\u00a0That\u2019s what we do, really, we Christians, during this Advent season.\u00a0 We look up<\/span> to our heavenly Father, and to the Son Who came to us in Bethlehem as a tiny baby, and Who comes to us still today.\u00a0 And we look around<\/span> at the world in which we live\u2014at the still, expectant winter nights, rich with promise; and at the people whose love shapes us, and who we celebrate later this month with gifts from the heart.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThe steeple<\/strong>,\u201d he asserted, \u201cis this beautiful thing reaching up into the sky admitting, as it were, its own inadequacy.\u201d\u00a0 The steeple attempts something utterly impossible\u2014to climb up to heaven.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0The gargoyle<\/strong>, meanwhile, looks down, grinning and laughing at the absurd behavior, the vain strivings, of men on earth.<\/p>\n \u00a0Both of these structures\u2014one aspiring to the heavens, and one drawn inexorably toward mankind here at ground level\u2014are integral to the design of the cathedral; hence, both are intended for the glory of God.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Muggeridge saw, in the analogy of the steeple and the gargoyle, his own life in a mirror.<\/strong>\u00a0 An avowed atheist for most of his life, he examined religion and faith with the eyes of a journalist, from the outside\u2014looking down, like the gargoyle, without venturing in to meet the faithful on their own terms. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Although he did finally come to the Catholic Faith in his later years, the steeple and the gargoyle exemplified his own life, and the great gulf he found between his heavenly vision and his earthly attainment.\u00a0 He tried to be faithful to the reality of Christ; but like the rest of us, Muggeridge was a sinner whose attempts fell short.\u00a0 He needed the Babe of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n \u00a0Malcolm Muggeridge might have smiled at this mysterious image, echoing his \u201cgargoyle on the steeple.\u201d\u00a0 From the Aventine Hill you can see the Vatican, the locus of the Catholic Church; but you can\u2019t go in, you can\u2019t approach and join in the prayer and adoration which are ongoing there.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0I have a friend who speaks of the \u201cChristmas and Easter Catholics\u201d\u2014those people who count themselves among the faithful, but whose absence through eleven months of the year belies any real interest in encountering the living Christ in the Eucharist, which occurs inside their local church each Sunday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kathyschiffer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Gargoyle-225x300.jpg\")
Malcolm Muggeridge, the British journalist and satirist,<\/strong> wrote of this two-directional focus, comparing it to the steeple and the gargoyle which top a great cathedral.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kathyschiffer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Magic-Keyhole-219x300.jpg\")
If you ever visit Rome,<\/strong> you may want to drive up to the Priory of the Knights of Malta, situated on the Aventine Hill, on the left side of the Tiber River near the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.\u00a0 The Knights of Malta maintain a private garden which is protected by a massive wooden gate; and in that gate is a keyhole which has become known as the \u201cMagic Keyhole.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Through the Magic Keyhole one can see into the garden, where a long gravel path runs between two rows of carefully pruned hedges.\u00a0 Beyond the hedges one can gaze across the hillside, across tops of buildings, until\u2014several miles away\u2014there lies the great Dome of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, perfectly centered in view.\u00a0 It looks like an artist\u2019s impressionistic image, or perhaps like a well-framed souvenir postcard.<\/p>\n