Thanks to Fr Hugh Harkin SMA for bringing this to our attention and for providing the information here, which is suitable for this time, as we look towards Christmas.
The poem below is obviously inspired by the character Tiny Tim, from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, a novel that also made famous the characters of Ebenezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim’s much maligned father. The poem was written by an unknown person who signed themselves as T.J.P. It was published, 86 years ago, in the December edition of the 1939 African Missionary Magazine.
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He was also a journalist and entertainer. In 1858 Dickens came to Ireland, performing shows in Belfast, Dublin and Cork. He did three shows at the Athenaeus Theatre, Cork – the precursor of the present-day Cork Opera House. During these shows he brought Ebenezer Scrooge to life, describing him as “a swaggering, wretched, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner”. Dickens said it was the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31) that inspired him to write A Christmas Carol. A Christmas Carol is about the conversion of the miser Scrooge, who was a “hard and sharp old flint”. He was totally devoted to making money. He was a mean old man who had no time for charity of any kind. His accounting clerk was Bob Cratchit whom he underpaid and treated harshly. Bob was the father of an invalid son called Tim – Tiny Tim. A Christmas Carol recounts a threefold visit of the Ghost of Christmas to Scrooge after which he completely changes his lifestyle to showing mercy, compassion and friendship. It is a story that gives food for through and reflection as to how we live our lives. |
He was a little feeble child,
and full of care and pain,
But yet with blithesome heart he sang
His simple Christmas strain.
God Bless us all, cried Tiny Tim
God Bless us, every one:
So too, we pray, this holy day,
God bless us, every one.
The sat around their humble board
In Christmas mirth and glee;
In every truth, though low their lot,
A pleasant group to see.
And Tiny Tim’s poor pallid face
With light and beauty shone,
And looking at them all he cried,
God bless us, every one.
Another Christmas Day came round,
And Tiny Tim lay dead;
Yet as they deck’t his simple bier,
They scarce could think him fled,
Upon them still the little face
With kindly presence shone,
For still they seemed to hear him pray,
God bless us, every one.
Though many a place be vacant now,
Though dim be many an eye,
Which erst the Christmas chimes might greet,
In gladness flitting by;
A golden light comes gleaming down
From dear ones who are gone,
As pray we now, with Tiny Tim
God bless us, every one. T.JP
Last month we celebrated the feasts of All Saints and All Souls, a time when we prayed for and recalled those who have gone before us and those who gave great witness to faith and inspiring examples of faith lived. As Christmas approaches, we remember and give thanks to God for the happy times we had with family and friends who are now gone. Christmas is also the time of new life, Christ’s birth, God becoming man and the gifting of eternal life to those marked with the sign of faith.
In these weeks of Advent, as we prepare to celebrate this great time of family and friends, may we use our time well. Let us remember with thanks for those gone before us and, among those we live with, may we be bringers of kindness, peace, joy and blessing. God Bless us, every one.