I  t  was Christmas Eve and the Lord looked down from above at all His
children. It had been nearly Two thousand  years since the birth of His son
 and turning to His youngest angel the Lord said: “Go down to the earth, and bring
back to me the one thing that best represents everything good that
has been done in the name of this day."
     The angel bowed to the Lord and spreading his wings, descended from heaven to the world
of man, all the while contemplating his mission. So much had been done in the name of
honoring the birth of the Christ Child. For this day, wars had temporarily ceased, cathedrals
had been built and great novels had been written. With so little time, what
could he possibly find to represent all this?
     As he soared above the earth, he suddenly  heard the sound  of church bells below.
Their tone was so beautiful that it reminded him of God.
Looking down, he saw a small church whose bells were ringing out the carol, Silent Night.
As the final note died away, it was replaced by one lone voice singing inside the church.
It was shortly joined by a second voice that embraced the first in perfect harmony, and
then another and another until a choir of voices rose through the night.
     Enchanted by the magic of what he was hearing, the angel found himself listening until
the song was finished. As he resumed his flight through the night, he was delighted to
hear these sounds everywhere,, from the largest cities to the smallest villages. He heard
 melodies from massive orchestras and in the voices of single soldiers alone at their post.
      And any place where he heard these songs, he found hope in the hearts of men.
Grasping a song out of the air, he held it in his hand (angels are able to do this) and
thought that maybe, these songs could be the one thing that best represented Christmas.
They seemed to give voice to man's greatest joys as well as hope to those deepest in despair.
     But, though at first glance it appeared to be the answer he sought, his heart told him
that this music alone was not enough. There had to be something more. So, he continued
his flight through the night until he suddenly felt the touch of a father's prayer on its way to
heaven. Once again looking downward, he saw a man who was praying for his child
whom he had not heard from in a long time and who would not be home that Christmas.
     Seizing upon the prayer, the angel followed it until it reached the lost child.
She was standing on a corner, in a quiet snowfall. looking very small in a very large city.
Across from her was an old bar, the kind that only the lost seemed to know to find.
The patrons of this establishment rarely looked up from their drinks and so seemed not
to notice the young  woman.
     Now the bartender in this bar had been  working in there longer than anyone could
remember. He believed in nothing except his bar and his cash register. He had never
married, never took a vacation and as a matter of fact, had never been seen out from
behind his counter by most of his patrons. He was there when they arrived and he  was
still there when they left. He gave no credit and for seventy-five cents. served shots of
un-watered whiskey to people who used their drinks like a moat around their lives, For
them, he provided a safe, unchanging world.
Suddenly,  the door opened  wide and into this world walked a small child. The bartender
could not remember the last time that a child had been in this place, but before he could
ask the child what he was doing there, the child asked him if he knew that there was a girl
outside their door who could not get home. Glancing out the window, he saw the girl
standing across the street. Turning back to the child, the bartender asked him how he
knew, this. The child replied: "That on this night of all nights, if one could be home,
they'd be already there."
    The bartender looked back toward the young ,woman as he reflected on  what the child
had said. After several seconds of thought, he slowly went over to the cash register and
removing most of the money, came out from behind the bar and followed the child across
the street.
     Everyone in the bar watched as he spoke to the girl. After a few moments, he called
over a cab, put the girl inside and told the driver: "J.F.K.Airport." As the cab pulled away
he looked around for the child, but the child was gone. And what was stranger still, even
though his own tracks leading from the bar were still clearly marked in the snow, the
child's were nowhere to be found.
    Returning back inside, he asked if anyone had seen where the child had gone but like
himself, no one had, for they also had been watching the departing cab. And then, some
would later say that the most miraculous thing of all happened, when for the rest of the night,
no one paid for a drink.
    Later that night, the angel returned back to heaven and placed in the Lord’s hand, the wish of
a soul for the happiness of another, And as the heaven looked on, the Lord smiled.
                                                                                    --Merry Christmas!