Peace: the best definition of Peace I know is Live and Let Live. For, as we say, in this time of year…the Child of Love is born on a silent night, a holy night… a Child of Love who is the Master of Peace, who ever teaches those who ‘are as lonely as an owl on the ridgepole’ with no one to speak to.
We are learning too, via science, what the old women have always said is so: Peacefulness, is also a powerful medicine under our control, in order for the health of heart and circulatory system and other vital organs, as peace allows the cells to relax instead of being tense to the point of strangulating the pathways for blood, nutrients to flow easily to all the cells, to wash the organs with life-giving water without being occluded.
In the song below, the Child of Love is spoken about as flowing with being ‘tender and mild.’ The word Mild in this nearly 200 year old German song, Stille Nacht, Silent Night, however does not mean being a doormat. Mild in its original meaning means being slow to rise to confrontation, not seeking it, nor retaliating against meaningless blather… instead being wise and gentle.
And within that idea too, peace in the heart allows the singing voice to soar and flow… such as in the magnificent contralto Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, (click on link below) who sang all her life under the racist Jim Crow rules, and was denied many venues in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s because of the dark color of her skin, and her race… what back then was called Negro and Colored.
When her vinyl records were blocked by unpeacable people, and thence did not sell well– made worse commercially because she refused to leave her sacred songs and spirituals to sing pop music instead… she headed to beautician school and graduated so she could earn a living while continuing her heart calling: singing.
The last six years of her life she lived under the new civil rights laws in the US. Yet, throughout her life, she was known for being gently candid, kind toward the unpeacable, and strong with peace toward all.
Many of us grew up hearing her sing via the record player cum radio in our parents’ living rooms and we were imprinted by Miss Mahalia’s deep, beautiful voice. Here she is, singing Silent Night, Holy Night.
Silent Night,
Holy Night.
All is Calm.
All is Bright.
‘Round yon Virgin.
Mother and Child.
Holy Infant.
So Tender and Mild.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace.
Rest now, and Peace be with you all.
Cristo nacio!
from Dr.E