{"id":452,"date":"2013-12-20T13:40:16","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T12:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/?p=452"},"modified":"2013-12-20T13:40:16","modified_gmt":"2013-12-20T12:40:16","slug":"merry-christmas-a-christmas-tale-of-our-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/2013\/12\/20\/merry-christmas-a-christmas-tale-of-our-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry Christmas &#8211; Feliz Navidad &#8211; A Christmas tale of our time &#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p><em><strong><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-content\/uploads\/22776_Laske_Flucht_300.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-456\" style=\"margin: 15px;\" title=\"Escape to Egypt\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-content\/uploads\/22776_Laske_Flucht_300-300x221.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wonders of the World<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">(&#8211;&gt; <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">en espa\u00f1ol v\u00e9ase m\u00e1s adelante)<\/span><\/span><strong><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">It is Advent and we look at a school class somewhere in the middle of Europe. At the weekend there was a program on TV: \u201cThe Wonders of the World\u201d and the teacher had asked the children to watch it if it were possible. Nearly all of them had followed the invitation and at school they talked intensively about the glory, immensity and wonder of what they had seen. Therefore the teacher asked the children to make a personal list of the items that impressed them most.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Only after a short time most of them had finished their list and the ranking was exratordinary:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">The pyramids of Gizeh, Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\"><!--more-->As the teacher collected the notes she recognized that a girl was still writing. She was a shy and quiet girl, who hardly ever played with the other children during the breaks. Her parents were foreigners but they had immigrated a long time ago and the girl was raised bilingually. Besides her taciturnity she was curious and interested in everything. As she normally had no problems at school the teacher came to her and asked her if she had any difficulties with the ranking list.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">The girl was so preoccupied with her work that she startled as the teacher was with her suddenly. She folded the sheet of paper and told the teacher: \u201cIt is very difficult for me to make the right decision because there are so many miracles but which is a pure one?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">The teacher was very astonished and encouraged her to present her selections. And she invited the class mates to help her with the decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">She hesitated shortly but then she started grittily: \u201cThat are my wonders:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">To see, hear, touch each other, smell and feel and to laugh \u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">\u2026 to love and be loved. To have a home and a family \u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">To go to school or for a walk without fear \u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">To drink tape water without getting sick!\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Suddenly, at one go it was totally quiet in the classroom. These trivial things that everybody took as granted and did not hold in respect often, those should be extraordinary? The other children looked at each other perplexed and dump. Even the teacher could not evade that sudden confrontation with these extraordinary miracles and stayed like electrified at the same place for seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">After a few moments of silence she asked the girl how she conceived those miracles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Then the girl began to tell her story: \u201cIn the country I was born all those things are not ordinary. There are many children who are blind or deaf in consequence of war, poverty, crime and disease. At the streets and on the fields there is nothing of good aura. We lived in permanent fear of gangs and people of the military. Our home was a half blown up flat in the second floor of a former noble town house. Our relatives lived in an area that was controlled by another armed gang, visiting them was life-threatening and therefore impossible. Water was only available on special days when there were no fights and the water transport could pass.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">One evening I recognized that my mother had been very hectic and very tense the hole day long and also both of my elder brothers behaved different. My father was absent since the evening before and all were troubled. And then everything developed rapidly. A man picked us up and packed us into a lorry together with rubbish. For a long time we drove over bumpy roads without knowing where we are and where we are going. Then the car stopped, it was still dark. We were told to be quiet and to follow a foreign woman into the dark. For hours we walked on unknown paths surrounded by semi- dessert. Now and then strange noise could be heard in a distance and each time they had to hide and only continued walking on the instruction of that strange woman. Long after sunrise we arrived at a tent camp. There all of a sudden our father was with us again \u2013 we were filled with joy. But that did not last for long. He told us that we could never ever return to our home \u2013we would be killed then. Before we could realize everything we were put into another larger truck. The journey took days without being allowed to step out only once. Our limbs hurt and my brother and I were on the edge of a nervous breakdown as the car stopped at last and we had to leave the truck. The driver told us the direction we had to go and ordered not to stop before reaching a village. There we should go to the police station and my father would know what to do then.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">In that way we had to flee \u2013 nearly as the Holy Family. I had to think of them all the time of our elopement. When I was miserable and sad I prayed to Baby Jesus for us to stay healthy and find a new home. By that intimate talk Baby Jesus became a nearly and lively friend to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">In that way the Christmas story of the Holy family has got a very particular significance for the girl and her family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Then the teacher and the other pupils began to understand that the most precious things in life are those that cannot be bought or manufactured \u2013 and much of what for them was considered as obvious and what is not worth talking about, for another large number of people in the world it is much of what may be lost. And not least consider that a little story in a big book can become a real Salvation for somebody.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>SPANISH<\/p>\n<h2><i>Maravillas del mundo <\/i><\/h2>\n<p><i>Es Adviento y nos fijamos en una clase de la escuela en alg\u00fan lugar en medio de Europa. El fin de semana hubo un programa en la televisi\u00f3n: &#8220;Las maravillas del mundo&#8221; y el maestro hab\u00eda pedido a los ni\u00f1os verlo si fuera posible. Casi todos ellos hab\u00edan seguido la invitaci\u00f3n y en la escuela hablaban intensamente de la gloria, la inmensidad y la admiraci\u00f3n de lo que hab\u00edan visto. Por lo tanto, el profesor pidi\u00f3 a los ni\u00f1os hacer una lista personal de los elementos que les impresion\u00f3 m\u00e1s. <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>S\u00f3lo despu\u00e9s de un corto tiempo la mayor\u00eda de ellos hab\u00eda terminado su lista y el ranking fue extraordinario: las pir\u00e1mides de Gizeh en Egipto, el Taj Mahal en la India, el Gran Ca\u00f1\u00f3n de Colorado y as\u00ed sucesivamente. <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Cuando el profesor recogi\u00f3 las notas se dio cuenta que una ni\u00f1a todav\u00eda estaba escribiendo. Era una joven t\u00edmida y tranquila, que casi nunca jugaba con los otros ni\u00f1os durante los recreos. Sus padres eran extranjeros pero hab\u00edan inmigrado hace mucho tiempo y la ni\u00f1a fue educada biling\u00fce. Adem\u00e1s de su silencio era curiosa e interesada en todo. Como ella normalmente no ten\u00eda ning\u00fan problema en la escuela el maestro vino a ella y le pregunt\u00f3 si ten\u00eda alguna dificultad ordenando la lista.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>La ni\u00f1a estaba tan concentrada con su trabajo que se sorprendi\u00f3 cuando vio al maestro de repente delante de ella. Ella dobl\u00f3 la hoja de papel y dijo el maestro: &#8220;Es muy dif\u00edcil para m\u00ed tomar la decisi\u00f3n correcta, porque hay tantos milagros, \u00a0pero \u00bfcu\u00e1l es el m\u00e1s puro de todos?&#8221;? El profesor estaba muy asombrado y le anim\u00f3 a presentar a los de su sal\u00f3n su selecci\u00f3n. Y ella invit\u00f3 a los compa\u00f1eros de clase para ayudarla con la decisi\u00f3n. Ella dud\u00f3 un poco pero luego empez\u00f3 a decir entre dientes: &#8220;estas son mis maravillas: poder ver, o\u00edr, tocar unos a otros, oler y sentir y re\u00edr&#8230;&#8230; poder amar y ser amado. Tener un hogar y una familia&#8230; Ir a la escuela o dar un paseo sin miedo&#8230; Beber agua del grifo sin enfermarse! &#8220;De repente, se hizo un gran silencio en el sal\u00f3n de clases. \u00bfEstas cosas triviales que todos sienten como garantizadas y muy\u00a0 a menudo no son recibidas con respeto, son cosas que deban ser extraordinarias? Los otros ni\u00f1os se vieron mutuamente perplejos. <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Incluso el profesor no pudo evadir esa confrontaci\u00f3n repentina con estos milagros extraordinarios y se qued\u00f3 como electrificado en el mismo lugar por segundos. Despu\u00e9s de unos momentos de silencio pidi\u00f3 a la chica que explicara c\u00f3mo ella concibi\u00f3 esos milagros. Entonces la ni\u00f1a empez\u00f3 a contar su historia: &#8220;en el pa\u00eds donde nac\u00ed todas esas cosas no son normales. Hay muchos ni\u00f1os que son ciegos o sordos como consecuencia de la guerra, pobreza, delincuencia y enfermedad. En las calles y en los campos no hay nada que tenga una buena impresi\u00f3n. Vivimos en permanente miedo entre pandillas y personas de las fuerzas armadas. Nuestra casa estaba en el segundo piso de una antigua casa noble medio destruida por bombardeos. Nuestros parientes viv\u00edan en un \u00e1rea que era controlada por otra banda armada.\u00a0 Visitarlos era peligroso para nuestras vidas y por lo tanto, imposible. El agua s\u00f3lo estaba disponible en d\u00edas especiales, cuando no hab\u00eda peleas y podr\u00eda pasar el transporte de agua.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Una tarde vi que mi mam\u00e1 hab\u00eda estado muy agitada y muy tensa durante todo el d\u00eda y tambi\u00e9n dos de mis hermanos mayores se comportaron diferente. Mi pap\u00e1 estuvo ausente desde la noche anterior y todos estaban preocupados. Y entonces todo ocurri\u00f3 r\u00e1pidamente. Un hombre nos recogi\u00f3 y nos meti\u00f3 en un cami\u00f3n junto con basura. Durante mucho tiempo viajamos sobre caminos con huecos sin saber d\u00f3nde estabamos y ad\u00f3nde nos dirig\u00edamos. Despu\u00e9s el cami\u00f3n se detuvo cuando todav\u00eda estaba oscuro. Nos dijeron que nos mantuvi\u00e9ramos callados y sigui\u00e9ramos a una mujer extranjera hacia la oscuridad. Caminamos durante horas por senderos desconocidos rodeados de semi-desiertos. Se o\u00edan ruidos extra\u00f1os de vez en cuando a la distancia y en cada ocasi\u00f3n tuvimos que escondernos y s\u00f3lo continuamos caminando bajo las instrucciones de esa extra\u00f1a mujer. Mucho tiempo despu\u00e9s del amanecer, llegamos a un campamento. All\u00ed de repente nuestro padre estaba otra vez con nosotros\u2013 nos llen\u00f3 de alegr\u00eda. Pero eso no dur\u00f3 mucho tiempo. Nos dijo que nunca podr\u00edamos volver a nuestro hogar porque ser\u00edamos asesinados. <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Antes de que pudi\u00e9ramos darnos cuenta de lo que pasaba nos subieron en otro cami\u00f3n m\u00e1s grande. El viaje dur\u00f3 d\u00edas sin poder salir ni una sola vez. Nos dol\u00edan las piernas y mi hermano y yo est\u00e1bamos al borde de un colapso nervioso cuando el cami\u00f3n finalmente se detuvo y tuvimos que bajarnos. El piloto nos dijo la direcci\u00f3n que deb\u00edamos seguir a pie y nos ordenaron no pararnos hasta llegar a un pueblo. Ah\u00ed deber\u00edamos ir a la estaci\u00f3n de polic\u00eda y mi padre sabr\u00eda qu\u00e9 hacer all\u00ed. <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>En ese sentido, tuvimos que huir, \u00a0casi como la Sagrada Familia (Jes\u00fas, Mar\u00eda y Jos\u00e9 huyeron a Egipto perseguidos por el ejercito del Cesar). Tuve que pensar en ellos todo el tiempo del traslado. Cuando me sent\u00eda triste y miserable, rec\u00e9 al Ni\u00f1o Dios por nosotros para mantenernos saludables y encontrar un nuevo hogar. Por esa conversaci\u00f3n \u00edntima, el Ni\u00f1o Jes\u00fas se convirti\u00f3 para m\u00ed en un amigo cercano y vivo.&#8221; <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>En esa forma la historia de Navidad de la Sagrada Familia tiene un significado muy particular para la ni\u00f1a y su familia.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>El profesor y los otros alumnos comenzaron a entender que las cosas m\u00e1s valiosas en la vida son aquellas que no pueden ser compradas o fabricadas \u2013 y gran parte de lo que para ellos era considerado como obvio y de lo que no vale la pena hablar, para otro gran n\u00famero de personas en el mundo es mucho de lo que pueden perder. <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Y no menos importante, considerar que una peque\u00f1a historia en un libro, pueda convertirse en Salvaci\u00f3n para algunos.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-content\/uploads\/Christmas_GC13_1280_x_1024.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-459\" alt=\"Christmas_GC13_(1280_x_1024)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-content\/uploads\/Christmas_GC13_1280_x_1024.jpg\" width=\"714\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wonders of the World (&#8211;&gt; en espa\u00f1ol v\u00e9ase m\u00e1s adelante) It is Advent and we look at a school class somewhere in the middle of Europe. At the weekend there was a program on TV: \u201cThe Wonders of the World\u201d &hellip;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/2013\/12\/20\/merry-christmas-a-christmas-tale-of-our-time\/\"><span class=\"btn btn-default\">Continue Reading<span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-news"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laysalvatorians.org\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}