Our family’s recent trip to New York City included eye-opening sights and memorable experiences – some expected and some surprising. It was all new for my two young sons, who got their first tastes of the hustle and bustle of our nation’s most densely populated city. My wife Megan and I had been before, but we still experienced moments of awe that we did not expect.
We took a train from Baltimore to New York and when we stepped off the train in midtown Manhattan, it felt as if we were in another world. The New York experience is not new to me, but I find each visit there to be a lesson in logistics and survival in a city where more than 8 million people live and work in a space that is half the size of Baltimore County.
Sidewalks are packed with people moving at a hurried pace, stopping only to wait for the lights to cross busy streets of loud, impatient traffic with a constant stream of cars, trucks and bicycles. There is a rhythm to the movement, an orchestrated chaos. It is city block after city block of massive skyscrapers, stores, shops, restaurants, street vendors, food carts and entertainment amid a din of honking horns, sirens and sidewalk chatter in multiple languages.
We found peace during Sunday Mass at the famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a stunningly beautiful Gothic-style Catholic church in Manhattan with origins that date back to 1858. Most who attend Mass at St. Patrick’s are tourists, and that day we were among more than 2,000 worshipers who filled the pews of the venerable church. The Mass before the one we attended was just as well attended, and a large crowd proceeded through the enormous church doors to attend the liturgy after ours.
New York is a crowded city, but it is a welcomed and heart-warming sight to see large flocks of faithful Catholics, many of them taking time from their vacations to gather for the holy sacrifice of the Mass. It was a pleasant surprise for me and my family, and another surprise would come later in our visit.
At this time of year, commercialized Christmas is omnipresent in New York City from the giant lighted billboards in Times Square to the rows of department store window displays of Madison Avenue. We immersed ourselves in the “holiday magic” at Radio City Music Hall, with tickets to the famed Rockettes “Christmas Spectacular” show.
The Rockettes holiday production is truly spectacular. A live orchestra provides a vibrant soundtrack for Broadway style dancing, singing and choreography that portray tales of Santa, elves, toys, fairies and holiday shopping in the city.
Near the conclusion of the 90-minute production, the lights dim, the music quiets from festive to calm and the scene becomes solemn. A huge stage curtain slowly rises to reveal the Nativity: Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in a manger under the stars, surrounded by angels, shepherds, the Magi and live camels and sheep.
A narrator reverently declares the birth of the Christ child, the Savior and Light of the World, while the orchestra plays sacred Christmas hymns. I did not expect this part of the otherwise secular “Christmas Spectacular.” On the day we were there, the Nativity scene brought loud applause from the audience of nearly 6,000. I did not expect that either. It brought tears to my eyes.
Elevating and glorifying the birth of Jesus as part of a New York City entertainment extravaganza? No, I did not see that coming. What I did not know is that Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes have made the Nativity part of their Christmas show since it debuted in New York in 1933. The presentation is beautiful and respectful. Kudos to the producers for “keeping it real,” as we say.
For my sons, ages 10 and 7, the trip was a wide-eyed adventure of crowds, taxis and tour stops from the top of the Empire State Building to the Central Park Zoo. For Megan and me, the Big Apple offered all that, plus hope and optimism. When it’s Christmastime in the city, Christ’s presence can still loom larger than any skyscraper, draw big crowds and applause, and shine brighter than any light.
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