On the Night of Christmas (Laylat-al-Milad)
Lebanese Maronite Carol
Unknown composer, lyricist, and translator
When we offer a glass of water to a thirsty person, we are in Christmas
When we clothe a naked person with a gown of love, we are in Christmas
When we wipe the tears from weeping eyes, we are in Christmas
When we cushion a hopeless heart with love, we are in Christmas
On the night of Christmas, hatred will vanish
On the night of Christmas, the earth blooms
On the night of Christmas, war is buried
On the night of Christmas, love is born
Written in the 1980s when a civil war raged in Lebanon, the words in translation of this Arabic Christmas carol remain as timely as ever during the current genocidal conflict in Gaza. They remind us how the way of the Christ Child, born in an equally troubed time in this same blood-soaked region of the globe over two thousand years ago, is the way of compassion and love. In his mixed media drawing of The Virgin of Gaza, Egyptian Coptic Christian Artist Shenouda Esmat depicts the Mother of Christ as a mournful, majestic figure, who offers her son to us amid falling bombs in the Palestinian enclave as the Prince of Peace--an image Esmat dedicates to "the innocent children of Gaza in the hope of peace." (John Kohan)