My house is loaded with books, many of them purchased at used book sales. I intend to read all of them "someday."

This week I noticed one bought a long while ago. It had two great names on the dust jacket, "Charles Dickens: The Last of the Great Men," by G.K. Chesterton.

Thinking of Dickens' great "A Christmas Carol," I picked up Chesterton's book and read it in one sitting, so taken was I with Chesterton's wonderful writing.

Chesterton, a Catholic convert, said Dickens felt "comradeship and serious joy are not interludes in our travel; but rather, our travels are interludes in comradeship and joy, which through God shall endure forever."

His words had me reflecting on Dickens' story and remembering that he himself once said he hoped it would "pleasantly haunt the lives" of his audiences; and it has, generations of them.

As for why, it certainly is because Dickens dealt with the two ultimate themes of existence --- life and death --- and with human failing. That failing, of course, is the love of money which so easily carries one to the extreme of crowding out all the really good things in life.

When money becomes one's "god," the next logical need is to have power. For without power, you cannot protect your money.

Dickens' character Scrooge exercises his power over his employee, Bob Cratchit, bleeding every ounce of labor from him to protect and increase his own wealth.

Cratchit, a man who values fidelity to his family, accepts this exploitation in order to keep his job and support those who are dependent upon him. He also bears a cross --- knowing he cannot provide the medical care needed by his son Tiny Tim. Thus the child faces an early death.

As the story progresses, Dickens creates an eerie setting that forces Scrooge to face his own evil and the death to which this evil will lead.

It may seem strange that a Christmas story deals with death, for Christmas is a time of birth --- the greatest birth ever.

But that's the seduction of "A Christmas Carol." By undergoing his symbolic death, Scrooge realizes how he lost his life, and he asks for forgiveness and another chance. It is a wish that is granted to him.

Dickens' story then becomes a tale of life renewed. In the rebirth of Scrooge and the saving of Tiny Tim, "A Christmas Carol" is a renewal of the Christmas message of hope and redemption, and so it lives on.

I got the sense that I was supposed to write about Charles Dickens this Christmas because when I put down Chesterton's book I picked up another small book that had numerous biographies of men of science and literature. There I found some personal writings of Charles Dickens, a father of nine, who died suddenly at age 58.

In a letter to his son Edward who was leaving for Australia, Dickens wrote, "I put a New Testament among your books ... because it is the best book that ever was or will be known in the world....

"You will therefore understand the better that I now most solemnly impress upon you the truth and beauty of the Christian religion, as it came from Christ himself, and the impossibility of your going far wrong if you humbly but heartily respect it."

His message is beautifully appropriate for Advent!

Antoinette Bosco is an author and columnist with Catholic News Service.