Salutations to you! How are you doing? I hope that in spite of everything saddening and maddening that is going on in our world that you are as well as can be. After some prayerful reflection and some investigative poking around on the Internet I found out that today is the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen. Well, perhaps it is more accurate to say that today was the birthday of the famous author from Denmark. He was born on this day in 1805 and died on August 4, 1875. May he rest in peace.
You might vaguely recall his name or his abbreviated name of H.C. Andersen but I’m quite confident that you’ll know of his most famous works:
The Little Mermaid
and
The Ugly Duckling
. These classic stories have been etched into the proverbial hearts of folks throughout the entire world. They capture the attention and imagination of readers through their compelling narratives and relatable characters.
Now it should be noted that the Disney version of
The Little Mermaid
is a bit more tame than what Hans Christian wrote about (my guess is that there were not any singing crabs in his story) but the thematic of a person wanting to experience love and to be a part of a larger community is something that can be appreciated universally. It’s similar to the tale of
The Ugly Duckling
wherein a swan raised by a family of ducks feels like an outsider, longing for connection with others.
Perhaps now more than ever you can relate to those characters and their feelings of being isolated and wanting to be in contact with others. May the Grace of Jesus, who has drawn us into His Body the Church, continue to reach out to us and strengthen us in prayerful solidarity. Once these days have past may we be filled with a deeper appreciation for the simple blessings of life so that we can ultimately one day in Heaven live happily ever after.
