CHRISTMAS 2023

25 – 30 DECEMBER 2023: HOLY MASS REFLECTIONS CHRISTMAS 2023   (REFLECTION 1) Christmas: A Culture of Giving Thrust: Give and love to give! Indicative: Christmas is not a matter of receiving but a matter of giving. It is not so much how many blessings, gifts, and happiness we receive at Christmas but how many blessings and happiness we give to others 1.       Very often, the joy of life is seen and measured in terms of receiving. People feel happier when they receive more. Many are accustomed to such a culture of receiving and getting. This leads to a harmful spirit of greed and avarice, deception, and corruption. 2.       This further results in grabbing, profiting, and accumulating. To such a society and culture, Christmas comes as a strong contrast and challenge because it is all about giving. The birth of Christ is a matter of giving! 3.       John 3. 16 very clearly affirms: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son as a ransom for the salvation of the world”. The birth of Christ as one of us, as human person, is the clearest sign of this spirit of love and giving. God loves us so much. That is why He gives His very self for our sake. That is why Phil 2.6 attests, “Even though Jesus is equal with God, yet he did not cling to his equality, as a thing to be grasped; rather he emptied himself”. 4.       God gives us his presence, his solidarity, and his closeness. He gives our life the lost dignity, the lost vigour, the lost joy. He embraces our fragile human nature. Thereby God shows clearly that our human life is not something despicable and miserable. 5.       It is something beautiful and honourable. We may fail and fall to sin. But We can be raised. For this, by sharing our human life, he wants to give us back that divine life lost due to sin. 6.       Through his birth on earth, he gives us the greatest assurance that he is Emmanuel, God-is-with us. He never abandons us however weak and imperfect we are. He gives us his light to dispel the shades of darkness. He gives us his energy to make us more vibrant. He gives us his healing to make us sane and healthy. 7.       He gives us his guidance to lead us on the right path. He gives us his comfort to boost our drooping spirits. He gives us his support to raise us up. He gives us his power to rejuvenate our dull hearts. He gives us his courage to cast away the tides of fear and discouragement. He gives us peace amidst all trouble and turmoil. He gives us his own joy to shatter the pangs of pain and sadness. 8.       His whole life has been an unceasing act of giving. He gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, walking to the lame, healing to the leprous and paralysed, and life to the dead. He gives good news to the downcast. 9.       As the culmination of all this giving, he gives us his own life, his total self on the cross. He gives us himself totally to the extent of dying. He washes away our sinfulness through his own blood. Thereby, he gives us a mighty share in his own eternal life. 10.   Therefore, Christmas becomes grand not only with our exchange of gifts, decorations, food, and drink celebrations. Such grandness will be only short-lived, limited to a few hours or days. But the joy of Christmas will be deep and last long if we imbibe the same spirit of Christmas. 11.   So relive the spirit of love and giving. Learn to give. Give your time, your love, your talents, your energies, your resources, your goodness, your patience, your gentleness, your tenderness, your warmth, your understanding, your forgiveness, your appreciation, and your encouragement. Give your very self. 12.   Give generously! Give lovingly! Give trustingly! Give willingly! Give promptly! Give wholeheartedly! Give generously! Give joyfully! Give humbly! Give magnanimously! This will be a real Christmas! Imperative: Our celebrations become meaningful only when we are truly imbued with the spirit of loving and giving. This is the only fitting remedy to the maladies of the world!   (REFLECTION 2): Christmas: Celebrate Life   Thrust: Celebrate Life! Indicative: The Christmas celebration is not just a commemoration of a past event of the birth of Christ. It is the rebirth of divinity among the humanity   1.      Christmas is indeed a feast of joy! But where is that spirit of Christmas? Battered by fears, shattered by afflictions, tormented by temptations, fragmented by divisions, intimidated by the power of Satan and dominated by the force of evil, tested by falsity and dishonesty and exhausted by the fierce struggle against sin, cowed down by corona – 2.      Many have lost the spirit of Christmas. Precisely it is in this context that we should celebrate Christmas. We should rediscover, recapture and relive the lost spirit of Christmas. 3.       First of all, it is a birthday celebration. Our Saviour Lord is born. It is the celebration of a new life: a new babe is born on earth. A new life has erupted. This is the very meaning and purpose of the birth of Christ. 4.       It is not merely the birth of another human. Rather it is the birth of a new humanity. In his birth, we see the “rebirth” of humanity tainted and fainted by sin. Therefore, Christ being born would firmly imply that we must be constantly reborn. 5.       Usually, any birthday is a matter of that person being born, what he should become, how he should grow, et cetera. But the birth of Christ is a matter totally different. If he is born, the question is: what must happen to others, how others should grow, what they should become. Thus, the birth of Christ is a challenge for the rebirth of all. 6.       His birth is a call to live life to the full, to celebrate it with joy. This means we must foster a culture of life. We must insert into it a little more life-sap, energies and gifts, and enthusiasm and assiduity. 7.       It is not just remembering that God was born but reminding ourselves that we must be reborn. Christ's birth will be just another piece of history unless it makes a pass into my own story. 8.       Sadly, we are surrounded and tormented by a viral and vicious circle of death. From day to night, we see and experience the evil effects of such a culture of death. This shows itself in all the forces that block, suffocate and harm the value, beauty, energy, and joy of living. 9.       The increasing spirit of grudge and revenge, hostility and hatred, aggression and violence, death and destruction make life devalued, ugly, vulnerable, and burdensome. Life is dying! 10.   Christ’s birth then is a new birth of beautification against all disfiguration, a resurgence of dignity and honour, recharging with new vigour and enthusiasm, a refilling of joy against all bouts of pain and suffering. 11.   His birth must breathe new life into a life that has lost its rhythm and charm. Therefore, the only way to celebrate Christ’s birth meaningfully and joyfully is to live reborn. The more we live lives with value, beauty, energy, and joy, the more the purpose of Christ’s birth is fulfilled.   Imperative: The whole mystery of incarnation becomes relevant when it is not only a memory of the birth of Christ but the rebirth of everyone. It is the incarnation into our life of the same spirit of incarnate Christ.   26 DECEMBER 2023: ACTS 6. 8-10; 7. 54-59; MATTHEW 10. 17-22, FEAST OF ST STEPHEN Thrust: Love lives and dies for the beloved! Indicative: True love transforms the whole person and life. One who loves the Lord lives for him and dies for the sake of the same love 1.      In the Christmas Octave, immediately after the holy Christmas, on the 26th we celebrate the feast of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He was stoned to death. His confession of faith in the Lord was misconstrued as blasphemy. Consequently, he was killed according to Jewish law. 2.      Does it not look odd that soon after the greatest birth of the Saviour, there is a death? It is perfectly right because, for us believers, death for God is life to heaven. Death for the sake of faith and love is a birth in heaven. That is why we usually celebrate the death days of the saints as the feast days. 3.      Stephen’s martyrdom is the logical consequence of his faith. It is the greatest sign of witness to his passionate love and unswerving loyalty to the Lord. His death bears testimony to the intensity of his commitment. His death shows how much he loved the Lord, and how he lived for him. 4.      His death was not just a one-time happening. His death synthesises one whole life of witness. As we are told, he was already one of the seven deacons who shared the burden of the apostles in serving the community. 5.      He was “filled with faith and the Holy Spirit”. He was “full of grace and power”. He “was doing great wonders and signs among the people”. He was filled with the Wisdom of the Spirit that no one could “withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking”. 6.      He was filled with the fortitude of the Spirit that nothing could frighten or intimidate his loyalty to the Lord. Even in the face of death, about to be stoned, he would gaze into heaven and see the glory of God”. 7.      He confided totally in the words of his Master, who said, “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you”. 8.      He was fully imbued with the Spirit of his Master and he imitates him even in death. He forgives his enemies during his dying moments, just like his Master and Lord. His love for the Lord fills him with wisdom and courage to face suffering and death as an honour and grace.   Imperative: Passionate love for God is seen in a witnessing life. It is a life that lives wisely, courageously, and mercifully.   (Reflection 2)   Focus: When one experiences the love and power of God, nothing will deter him from bearing witness to Him. Love is so powerful that not even death can hold it back   1.      Stephen was the first martyr as a follower of Christ. It is so interesting and inspiring. With Christmas, Christ from heaven is born on earth. With his martyrdom, Stephen is born from earth to heaven. 2.      Stephen was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. He was chosen to be one of the seven deacons and was totally dedicated to the service of the early church. What marks him is not only his personal qualities and virtue, not also his services. 3.      It is much more his deep personal experience and bonding with the Lord. He had a passionate love for the Lord. It is this which makes him unswervingly loyal to him, even to the point of death for his sake. 4.      His passion and loyalty are such that he is totally imbued with the very same spirit of Jesus. This makes him imitate Jesus in forgiving even his enemies during his dying moments. His love for the Lord fills him with wisdom and courage to face suffering and death as an honour and grace. 5.      One can vividly see a deep passion for the Lord in Stephen. But Passion for the Lord is not a matter of feeling or devotion, but much more. It is giving topmost priority to Jesus, and loving him as the greatest treasure. 6.      It is to cling to him, come what may. It is to be deeply convinced that there is nothing greater than him, not even life. It is to imitate his virtues. It is to follow him even to the extent of death. It is to bear witness to him, with unflinching zeal and courage. One who is not ready to die for Christ, cannot live for him.   Direction: It is not a fate of misery but a grace of glory, if only we can suffer something for God and good. Suffering for God and good is nothing detestable but honourable.   27 DECEMBER 2023: 1 JOHN 1. 1-4; JOHN 20. 1-8, ST JOHN THE APOSTLE Focus: Contagious Love! Indicative: True Love is so contagious that it touches and transforms all and whole. If only everyone tries to be a little more affected by this positive contagion, people will become more sane and healthy 1.      The celebration of Christmas is a celebration of love. During this Christmas octave, we continue to be under its powerful spell. Joy is dancing around vibrating in the whole atmosphere. This love continues to surround us as we celebrate the feast of John, the beloved disciple. This is a dominant and significant qualification that is given of him. He is “the apostle of love”. And he is one who draws our focus on God as Love. 2.      It is a love that is rooted in a very deep personal intimacy with the Lord. This is very evident in John’s words in his first letter in the first reading: “We have seen with our eyes, we have heard, we have looked upon and touched with our hands. Consequently, there is also a mission that is to proclaim to others the same Lord and word of life and testify to it. 3.      There is also a clear purpose: so that others too may have fellowship with us because we ourselves have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And that our joy may be complete. 4.      Thus, the picture is complete: there is an intense passionate love for the Lord. This manifests in inseparable intimacy. This personal communion leads to a committed mission of bearing witness to him in word, both proclaimed and written and life example. 5.      This should be so for every believer and follower of the Lord. Love the Lord and be loved by him. This feeling, experience and relationship of loving the Lord and being loved by him, fosters the most profound warmth, confidence, vibrancy, joy and commitment, leading to a life of love and witness. This is what is seen in St John.   Imperative: We need not do extraordinary things for God. Just love Him and love passionately and it will do the rest.   (Reflection 2) Thrust: Long live Love! Indicative: The birth of Jesus is God’s visible testimony of His love for us in sensitivity and solidarity. Our fitting response is to receive and live this love   1.      The Christmas mood still hovers over us during this Christmas Octave. The celebration of John’s feast once again strongly reminds us of Christmas as Love-feast. God loves us so much and so He gives His only Son as His most precious and incomparable gift to us. 2.      Our birth is already a gift from God. The life that we enjoy is a share, an extension of His very life. But God is not satisfied with that. He wants to show it much more directly and intensely. That is why He incarnates His only Son. He takes our flesh. He is born as one of us. Thus, the birth of Christ is the “fullness of life”, a “heightening of our birth”. 3.      His birth is the greatest testimony of his sensitivity toward our sinful life and his solidarity with us. When our life gets tainted by sin and loses the fullness of life, he becomes like us. Thereby he wants to remove those stains. He wants to restore us to our original beauty and dignity. 4.      St John, the Apostle of love whose feast we celebrate today indicates how we must receive this “birthing love” of God amidst us and how we must respond to it. If you want to experience and relish this incarnate love of God, then incarnate the same love in and through us. 5.      This implies a double duty and challenge: first of all, to experience personally his love and then share the same with others. How did John experience Jesus’ love personally? He stayed and lived with him in intimacy and inseparable communion. 6.      This sense of intimacy is so deeply manifest in his intimate and personal expressions. He could say confidently and convincingly: “The life was made manifest, and we have heard it, we have seen with our eyes, and we have looked upon and touched with our hands”. 7.      This personal experience of the Life of God leads to a duty to “testify to it and proclaim to others”. This implies it is a twofold mission: in word and life. The whole purpose is to promote and foster the same “fellowship with the Father and the Son” through the Spirit. 8.      That is what St John did. He bore witness to that love that he himself experienced, by word, both proclaimed and written and by his life example. He lived a life of love.   Imperative: We can experience the abundant love of God only when we try to live in an intimate relationship with him and bear testimony to it in word and deed   28 DECEMBER 2023: 1 JOHN 1.5 – 2.2; MATTHEW 2. 13-18, HOLY INNOCENTS   Focus: Love that dies but lives on! Indicative: True love dies for the sake of the loved one. It is better to die for love rather than live in hatred 1.      On 28th December we commemorate the death of the holy innocents. It looks strange that soon after the greatest birthday at Christmas we celebrate a series of deaths, of St Stephen on the 26th and today on the 28th, the holy innocents, on the 29th, St Thomas Becket and on the 30th, St Anysia. 2.      Their death in fact is a birth to heaven. God came down from heaven so that we can go to heaven. He shared in our human life so that we can share in his eternal life. He became like us in our human misery so that we become like him in his divine glory. Every martyrdom for the sake of Christ is a new birth, a rebirth into heaven. 3.      The children below two years of age get killed by Herod. It was a part of his desperate attempt to terminate the child Jesus. The newborn, the prophesied messiah would be a threat to his power and authority. His wrong understanding of the messiah and his clinging to power lead him to this merciless murderous act. The children become the helpless victims of his cruelty. 4.      Why did Herod act so? The first reading from 1 John gives us the answer. It is because the light of God is not in him. He walks in darkness. He does not live according to the truth. He is steeped in a false life. He has no fellowship with God or with others. 5.      On one hand, Herod stands before us as a negative example and on the other hand, the innocent children as a positive example. Herod serves as a caution for us not to walk in the darkness of sin or falsity, not to go against our fellowship with God and others and not to do harm to others. 6.      The innocent children show us that life is meaningful and meritorious to live and even to die for the sake of Christ. Even though they did not die consciously and out of a free choice, what is important is that their life was offering on behalf of Christ. By their death in the place of Jesus, they in a way “saved” and “spared” the life of the Savor, the giver of life himself. 7.      This also indicates that any suffering in the name of Christ, for his sake and on his behalf, whether voluntary or forced, whether conscious or unconscious, is certainly meritorious and rewarding. God needs all of us and each one of us can help God in our own little way in fulfilling his holy designs. Imperative: In life, the reasons for all the problems and sufferings may not be always clear and reasonable. But it is always better to live through them in a spirit of forbearance and courage (Reflection 2) Thrust: Love bears witness! Indicative: God loves us unconditionally and so He subjects himself to the limitations and vicissitudes of the human condition. Thereby our life should be an act of unconditional love for him 1.      We remember today the death of the holy Innocents. King Herod kills all male children of two years or under. It was the height of his cruelty out of desperation and power-mongering. He perceived a potential threat to his throne in the newborn Messiah. He wanted to decimate the would-be king already at birth itself. 2.      In fact, this shows the devastating inhumanity and wickedness of Herod. It is totally beyond bounds. First of all, there was no need to kill all the male children. It would be enough to identify the child Jesus and kill him only. 3.      Secondly, there was no need to kill all two-years or below because clearly Jesus just born would not be two-years old or just below. Thirdly, there was no need to be in such a mighty hurry to kill Jesus because he would not grab his throne immediately as an infant himself. 4.      Finally, such cruelty was utterly senseless and purposeless. What is the use of killing all the other children just for the sake of one child? What does he gain from such a massive massacre? It was more an act out of frustration and fury. It was a repugnant reaction leading to violence and destruction. 5.      We need not content and absolve ourselves with cursing Herod. There are many Herods today. They act like Herod whenever they give vent to heartless and merciless anger and fury, aggression and violence, harm and destruction. They are more than Herod when they act inhumanly and treacherously for the sake of power and position. 6.      Perhaps, there are also Herods who kill unborn babies for various reasons. One may argue and justify such acts in the garbs of modernity and unbridled freedom and choice. But in the heart of conscience, nothing can be a pretext for such inhuman cruelty. 7.      We get the reason for this “Herod-ness”. This “herodness” happens when one has no light of God in him, has no fellowship with God, no cleansing from sin, and thus walks in darkness. There are traces of a “herodic” mentality in every one of us. 8.      Today’s innocent children show us a contrast to Herod. Herod destroys life. These children ‘save’ and ‘sustain’ life by dying “in the place” and “for the sake” of Jesus. The point here is not why the innocent should die for Jesus for no fault of theirs. 9.      The death of the holy innocents also indicates that we need not do great and extraordinary things to show our fidelity to the Lord. Even in our littleness, even in our silence, even in and through our unrecognised and insignificant lives, we can “protect” and “safeguard” the life and values of Christ. 10.  This can be very indicative of our own reality. It is a fact that a numberless suffer and die innocently and unjustly. Perhaps at times unconsciously we ourselves may be the causes and agents of it. Are we aware of it? What do we do in the face of innocent suffering? What are our efforts to alleviate such pain and injustice? Imperative: The holy Innocents died so that the Saviour could escape death and live on so as to give life to many. What do I do to ‘shield’ the Lord and promote life 29 DECEMBER 2023: 1 JOHN 2. 3-11; LUKE 2. 22-35   Focus: Truth is truthfulness Indicative: Truth is not merely a matter of intellect and commandment is not merely a matter of legality. For us as the followers of Christ, knowing the truth and following commandments is a matter of faithful life 1.      For many, knowing is only an intellectual capacity and exercise. There is no guarantee that such knowledge affects and changes the life of a person. But for us, the disciples of Christ, knowing is believing and living, abiding in him and following. That is why, St John in the first reading attests that the test for knowing God is to follow his commandments. 2.      Now what are these commandments? Loving God and loving the other. This is the only way to know and follow the truth. One who does not follow this double-pronged love, is not in truth and is a liar. Further, this is the only way to know the light and walk in the light. Jesus is the light and one who does not know and believe and follow him, is not in the light. 3.      If one is truly walking in the light, that is following Jesus, then it must be shown and testified by his love for his brother. Therefore, knowing, believing, abiding in the truth and walking in the light are all essentially connected to loving God and loving the other. 4.      The beauty of the Word of God is that concepts like truth and light are understood in terms of experience, relationship, loyalty and commitment. They are not conceptual or abstract. They are always in reference to Christ. That is why Simeon, a righteous and devout person who encounters the child Jesus in the temple at his purification ceremony, blesses and declares Christ to be the light of all. 5.      The purification and presentation of Jesus as per the Jewish custom is not merely a fulfilment of the custom, but much more a symbolic act. His presentation symbolizes his self-offering for humanity. His purification indicates the purification of the sin-infected humanity. This purification in terms of truth and light would mean abiding in truth and walking in the light. In other words, it means to be faithful to Christ and to love the other. 6.      Those who are with Christ and for Christ will certainly be pierced by a sword of sorrow like Mary. She became a sharer in the divine plan of salvation along with her Son. Therefore she becomes also a partaker of his own struggle against falsity and darkness. Imperative:  Christ is both the truth and the light. He calls for a truthful and authentic life. He also gives us the light to see the path and walk it. Such a life in concrete implies a life of devotion and righteousness like Simeon and a sword of suffering like Mary (Reflection 2) Thrust: Light in darkness! Indicative: The Lord is born for us and amidst us. He is the light that dispels darkness. He is the truth that disperses the shades of falsity. Those who believe him must live in light and truth 1.      In today’s gospel, we have the purification ceremony of Jesus. This has two symbolic aspects: one is, the self-offering to God and the other is the purification of the offered. By offering the child in the temple to God, the child is symbolically offered and surrendered to God. And as offered to God, the child needs to be constantly purified and remain pure. Only thus, what is offered becomes a worthy offering. 2.      In the case of Jesus, in no way he needs this ceremony. Because there is no need to offer him to God. His very birth is a great act of self-offering to God. He is already and always offered and surrendered to God. Besides, there is absolutely no need for purification because he is the purest and the holiest Son of God. 3.      However, born as a human, he fulfils the human requirements. And this ceremony is necessary because it is symbolic and pre-figurative. This purification ritual shows that he came to us as an offering from God and his whole life will be a total offering and sacrifice to God. Further, through this self-offering and self-immolation, he will bring about the purification of all. 4.      Now we will be purified and pure if we too make ourselves worthy offerings to God. How to do so? The first reading gives us some simple guidelines. They are namely, Know him. Love him. Live in him. Follow his commandments. That would mean: Abide in truth. Walk in his light. Love the other. 5.      If we say that Christ is born for us and he is our Saviour but we do not allow him to live in us and save us, then we are lying. If we say that Christ is the light and our light and he dispels our darkness but walk and stumble in darkness, then we are not yet lighted. If we say that we love him but do not love the other, then his love does not abide in us. 6.      Therefore, we need to become like Simeon who waits patiently for the encounter with the Lord. For this, he lives a whole life of preparation in being “righteous and devout”. Further, we need to become like our sweetest Mother Mary who allows a “sword to pierce through her soul” all through her life. That is, to live a life of surrender to God’s will which will surely bring forth a sword of suffering and affliction. Imperative: Knowing God is not something intellectual or conceptual. This is a knowing that is perfected in loving, experiencing, and living worthily 30 DECEMBER 2023: 1 JOHN 2. 12-17; LUKE 2. 36-40 Focus: When love declines! Indicative: Many may wonder why the love for God is declining rapidly even though knowledge and capacities are increasing. The only reason is that love for the world is increasing at jet speed. 1.      Many do not realize that love for God and love for the world are not compatible. Love for the world does not mean simply living in the world. It is being tainted by the false values and deviating and destructive spirit of the world. It is being enslaved to the evil one. It is being driven by the sexual and sensual desires and urges. It is being arrogant. 2.      Naturally, these are contrary to our love for God and take us away from God. If so, then each person, according to his age and stage of life must fight against such pulls and pressures of the world. 3.      That is why John in the first reading addresses each category, like the children, the fathers, and the young. He has specific directives for each. The children ought to know the Father, especially his forgiveness. The fathers too ought to know the Father, especially in his eternity. The young people must be strong, abide in the word of God and overcome evil. 4.      Whatever be the directives directed to each section, what is common and binding on all is to love God and resist the love for the world. Know God, Overcome evil and do always the will of God. Anna, the prophetess in the gospel, stands as a model for such perseverance and fidelity to God. 5.      After the death of her husband after 7 years of married life, till 84 she has totally dedicated her life to the service of the temple and worship of God. Nothing of the world could attract and deviate her. She was full of love for God and was obedient to him with prayer and fasting night and day. 6.      Child Jesus himself is presented as an example of how to live our life. He grew, became strong, and filled with wisdom. The favour of God was upon him. This is how each one must live. We must grow constantly stronger and stronger, in wisdom and being pleasing to God. Imperative: Do you want to win God’s favour? Then, love him, do his will, do what pleases him, abide in his word and overcome evil. Rise above the pressures of the flesh and senses (Reflection 2)   Focus: A true Christian life is one, centred around God, and is different to the world.   1.      CHRIST came into the world, to revive the life that is infected by sin. But it will be effective only if we are fully open and responsive. We need to guard ourselves against the evil forces and standards of the world. 2.      We need to grow in the knowledge and experience of God. We need to cultivate the right values. Our age and stage may be different, as John in the first reading addresses children, the young and the fathers. The duties and the capacities of each section may be different. 3.      But our grace is the same, our salvation is the same, and our faith demands are also the same. All without exception are called not to love the world and to be trapped by its snares. This implies that we should guard against the craving of the flesh, the greed of the senses and the arrogance to dominate and to feel superior. 4.      Instead, we need to love the Father, consistently strive to do His will, allow the word of God to live in us, and overcome evil. Further, like Anna, in the gospel, we need to focus our attention always on God and centre our daily life around the temple. 5.      Serving God in personal presence, in prayer, in spiritual activities, and transmitting God's love and mercy to others is the fitting way to continue the spirit of Christmas.   Direction: We belong to God and so we shall not long for what belongs to the world. The more we fall in love with the world, the more we will be fallen