"Tenth Avenue Angel" with Angela Lansbury and Margaret O'Brien (1948)

Looking for a great Christmas film? You just found one. It begins in the late summer of 1936 in New York City and winds up on Christmas Eve at midnight. Something went wrong with the upload, so use this link instead.....https://youtu.be/SruIpM523RM?si=W3tJLcFnKumowZFK

Eight-year-old Flavia (Margaret O'Brien) lives in a New York tenement during the Great Depression with her mother Helen (Phyllis Thaxter), and father Joe (Warner Anderson), who's nearly broke and needs a job. Her aunt Susan (Angela Lansbury) lives with them, too. Flavia's thrilled because her aunt's sweetheart, Steve (George Murphy), is returning from a one-year absence. The little girl is unaware that Steve has been in jail for racketeering. She has been told he was a sailor on a long voyage

Flavia lives in a world built around fantasies and white lies told to her by her mother and Aunt. For instance, when she sees a mouse and is afraid, her mother tells her a story that if you catch a mouse and make a wish, it will turn into money. 

In the midst of the Depression everybody's desperate for money. Flavia's mother Helen is pregnant and faces physical complications. Steve is unable to get his old job back, driving a taxi. His  gangster friends offer him a quick job stealing a truck, but Steve's conscience gets the better of him at the last minute and he backs out.

This leads Flavia to catch a mouse, which she hides in a cigar box in an alley near Mac (the blind newspaper man's) stand. She wants the money to buy Steve a taxi cab of his own. Christmas Eve is now fast approaching. 

Two neighborhood youths rob "Blind" Mac (Rhys Williams) and, by coincidence, hide the money in the girl's box after finding it and throwing out the mouse. Flavia then returns and finds that the mouse really has turned into money! She is overjoyed; until the adults accuse her of stealing it from Blind Mac. Her mother has to tell her the truth about the story and Flavia realizes that so many things she has been told are "lies". This leads her to a crisis of faith. 

Her mother is having a rough time in the last stages of her pregnancy and, in an effort to give Flavia back her faith that all will be well, tells her another "story" about how on Christmas Eve all cows kneel at midnight in homage to Jesus' birth, just as in the scene of the Manger. Flavia is desperate to believe this, but assumes it to be just another "lie". 

Still, in desperation for her Mom, she tries to find a kneeling cow in New York City on Christmas Eve. It is now approaching midnight; and the last few minutes of the film. She heads to the railroad by the meat market to find one out the "truth" before it's too late. Her whole world now depends on finding out if cows really do kneel, or if this is just another "lie." 

This is a delightful, and well written drama about a young girl's search to have her faith restored. Along the way she discovers that life is really made up of a balance between truth and faith. And when the church bells ring at midnight; all is revealed.

"The Night of the Meek" with Art Carney (December 23, 1960)

Art Carney shines in this contemporary Christmas story from Rod Serling. It aired on this date in 1960 and I actually watched it on TV. I was 6 years old. Although it shows a department store Santa in the raw it did nothing to shake my belief in Santa. That wouldn’t happen until a few years later.

Mr. Carney plays Henry Corwin, an alcoholic Santa who is jaded in his belief when it comes to miracles. He doesn't particularly like being a department store Santa; he knows it’s all a fake; but he needs the money to buy his liquor.

When he arrives late for the holiday crowd he is fired by the store manager, a man named Dundee. He leaves the store declaring that if he had just one wish, it would be to see the Meek inherit the Earth. When he tries returning to his place at the bar he is refused service and ridiculed as a lush by the owner.

When he finds himself in the alley behind the bar he discovers a burlap sack; not unlike the one which Santa carries. The sack has a unique quality; it produces whatever is wished for. Corwin now roams the neighborhood, giving out gifts. When the department store manager sees this he concludes that Corwin has been stealing from the store and has him arrested. But when the officer and the manager reach into the bag they only get garbage for their efforts.

Exasperated, the officer and Dundee agree that they have to let him go free; but not before Corwin gives them each a gift from his magic sack. The two are flummoxed and as he leaves they are scratching their heads in disbelief. But it’s not over until it’s over; and I won’t spoil the ending of this in case you have never seen it. Suffice to say that Corwin gets his wish for the Meek to Inherit the Earth.

The Virgin of Charity of El Cobre

When the Pope visits Cuba this week he will be stopping by the Iglesia El Cobre Santiago de Cuba, pictured here, where the Virgin of Charity has a shrine. This shrine has a long history in Cuba, dating back over 400 years. The story is quite simple; the Virgin of Charity is a statue of the Virgin Mary (La Virgen de la Caridad) located in the town of El Cobre, just outside the mining town of Santiago. This shrine is probably the single most important religious place in all of Cuba. Our Lady of Charity is also called by the name of Our Lady of Cobre, and is the patroness of Cuba. Reading of the Pope's visit to Cuba this week and of his planned visit to this site sent me looking for more information about it.

The basilica, where the shrine is housed, is known as the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Charity, or Basílica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre in Spanish. It was built in 1926 and is located in El Cobre, where a feast is held in the Virgins honor each September 8th. Although the history behind the Virgin of Charity goes back over 4 centuries, she was first declared the Patron Saint of Cuba in 1916 by the Pope.

In 1550 El Cobre was a Spanish copper mine. It was manned by native Indians and slaves, whom the Spanish had brought with them. 58 years later, in 1608, around the same time as we were establishing the first colonies in America, 2 Indian children, Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos, and their slave, Juan Moreno, set out to the Bay of Nipe for salt. It was there that they saw a small statue of the Virgin Mary floating in the water near the mine. She was carrying a gold cross along with the Baby Jesus. Both the statue and the cross were attached to a board which was inscribed "Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad", or, "I am the Virgin of Charity", in English.

Since the church in El Cobre at the time was dedicated to St. James, the patron of the Conquest, the statue was stored in a thatched hut, not in the church. It was perceived by the Spanish as a threat capable of inspiring faith in the slaves. It had the potential of making them feel as if better days were coming. But something strange happened to the Virgin in exile from the church.

For three nights in a row the statue vanished from the hut, always to be found atop the hill which overlooks El Cobre. For the next 22 years she would be housed in a series of small shrines made by the local inhabitants of the town in order to protect her. Many people believe that the Virgin actually chose the spot atop the hill in Oriente where the Cubans first began their revolt against their Spanish conquerors.

In 1630 the mines were closed and the slaves were freed. The Virgin then took its place above the statue of St. James in the church, a fitting tribute of hope to the victims of the Spanish conquerors. The Cuban people believe that the Virgin has interceded on their behalf many times since then, most notably in 1731; the year before our own George Washington was even born; as a symbol of emancipation at a time when slavery was being re-introduced to the island. Her intervention, and success, in preventing the practice of slavery in Cuba spread her reputation, and devotion, from one end of the island to the other. It is a fact that in this place, Oriente, the first settlement in Cuba was made; the town of Baracoa; and it was also in Oriente where the slaves were set free for good in 1868. Pretty big accomplishments for such a small statue.

Finally, in 1916, at the behest of the Veterans of the Cuban War for Independence, Our Lady of Charity was made the patroness of Cuba by Pope Benedict XV in 1916. Pope Paul VI elevated her sanctuary to the status of a Basilica in 1977. Each year, in September, a procession is held honoring the Virgin. The statue is carefully removed from the sanctuary and paraded through the streets, much as the Feast of St. Gennaro is celebrated in New York's Little Italy, as well as in Naples, Italy. Whether you believe in these things, or not, they provide hope to oppressed peoples all around the world. And sometimes, hope is all that we, and they, have.

Happy Chanukah!

Happy Chanukah! Tonight is the first of eight nights of celebration commemorating the Miracle of the Lights. Literally, Chanukah means a re-dedication. This always takes place on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev. The story behind the holiday is, of course, like Christmas, biblical in it's origins. The actual events took place over 2,000 years ago in Judea amongst the Hebrew people of the time.

The Jews were the first mono-theists, that is, they were the first to believe in one God. To honor him they built a temple on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem. Inside were the scrolls of the Torah, which were housed in an Ark. That Ark stood on an Altar which also held a lamp of oil burning in God's honor. This was a symbol of the special relationship the Jews felt with their Creator.

At the same time as the Hebrew people were worshipping their God, Alexander the Great was busy conquering the entire Persian Empire, an area that includes present day Iran, Iraq and the surrounding states. Wherever Alexander the Great went he erected huge statues of the Greek idols. He also placed statues of himself in every important place to show that these countries were under his rule.

At first Alexander allowed the Jews to worship their God with little interference, but that soon came to an end. When the Jews were ordered to place a statue of Alexander the Great on Mt. Moriah, they were horrified! Alexander understood this and allowed the Jews an exemption to this rule, and grateful Jews everywhere named their first born sons Alexander in his honor.

When Alexander died, Antiochus came into power. He was an unforgiving and determined man, hell bent on putting the Jews in their place. He forbid the Jews to worship in their own way and outlawed the Sabbath. Things might have gone on in this way for a while longer had Antiochus not made one crucial mistake.

On the 25th of Kislev, he ordered his troops to bring a statue of Zeus to Mt. Moriah for placement inside of the temple. And then he did the unthinkable - he slaughtered a pig on the Altar, spraying the Torah with the blood of the animal as he did. He then set out in the countryside, erecting more statues and demanding that the people worship them. This was not to be.

A local villager named Mattathias, knocked the statues down and formed his 5 sons into a band of rebels he named the "Maccabees", which means hammer in Hebrew. Soon, more Jews joined Mattathias and his sons, attacking the soldiers and destroying the idols. Antiochus was in a full blown rage at this affront to his supremacy and gathered his army outside of Jerusalem, intent on destroying the Jews once and for all.

At dawn his troops attacked, and were ambushed by the waiting "Maccabees." The people took refuge in the Temple atop Mt. Moriah and repaired all the damage that Antiochus had done to the Altar. Three years later, on the same date, the 25th of Kislev, the Temple was re-dedicated to God. The only problem was, of course, a shortage of oil for the lamp. With a prayer, the Holy Priest poured one days oil into the lamp, and then prayed for the light to last until new oil could be obtained.

That one day's worth of oil burned for 8 days, sustaining the faith of a battered people. And that is why we commemorate this event every 25th of Kislev. There is miracle in light, as well as light in every miracle. Happy Chanukah to all!