On
Christmas Eve, DECEMBER 24, 1492, Columbus' ship, the Santa Maria, ran
aground on the island of Haiti. Columbus left 40 men and named the
settlement la Navidad, promising to return the next year.
On
Christmas Eve, DECEMBER 24, 1777, Captain James Cook discovered
Christmas Island, the largest atoll in the Pacific, where he observed
eclipse of the sun.
On Christmas Eve, DECEMBER 24, 1946, President Harry S Truman lit the National Christmas Tree, saying:
"Our...hopes
of future years turn to a little town in the hills of Judea where on a
winter's night two thousand years ago the prophecy of Isaiah was
fulfilled.
Shepherds
keeping the watch by night over their flock heard the glad tidings of
great joy from the angels of the Lord singing, 'Glory to God in the
Highest and on Earth, peace, good will toward men.'
The message of Bethlehem best sums up our hopes tonight.
If
we as a nation, and the other nations of the world, will accept it, the
star of faith will guide us into the place of peace as it did the
shepherds on that day of Christ's birth long ago."
The next year, on Christmas Eve, DECEMBER 24, 1947, President Truman lit the National Community Christmas Tree, stating:
"Down
the ages from the first Christmas through all the years of nineteen
centuries, mankind in its weary pilgrimage through a changing world has
been...strengthened by the message of Christmas.
The angels sang for joy at the first Christmas in faraway Bethlehem.
Their song has echoed through the corridors of time and will continue to sustain the heart of man through eternity...
A humble man and woman had gone up from Galilee out of the City of Nazareth to Bethlehem...
St.
Luke's brief chronicle that Mary 'brought forth her firstborn son,
wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because
there was no room for them in the inn'...
At this point in the world's history, the words of St. Paul have greater significance than ever before.
He said: 'And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.'"
On Christmas Eve, DECEMBER 24, 1948, President Truman lit the National Community Christmas Tree and stated:
"The moving event of the first Christmas was the bringing forth of the first born in the stable in Bethlehem.
There began in humble surroundings the home life of the Holy Family glorified in song...down through the centuries...
With one accord we receive with joy...the message of the first Christmas...
What could be more appropriate than for all of us to dedicate ourselves to the cause of peace on this Holy Night..."
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Truman continued:
"The
religion which came to the world heralded by the song of the Angels has
endured for nineteen centuries...It remains today the world's best hope
for peace if the world will accept its fundamental teaching that all
men are brothers.
'God that made the world and all things
therein...hath made of one blood all nations of man for to dwell on all
the face of the earth.'
In the spirit of that message from the Acts of the Apostles, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas."
On Christmas Eve, DECEMBER 24, 1949, President Harry S Truman lit the National Christmas Tree, stating:
"The
first Christmas had its beginning in the coming of a Little
Child...Through that child love...the love of the Holy Family could be
shared by the whole human family...
I have been reading again in
our family Bible some of the passages which foretold this night. It was
that grand old seer Isaiah who prophesied in the Old Testament the
sublime event which found fulfillment almost 2,000 years ago.
Just
as Isaiah foresaw the coming of Christ, so another battler for the
Lord, St. Paul, summed up the law and the prophets in a glorification of
love which he exalts even above both faith and hope.
We miss the spirit of Christmas if we consider the Incarnation...a far-off event unrelated to our present problems.
We
miss the purpose of Christ's birth if we do not accept it as a living
link which joins us together in spirit as children of the everliving and
true God.
In love alone - the love of God and the love of man -
will be found the solution of all the ills which afflict the world
today...
With increasing purpose, emerges the great message of Christianity...
In
the spirit of the Christ Child - as little children with joy in our
hearts and peace in our souls - let us, as a nation, dedicate ourselves
anew to the love of our fellowmen...the message of the Child of
Bethlehem, the real meaning of Christmas."
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On Christmas Eve, DECEMBER 24, 1952, President Harry S Truman lit the National Community Christmas Tree, stating:
"As
we light this National Christmas tree tonight, here on the White House
lawn - as all of us light our own Christmas trees in our own homes - we
remember another night long ago.
Then a Child was born in a
stable. A star hovered over, drawing wise men from afar. Shepherds, in a
field, heard angels singing...That was the first Christmas and it was
God's great gift to us...
Year after year it brings peace and tranquility to troubled hearts in a troubled world.
And tonight the earth seems hushed, as we turn to the old, old story of how
'God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'
Let
us remember always to try to act and live in the spirit of the Prince
of Peace. He bore in His heart no hate and no malice-nothing but love
for all mankind. We should try as nearly as we can to follow His
example...
We believe that all men are truly the children of God. As we worship at this Christmastide, let us worship in this spirit...
Through Jesus Christ the world will yet be a better and a fairer place...
I
wish for all of you a Christmas filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
and many years of future happiness with the peace of God reigning upon
this earth."
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