In I818, composer and organist, Franz Xaver Gruber, and lyricist, Father Joseph Mohr, worked together to produce what is probably one of the world’s most beloved Christmas carols. Part of the beautiful refrain we know as Silent Nightgoes like this, “Holy infant so tender and mild; Sleep in heavenly peace.”
In case you don’t already know the story, here’s a basic history of the carol. Gruber and Fr. Mohr collaborated to bring to the congregation a new song, one that could be sung at midnight mass, accompanied by a guitar instead of the traditional church organ. According to various accounts, it had recently been discovered that the organ was not working. Some accounts say that its innards had been eaten by rats, but whatever the cause, the men pooled their gifts and gave their congregation and the world this beautiful melodic version of the Christmas story. From the small Austrian town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg came what UNESCO declared in 2011 to be a tangible cultural heritage.
The thought of peace, let alone heavenly peace, has captured my heart and mind during these final days of 2016. Given the atrocities of Syria, the scourge of drug overdose deaths, the explosion of road-rage and gun-related killings and even the trials of every day living, my heart cries for His reign in our lives and our world. If I have a prayer for 2017 it would be this: “Come Lord Jesus, instil your heavenly peace in our individual hearts so that we would be agents of gentleness and reconciliation.”
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27
May your days and nights be filled with the peace of God.
