candles are lit, as well as the white, center candle, which represents the Christ. Some people continue to light the five candles during the week of Christmas to symbolize the continuing and growing brightness of Jesus’ coming.


PRAYER FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT

Etheric Body (4th week before Christmas)

In the name I AM THAT I AM, we invoke the presence of the Great Divine Director and the Seven Archangels, beloved Saint Germain and the angelic hosts of Light, beloved Jesus and the great hosts of Ascended Masters. We lovingly surrender all substance on the 12, 1 and 2 o’clock lines of the Cosmic Clock and we pray for the strengthening of the qualities of God Power, God Love and God mastery in the etheric quadrant of our being.

We call to the Christmas angels to draw nigh and to fill our hearts with the joy of the Living Christ as we light the candles of this Advent wreath. May the burning down of these Advent candles represent the transmutation of all negative substance in each of the four quadrants of our being. Let this evergreen wreath, representing the ever-living circle of perfect wholeness, become a healing thought form to restore us to our true identity in God.

 


PRAYER FOR THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT

Mental Body (3 weeks before Christmas)

In the name I AM THAT I AM, we invoke the presence of Helios and the Great Central Sun Magnet, beloved God Obedience and the Seven Mighty Elohim, beloved El Morya and legions of Mercury. We lovingly surrender all substance on the 3, 4 and 5 o'clock lines of the Cosmic Clock and we pray for the strengthening of the qualities of God Control, God Obedience, and God Wisdom in the mental quadrant of our being.

We call to the Christmas angels to draw nigh and to fill our hearts with the joy of the Living Christ as we light the candles of this Advent wreath. May the burning down of these Advent candles represent the transmutation of all negative substance in each of the four quadrants of our being. Let this evergreen wreath, representing the ever-living circle of perfect wholeness, become a healing thoughtform to restore us to our true identity in God.

In the name of the Holy Christ a-borning in us. Amen

"The quality of [the student's] thoughts and feelings is absolutely vital not only to his freedom and God-happiness but also to his progress on the Path. Some say that there is a great chasm between the thoughts and feelings of man—that they are poles apart. But in reality they are one; and it is to this truth, so often ignored, that we would direct your attention in this Pearl of Wisdom.

" . . . Each time a man thinks, there is effected a subtle yet tangible yoke between his thoughts and his feelings, and . . . each time he feels, there is a vital link established between his feelings and his thoughts . . .

"In the union of his thought and feeling mechanisms the gears of man's attention are totally engaged and . . . his entire psyche is affected thereby. Therefore, . . . no man is wholly free until he is wholly
in control of his mental and emotional faculties."


Saint Germain
January 16, 1972


PRAYER FOR THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT

Emotional Body (2 weeks before Christmas)

In the name I AM THAT I AM, we invoke the presence of Serapis Bey and the great seraphim and cherubim, beloved Goddess of Liberty and the Lords of Karma, beloved Lord Lanto and the Lords of Wisdom. We lovingly surrender all substance on the 6, 7 and 8 o’clock lines of the Cosmic Clock and we pray for the strengthening of the qualities of God Harmony, God Gratitude, and God Justice in the emotional quadrant of our being.

We call to the Christmas angels to draw nigh and to fill our hearts with the joy of the Living Christ as we light the candles of this Advent wreath. May the burning down of these Advent candles represent the transmutation of all negative substance in each of the four quadrants of our being. Let this evergreen wreath, representing the ever-living circle of perfect wholeness, become a healing thoughtform to restore us to our true identity in God.

In the name of the Holy Christ a-borning in us. Amen

 


“I come in the Second Advent with clouds of glory, with hosts of the Lord, and with light. And that Second Advent is as the appearing of the sign of the descent of the entire chain of the Christed One—of Sanat Kumara, Gautama Buddha, Lord Maitreya, and myself therefore embodying this Word in the Messenger for a holy purpose . . . It is the hour of the Second Advent when all the world must rejoice that because I am descended, so the Second Advent is the coming of The Lord Our Righteousness within you!”


Jesus Christ
May 8, 1983


"Yet, beloved, it takes alertness at all levels [to maintain wholeness in these lower octaves]. And so when you invoke Light at all levels of your being and in all of your chakras, taking care to fill in the weaker places first, you must consider that it is necessary to constantly keep the vigil. You might visualize yourself as a giant Christmas tree with a candle on every little twig and branch so that a million candles might burn [on your tree of life to light the way for millions].

"Remember that at every point of every cell of your body there is a nucleus in the atom and there is a central sun to every cell. These are points of Light. These are, as it were, manifestations of the Great Central Sun at microscopic levels. Therefore it is well to develop a meditation on Light where[by] you see inpoints of Light throughout the body."

Goddess of Light
October 8, 1989


PRAYER FOR THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT

Physical Body (1 week before Christmas)

In the name I AM THAT I AM, we invoke the presence of beloved Mighty Victory and the Lords of Individuality, beloved Cyclopea and the Lords of Form, beloved Lord Maitreya and the Lords of Mind. We lovingly surrender all substance on the 9, 10 and 11 o’clock lines of the Cosmic Clock and we pray for the strengthening of the qualities of God Reality, God Vision, and God Victory in the physical quadrant of our being.

We call to the Christmas angels to draw nigh and to fill our hearts with the joy of the Living Christ as we light the candles of this Advent wreath. May the burning down of these Advent candles represent the transmutation of all negative substance in each of the four quadrants of our being. Let this evergreen wreath, representing the ever-living circle of perfect wholeness, become a healing thought form to restore us to our true identity in God.

 

Healing the Core Conditions

"Modern medicine uses drugs to alleviate the symptoms of disease, but most people are never truly healed of the core conditions, which they carry vibrationally in and about their spirit. In actuality, one's spirit governs one's health. If the spirit is morose, the body will follow suit. And the morose spirit will magnetize other morose spirits, reinforcing the person's weakened state until a host of mental, emotional and finally physical diseases may result.

"Conditions of the spirit are difficult to treat. In fact, they defy treatment. But if they are not treated, they can become a plague upon a man's house . . . If, for example, a person carries a spirit of anger left over from past lives, he must neutralize that spirit by invoking the power of Jesus Christ to come into his temple to bind and cast out that spirit.

"Happy is the man who entertains a perpetual spirit of joy, for his spirit is like the sun shining at its zenith. He will know health, happiness and prosperity and he will attract to himself, and forever entertain, spirits of joy. The core condition of your spirit is focused in your etheric body. That core condition determines the vibrancy of your health and is the wellspring of your life. . . In order to heal the physical body, you need to heal the etheric, mental and desire bodies—all of which leave their imprint on the physical body."

Archangel Gabriel
December 29, 1995


Your Real Self—the Forgiver

"Who is the great forgiver of all? It is Christ. We must know, then, who is Christ. Christ is not Jesus alone; Christ is the potential of the Real Self is us all. It is the potential toward which the soul is moving. And therefore, we have a priest of the sacred fire within ourselves-our own Christ Self. And to that Christ Self we run for forgiveness. In this, the Beloved’s name, we cry out to the Father and he answers us through his Son.

The Acceptance of Forgiveness

"We, then, must begin with forgiveness so that we can get on with self-mastery in the levels of the chakras, so we can anoint the feet and head of Christ—i.e., prepare the blessed sons and daughters of God for their initiations of the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension. We must walk this path as Mary Magdalene. We must believe that we can be purified, that we can become whole, that we can be restored and be regenerated.

"And what is the key to this? It is the acceptance of forgiveness and the fact that there is a Principle, a Person, a God, a Christ, a flame, an energy—the Holy Spirit. It is mathematics and it is a science. It is a consciousness. And when we make contact with it, the Holy Spirit releases the light of God for the clearing and the cleansing."

Elizabeth C. Prophet with Annice Booth
Mary Magdalene and the Divine Feminine: Jesus’ Lost Teachings on Woman. Gardiner, MT: Summit University Press, 2005. pp. 197, 210


" . . . I, Saint Germain, need your call. As was said by Kuthumi, * during this season of Christmas I need the call of the faithful and the violet flame as never before to avert and turn back conspiracies working against humanity in this hour, against this nation and every nation.

"I ask for protection for America and its government. I ask for calls for protection of all governments of all free nations and the protection of the true sons and daughters of God who are the real representatives of the people wherever tyrants have raised their heads in the name of this or that
particular political persuasion.


* See Kuthumi, "The Light of Winter Solstice," Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 27, no. 58, p. 518, pars. 2-5; p. 519, pars. 1-3, 5; p. 520, par. 3; p. 523, par. 4.

Saint Germain

Cast Outworn Concepts of Self into the Sacred Fire

" . . . It is wondrous to know the infinity of God. Yes, it is wondrous to know his liberation and his dominion whereby you may move through the sun and the stars, visiting and revisiting earth, yet exploring new dimensions, expanding rings of awareness, until the eye can no longer see how
expansive is that circle of awareness that you carry in the Atman, in the seed of light. Yet that seed does not open, for you have not applied the necessary heat of sacred fire for the opening of that point of light, which is your immortality.

"This is a season of conclusions. This is an hour to contemplate: 'What shall I accomplish in the months and years to come? What may I conclude in the remaining hours of the year?' Prepare for the coming cycle by casting outworn concepts of self into the sacred fire . . .


Find Your Point of Attunement with God

"Seek well your point of attunement with God whereby the strength that is in you is married to the strength of God. Find this strength as a deep well within your being. Find it, beloved, for in finding it, you will conquer all things and you will conquer self. You will change the world and touch millions of souls."

Lanello
"In the Sanctuary of the Soul" December 24, 1996

Zarathustra, December 12, 1965

A Fiery Action of the Expanded Christ Consciousness

Most Blessed Devotees of the Mighty Threefold Flame of Life,

I come to you this holy season bearing glad tidings from the hierarchy. The Brotherhood in white, the Great White Brotherhood, has long recognized the aspirations of those who would be both good and holy in emulation of the strength of the Father. The deterrent factors in life have often held in check the noble aspirations that flow from the fountain of God’s flame within the hearts of men. Ambitions of a spiritual nature have remained unfulfilled. Wishful thinking has permeated the body politic of the religions of the planet, and the few have expressed the yearnings of the Spirit which should be forthcoming from the many.

It is the will of your beloved Jesus and the will of your beloved Saint Germain, it is the will of beloved Mother Mary, of the angelic hosts, of your beloved El Morya, Djwal Kul, and all who have to do with the release of the sacred fire to mankind to intensify in this coming year of crisis a fiery action of the expanded Christ consciousness for all.

It is not enough to leave mankind to bask (so to speak) in the flame of self-effort, but we must somehow manage to convey more of the fire of heaven through to the individual’s consciousness so that inspiration will come forth as a well within the fount of individual identity. To that end we provide herewith a prayer, charged with our radiance, and for the purpose of accomplishment in God’s name:


O mighty threefold flame of life,
Thou gift of God so pure,
Take my thoughts and energy
And make them all secure.

Under bond of brotherhood
And understanding fair,
Send thee forth unto my soul
The gift of holy prayer.

Communication’s strands of love,
How they woo by heaven’s law
A tender blessing for the good,
Releasing holy awe

That draws me near the throne of grace
To now behold thy sacred face
And without fear dispense aright
The passions of pure God-delight
Which set me free from all that’s been
The sinful nature of all men.

Christ, raise me to self-mastery,
The living passion of the free.
Determination, now arise
And lift me ever to the skies!

I AM, I AM, I AM
Enfolding life and being all
With the God-command
“Amen!” that shatters human pall.

I AM, I AM, I AM
The free—no bondage holds me back;
I AM the fullness of love’s law
Supplying every lack,
And consecration in full measure
Is my will and God’s own pleasure.

Saint Germain and Jesus dear,
Hold my hand with Morya’s here
And let the love of Mary then
Be the wings to raise all men.

Until they all unite in love
To serve that purpose from above
That comes to earth at any hour
Responding to the call of power;
Send thy shining wisdom then
That is God’s love
Expanded for all men.

I thank thee and I accept this done right now with full power. I AM this done right now with full power. This is the full manifestation of the law of Love that raises me to my eternal victory, now and forever!

Precious ones, use this prayer three times each day without fail, if you will; for the hierarchy has determined to charge into it a great God-release of assistance to all who will so do with sincerity.

Lovingly I AM, in the service of the living Christ,

Zarathustra

 





There really is a Santa Claus

I remember my first Christmas party with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No, Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. 'Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store was full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobbie Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.

Bobbie Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobbie Decker didn't have a cough, and he didn't have a coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with
growing excitement. I would buy Bobbie Decker a coat.

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.

"Yes," I replied shyly. "It's . . . for Bobbie." The nice lady smiled at me. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons, and write, "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus" on it—Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobbie Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and ran back to the safety of the bushes with Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobbie.

Forty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my grandma, in Bobbie Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were all on his team.




Caribou


Reindeer: The Truth Behind the Legend

Each Christmas season we hear the stories of the eight tiny, flying reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh all over the world in one night. But what made Santa choose reindeer to help him accomplish this feat? Wouldn't elephants, with their huge flappable ears, make a better choice? Okay, there's the weight factor, but what else makes reindeer the right choice for the jolly North Pole toymaker on his annual voyage? Read on to learn some of the secrets of the world's most famous deer.

Are Reindeer for Real?

While Prancer and Dancer and the gang are the stuff of legend, reindeer are not. These large deer live in northerly climes, in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Arctic. In Eurasia (and the North Pole) they are called reindeer and in North America more commonly caribou, but they are all the same species. The wild herds of Alaska and Canada are known for their mass migrations, while large numbers of those in Eurasia are domesticated, raised for fur, meat, milk, and as work animals. Whether you call them reindeer or caribou, one thing is certain: they are physically well suited to pull a sleigh full of toys and a right jolly old elf.

Questions and Antlers

We've seen the pictures and we know that Santa's reindeer—Dasher and Dancer and Blitzen and the rest—sport antlers. Does this mean that all of them (even Vixen?) are males? Not exactly—in fact, it almost means the opposite. Reindeer and caribou are unique among deer in that the females grow antlers, too. And even more interesting is the fact that the females retain their antlers from one spring till the next, while mature males shed their antlers in the fall—and are unadorned on Christmas Eve. So the creatures that pull Santa's sleigh must be females or youngsters. Of course, it's entirely possible that a male reindeer with the power to fly also has the power to keep his antlers through the holidays.

All-Terrain Feet

The all-terrain vehicle enables humans to traverse rough, muddy, snowy, or icy terrain. The caribou or reindeer has it beat: it has an all-terrain foot. The animal's remarkable hoof actually adapts itself to the season—becoming a sort of ice skate in the winter and sneaker in spring. The caribou of North America can run at speeds of almost 50 miles per hour and may travel 3,000 miles in a year. Luckily, the animal is helped along by its amazingly adaptable footpads. In the summer, when the tundra is soft and wet, the footpads become spongy like the soles of tennis shoes and provide extra traction. In the winter, when snow and ice coat the North, the pads shrink and firm up, while the rim of the hoof, like an ice skate's blade, bites into the ice and crusted snow to keep the animal from slipping. Sounds like the perfect footwear for an animal that needs to come to a flying stop on an ice-encrusted rooftop in the dark of the night!

Fur Float

Given its geographic preferences, a reindeer has to have a pretty warm coat. In fact, the coat has two layers of fur, a dense woolly undercoat and longer-haired overcoat. The outer coat consists of hollow, air-filled hairs that give the animal such buoyancy when it enters water that only the lower two-thirds of its body submerges. A caribou or reindeer swims with ease and good speed, and migrating herds will not hesitate to swim across a large lake or broad river. If Santa ever decides to take to the seas rather than the air, he is in good hands!




What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality, which the children could remember.

The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
Two turtledoves were the Old and New Testaments
Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit: Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
The ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments.
The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in The Apostles' Creed.

This is how that strange song became a Christmas Carol . . .

 

"Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man's nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God."—John Adams

Politically correct Christmas greeting card: "Happy Festivus."—Seinfeld


Translation for 140 languages by ALS


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