Once upon a time, Good King Wenceslas went out one wintry eve to deliver wood, food and wine to a poor man he had seen gathering wood for fuel that stormy night. His old page’s strength began to flag, and yet


In this season of raging storms within and without, what can we warm our hearts by, from this Christmas tale, now in its 129^th year? The vitality of this story suggests there is deeper meaning than simply a good deed by a remarkable fellow. Perhaps it’s about footprints: warm footprints in the snow.

Our footprints are never in front of us, only behind. What better image of one whose life is a blessing to others and to the world, than warm footprints in the snow? Such a one faces life, whether raging storm or bright vista, not for himself or herself, but for something far more, something that lives in each one.

It is this nobility that has in times past characterize professions and crafts. There, in the old-fashioned physician and lawyer and craftsman, for example, was someone you could count on – someone who would put your interests ahead of his or her own, by virtue of their calling. Here was someone you could trust. I have known and do still know such people. And I long for that to characterize the professions today.

It is not about sacrifice – seeing oneself giving up something of value. Seeing our ordinary acts as a giving up implies a moral superiority. And it is not about it getting wealth or power for oneself. Seeing one’s daily acts as justified taking, implies a superior entitlement. Instead, it is about integrating life-affirming values based on a recognition that ‘you are as important to me as I am to myself.’ (Reconciliation Prayer, NAICR web site)

We choose our manner of daily life -- whether it is heartful or mindless. We choose lenses focused on self-interest, or larger interest. And we leave footprints – those that nourish and warm those in our wake, or those that stink.

I know now that our way of being in life has meaning. How each day is lived counts in the balance of our soul and in the balance of love and fear in the world. If every step we take is heartful, our footprints provide nourishment and warmth for those that follow us.

When we take a step in heartfulness, we see more clearly how we have been avoiding what we really, actually know about ourselves and our way of being in the world. As each layer of illusion comes off, our authenticity grows, and our footsteps warm up. There is enjoyment in each step – whatever the pain -- when the burden of illusion is lightened. And there is freedom. In darkest times, it is for us enough – to know that this freedom is there.

King Wenceslas ruled Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic, for a short period in the early 10^th Century. According to legend, a certain oak tree standing near the castle of his birth was watered with his baby bath water. The tree still stands now, 1000 years later.

In his lifetime, he was known to be personally caring of the poor and to have entered into mortal combat to save his subjects a war. After his murder at the hands of followers of his brother who then became king, his relics became associated with miracles and he is still honored as a saint. The folk tale was immortalized in the Christmas carol, Good King Wenceslas, by the Englishman, John Mason Neale.

                                      ^© NAICR 2002

Good King Wenceslas

Good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel.
“Hither, page, and stand by me, if you know it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain,
Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes’ fountain.”
“Bring me food and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither,
You and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither.”
Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together,
Through the cold wind’s wild lament and the bitter weather.
“Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger,
Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page, tread now in them boldly,
You shall find the winter’s rage freeze your blood less coldly.”
In his master’s steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed.
Therefore, every one, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,
You who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing.

The Meaning of Gift will be explored in two 55 minute TelePrograms, December 23 and 26, 2002. Join us.

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