Christmas story
He also had - and always has and will have - a Heart, as big as the whole world. No heart can ever be bigger, no heart can ever be happier than His Heart. It felt and feels everything in the whole world.
There came a time, a long time ago, when the Heart spoke to the Father-King:
"Father, I would like to start a very long journey."
"Why then, my dear son?"
"You know that better than I do," said the Heart. "I feel the whole world in my heart ... and now there is always a little tear in my heart. That little tear is like a drop of dew in the early morning on a rose petal. It vibrates and sparkles with sadness. And it carries all the tears of the whole world!"
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When it will be summer again, ask your mom or dad to go outside very early and then you look at a rose petal and you'll see the morning dew - tears everywhere, even if it hasn't rained at all.
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Such a drop of dew lay like a tear on the Rose-Heart that was and always will be as big as the world.
"Where do you want to go on your journey?" asked the great, mighty, all-knowing Father-King.
"You know that as well as I do," said the Heart. "I want to go to the land of tears, where the human beings live, to dry their tears, to comfort them...'.
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You all know what it is, don't you, tears? They come when you're sad or angry or maybe a bit afraid. And grown-ups sometimes have tears too ... but they don't always show them....
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"Of course," said the Father-King and he let his big, dear Heart go to the people to dry their tears.
And that's why we are so happy at Christmas! Because what happened?
The Heart was looking for the sweetest and most beautiful and best young woman among the people and called her his mother! He joined her heart and was born as the Jesus child, very simply in a stable, with Mary and Joseph and with an ox and a donkey.
But there was a golden glow around the stable, a choir of joyful angels sang about the joy that the Heart was now beating in a human child, born of Mary ... and that it was so big and so sweet and so loving - and is and always will be - that it also beats in your heart and stays with you to put away your tears when you are sad or angry or perhaps a little afraid.
All the great people on earth - who can never be as great as the Father-King and His Heart - have cheered and rejoiced and celebrated when Christmas came - and comes and will come every year. And maybe, if you become grown-up yourself, and you are sad or angry or a little bit afraid - and of course you can't sit on mom or dad's lap anymore then, you will remember this story that is really true and you will feel in your sad, angry or frightened heart the tears like dewdrops but also the big sweet Heart that sweeps them away and dries them and comforts you.
To the grown-ups here tonight I would like to say: So the great artists have expressed their joy about Christmas and express and will always do so. And that is why we always play Johann Sebastian Bach's joy choir when we have dinner with the whole family on Christmas Eve:
Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf preiset die Tage
Rühmet, was heute der Höchste getan!