Noël! Noël! Noël!

THE SPIRIT

Christmas recalls to us the birth on earth of the King of Heaven. The King of Kings, infinitely powerful and rich, came upon earth in a state bordering almost on that of abject poverty. He, Himself, freely chose this condition in order to teach us a lesson.

A cold stable in the lonely countryside,.A small and feeble child. For a cradle, the manger of animals, completely lacking all the frills and ornaments with which we decorate the cribs of our children.

A father. A mother. The cattle in the stable.

Of material wealth, none. This was the birth of a God. A birth completely bare of any but the most essential material needs. A God considers material wealth as nothing. What a great lesson for us, the great materialists of the twentieth century; we who place so much importance in material possessions.

The greatest conquering force in the history of man, God, has wished to accomplish His great victory without temporal power, without material wealth.

Why then should we place so much of our faith and hope in what is purely material? This is not the lesson of Chrstmas given us by the Infant of Bethlehem. Let us, at the foot of the Child's crib, meditate upon the nothingness of that which is materialistic.

Let us ask the grace to believe in the spirit and the power of what comes from the spiritual.

Our Social Credit movement is based on this lesson. It is the strength of the spirit, the spiritual force which counts in the balance. But even us Crediters have not sufficient faith in the power of the spirit. We lack confidence in the very lessons which our movement strives to instill in others. Each crediter ought to be, and can be, a spiritual force. And an active Crediter doubles and redoubles the power of that spiritual force.

Let us, at the foot of the Christmas cradle learn once and for all the great lesson of the only true power, that of the spirit!

CHARITY

In the stable at Bethlehem, by the side of God become human babe, there was a father and a mother. That was love. God did not disdain the love of a father and a mother. And God become man took unto himself as His first and greatest richess, the love of a father and a mother.

If we say that the power of the spirit is infinitely greater than the power of what is purely material, then what shall we say of love, of charity?

The spirit is a force, but it can be used to destroy, to wreak what is harmful upon others, as we see in the lands which lie under the iron heel of the Communist tyranny. When hatred directs the force of the spirit, then suffering and misery and darkness reign.

But when love, charity, is the guiding force of the spirit, then there follows creation, there comes life and joy and happiness wheresoever such a spirit works.

There is nothing greater or more powerful than the strength of love, for it is the very strength of God Himself.

Crediters, let us ask of the Infant Jesus, of Mary and Joseph, the grace to understand fully what the spirit of love and charity can accomplish. May it inspire our every act as Crediters, for in this fashion, every slightest work, every act which we might do towards the realization of the principles of our movement, will have an effect far beyond anything we had ever calculated.

No act of charity is ever in vain. And if charity motivates our work as Crediters, then how can our work fail?

Noel, Christmas, gives us the grand lesson of faith in the spirit and faith in the spirit of charity. If only the men of 1959 could understand this lesson of Christmas, what miracles could be wrought. And in particular, what prodigious feats our own Crediters might accomplish for the realization of a Social Credit civilization, a truly Christian life for all men!

May this Christmas be for each and every one of you the happiest and finest of all Christmases!