A time to renew hope,
One hundred years ago, our predecessors on this page contemplated the state of the world with understandable trepidation. On Christmas Eve of 1916 they looked out upon a landscape of conflict, danger and death.
As Christmas approached, the pages of the Toronto Daily Star were full of dire news from all corners of the globe. From Europe came the daily lists of dead and wounded as the First World War consumed a generation of young men. Fifty thousand men from Toronto had gone off to fight. By Christmas of 1916, the toll of the “fallen” had reached 2,150, a sobering number in a city many times smaller than the metropolis of today.
But the Star at that time refused to give in to despair, as the editorial that follows this one makes clear. At the very lowest point of the bloodiest war the world had known until then, at a time when the outcome was far from clear, it found reasons to cling to hope.
The news this Christmastime is also grim. War rages in a far-off land; children are suffering and desperate families seek refuge from political strife. In some places they find welcome; in too many others, doors are slammed in their faces.
Closer to home, fear does seem to have triumphed over hope, at least for the moment. A great nation has chosen a path that is leading it towards the rocks of suspicion, selfishness and anger. Its people are more divided than they have been in a very long time.
On the face of it, there are plenty of reasons to look forward with dread. Yet we can learn from those who came before and refuse to surrender to the temptation of hopelessness.
That is, after all, the essence of the message that Christmas brings each year. It comes at a time on the calendar when, in the northern climes at least, the world is growing colder and the light is fading, a time that tests the resolve of the bravest souls.
And then, round about the traditional date for the birth of Jesus, the cycle turns and the light begins to return. Just a few seconds each day at the beginning, but steadily and surely the days grow longer and it becomes possible to believe that our world will be reborn once more.
His birth heralded that annual miracle of renewal, of the triumph of life over death, of hope over despair. No matter what tragedies await us across the globe or down the street, Christmastime announces the power of possibilities, of futures yet to be fulfilled or even imagined.
Some years we may have to work a bit harder at believing fully in the Christmas miracle. This year may be one of them, when the news sections of the paper are filled with such dire tidings.
Still, even there we can find inspiration. The ordeals of migrants in the Middle East and elsewhere, for example, clearly parallel the troubled journey of Christ’s own family, fleeing a tyrant and seeking refuge in a humble dwelling.
We can respond with generosity and an open heart, as many Canadians have done this past year, when strangers appear on our doorstep looking to build new lives among us. This is more than just good politics. As Pope Francis pointed out in a timely tweet this week, it’s in tune with the most fundamental message of the Christmas story. “Welcoming the other,” he said, “means welcoming God in person.”
It’s worth pausing for a moment amidst the bustle of the season to reflect on that message. The days before Christmas may be the busiest of the year, when families rush about to make sure everything is just so on the big day, but we should also make time for a bit of quiet reflection.
With that comes a realization that faith in renewed light and eternal hope are the best antidote to the trauma of the daily headlines. On Christmas, of all days, take the long view — as those who came before us did.