O Key of David

There's this guy Aleem Maqbool who's walking from Nazareth to Bethlehem (about 120 km). He keeps a blog with BBC and you can follow his trekking as he follows the footsteps of Joseph and Mary to the place where Christ was born. Check it out! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7789479.stm

Today's antiphon is "O Key of David":
O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

The antiphon combines the thought of Isaiah 22:22 and 42:7 to remind us all history, all events are in the hands of God; and what God desires most is to release us from imprisonment. Imprisonment from what? greed? money? selfishness? pride?

Another Christmas present today from me to you - a beautiful song to teach us what Christmas is all about - "Christmas shoes" - which began as an internet story that spread and touched many people, developing later into a song, then written as a novel, then made into a film and play. Listen to it:
http://www.minibite.com/christmas/christmas/shoes.htm
The film plot interweaves two different stories:
The 1st story involves Maggie Andrews, a young music teacher who is terminally ill (the result of heart failure), and her son Nathan (who tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies, and who collects empty cans to raise the money).
The 2nd story involves Robert Layton, a lawyer whose marriage to his wife Kate is failing (the matter comes to a head during Christmas, when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir and declines a job in Robert's firm); when Robert's mother passes away, he begins to reconsider how his life is going.
Robert's and Nathan's paths cross on Christmas Eve at a local shoe store. Nathan learns that he is five dollars short of the money needed to buy his mother the shoes. Nathan begins crying, where upon Robert gives Nathan the money needed to complete the purchase. Nathan is thus able to buy the shoes for his mother and give them to her before she dies.
The story to many people teaches the meaning of Christmas that it is not just about the presents; its about other people and caring about them, sharing the love God has for us.