Christmas is essentially identified with the sweet and wholesome things of home life. The whole story, as recorded in the second chapter of St. Luke's Gospel (which, doubtless, is the most widely known story in the world), finds its heart and center in the homely scenes of domestic life. Remote in time and place as the incidents of this story are, they have a conspicuous place in every literature, in the inspiration of poetry, painting and music, and even in our rather gray and modern world they bring color and beauty to charm and stimulate us. Even when the world has been hardened by suffering and pain; even when the nations were engaged in a mighty struggle, this idyllic story occupied the thoughts of men.

It is an interesting fact that, however coarse and hardened men and women may be by the stern circumstances of life, there is that in every nature that is responsive to the simple, homely story that relates the scenes and incidents in which the mother and the child occupy the chief place. It may be that life's normal yearnings for renewal, for a return to the early days before it was disillusioned and distracted by mishap and misfortune, is the reason why Christmas, of all days in the year, makes its unique appeal.

What effect the brief narrative contained in the second chapter of St. Luke and in the second chapter of St. Matthew has had upon the world, its thought and its philosophy it would be impossible to state, for certainly its softening influence has mellowed and enriched human life, evoked a kindlier spirit and moved men to noble and generous impulses beyond any narrative the world contains.

What a setting, what picturesque characters, what beauty of circumstance this immortal story presents: Visiting magi from foreign parts, shepherds in the field by night keeping watch over their flocks, a chanting angel choir with its glorious message of peace and good will, the lowly stable with whispering and bewildered peasants and at the heart of it all a young mother with her first-born child! It is little wonder that Raphael put all his amazing genius into his world-famed pictures of the Madonna .

In the heart of the mother are elements that are essentially divine. There is deep significance in the passage: "All they that heard wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds, but Mary, kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." What were her reflections on that eventful night is not told; her thoughts were too deep for words to express.

So the world comes again to another Christmastide . It is a bewildered and distracted world, but this scene in Bethlehem of the mother and child calls it away from its doubts and speculations, its anxious concern for its material values, its economic and fiscal programs, its cares and worries, and bids it think deeply of these more enduring and precious things that the mother of Christ pondered and thought upon, and that have to do with the finer and more indispensable things of life. The rich sentiment contained in the Christmas story has to do with the deeper, sweeter and more wholesome things of life. It speaks of peace and good will among men. It reminds us that the things that concern motherhood and childhood are the most vital in life. It puts the emphasis upon values that outweigh all our material treasures. It awakens for us impulses and emotions that have to do with life's choicest gifts and blessings - yes, it rejuvenates and refreshes, and lifts us above the sordid, the mean and the unwholesome ways of living. Joy and peace, these are the key words of this immortal glory - may they have a new meaning for the world on this latest Christmas day.