All today I've been watching Youtube clips of Irish TV ad breaks from the 1980s. I'm a sucker for nostalgia.
This one is particularly interesting for its "Night Light" Christmas Eve meditation, coming about two minutes and ten seconds into the clip. It is presented by a Fr. Martin Clarke, a typically bearded and typically avuncular eighties Roman Catholic cleric. (Sadly, I have just learned, he passed away a couple of years back. May he rest in peace.) He solemnly lights a candle at the beginning, talks about the Irish tradition of having a candle in the window on Christmas Eve, and straightforwardly remarks upon "our profound faith in Jesus Christ" as part of "our national character".
I may sometimes seem like a culture warrior on this blog (and elsewhere), but in truth I am deeply nostalgic for this kind of gentle, genial Catholicism. It certainly had its faults, but I think it implanted the seed of faith in my own soul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF4Fw_1_obQ
Very nice. I don't think many people actually do this now. I think I will start doing this on Christmas Eve myself.
ReplyDeleteJust don't burn the house down!
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