If You Don't Like This Post Blame My Son, But He's So Cute You Wouldn't Want Too.

Not my son, but he's just as cute!

Where's my motivation?  I lost it somewhere, perhaps behind the sofa or maybe the closet.  No... the closet is to messy, it must be behind the sofa.  No, not the sofa.  I did find some Cheerios through.  How long have those been there?  Maybe my son hid it in the organ petal, because that's where he hides important things like car keys, rosaries and my library card.  Nope, not there.  I guess I'll just have to motivate myself.

For the past couple of weeks, my son has been walking around the house, with his belly slightly protruding, saying "Wenceslas."  Mind you he is only 20 months and he's probably trying to say applesauce, but I think I'll take this word and run with it.  Sometimes you just have to take inspiration wherever you can get it.  Besides, my son is so cute when he's saying it.

While the name may be hard to pronounce, many people are familiar with the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas."  Written in 1853 by John Mason Neale, it is the only carol that doesn't mention the nativity, the incarnation of Christ, nothing.  Below are the lyrics, hum and sing it, but don't leave just yet.

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
Gath'ring winter fuel

"Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know'st 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 flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither."
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude 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 thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter's rage
Freeze thy 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, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing 

King Wenceslas

So who is King Wenceslas?  What does he have to do with Christmas?  When is the feast of Stephen?  The latter questions are the easiest to answer, since the feast of St. Stephen, celebrating Christianity's first martyr, is celebrated on December 26th.  Since the feast of St. Stephen falls on the day after Christmas, it is sung as a Christmas carol.  Or at least that's what a quick Google search has yielded.  

Good King Wenceslas or St. Wenceslas, was the Duke of Bohemia (present day Czech Republic) and martyred for his faith by his pagan brother, Boleslaw.  Born in 903 AD, Bohemia and its surrounding regions were in the process of converting to Christianity.  While St. Wenceslas' grandmother was a Christian, his immediate family was not.  Undeterred by his villainous mother after his father's death, he invited German missionaries to Bohemia, encouraged his subjects to convert and reformed the judicial system to favor the poor.  

Since St. Wenceslas submitted to German rule and was a Christian, his brother Boleslaw and pagan nobles plotted against him.  On September 28th, while he was praying at church, Boleslaw and his gang murdered St. Wenceslas.  Oddly this is how many saints die, praying at church, slaughtered by a prince or a king.  Whether St. Wenceslas died while praying or not, his life and love for the poor has been immortalized by a Christmas carol and my cute son.  Merry Christmas.