I couldn't help but think of this as my Dad and I walked home from Mass on Christmas Day morning with our neighbor. She mentioned that her husband had a piece published in The Wednesday Journal, a local newspaper, in which he discussed the whole issue of people trying to take Christmas away and instead observing the Holidays.
Mr. Greg Morgan makes a number of good points in his piece. It shouldn't necessarily be seen as a threat that people are celebrating the Holidays, and wishing each other "Happy Holidays", instead of celebrating Christmas, and saying, "Merry Christmas".
It's interesting to note that many people, like atheists, get offended when Christmas trees go up as decorations, even those they don't really have anything to do with Christianity. The cultural shift that is manifested by their outcries has also led many retailers and other businesses to use the term "Holiday" instead of "Christmas", because they feel that the latter will be offensive, even though this offense is only implied.
And some people prefer to use "Holiday", because then it can account for other cultural celebrations happening around the same time of year. While it's true that Hannukkah and Kwanzaa are going on at the same time of the year as Christ's Birth, ultimately, I feel people have to admit that there would be no such thing as the "Holiday season" with all its associated trappings and commercialism, if it weren't for the presence of Christ's Birth on December 25.
As I see it, there are some trappings of the Christmas holiday that really have nothing to do with celebrating Christ's Birth. For example, the stories of Frosty and Santa really have more to do with celebrating winter, generic feelings of goodwill toward fellow humans, and sentimentality. I was even watching the relatively new program Shrek the Halls for the first time this month, and when Shrek tells the Christmas story, it's a spin off of the "The Night Before Christmas", which is pretty much all about Santa, and has nothing to do with Christ.
We even put up trees, wreaths, and stockings to celebrate the occasion of Christ's Birth. These are stepped in traditions going back centuries, some of them related to pagan culture. They are also drawn from the resources that many people in the Northern Hemisphere had to celebrate an occasion in the midst of winter, when not much else was growing. They have now grown into having a life of their own, much has Santa, who is derived from the bishop St. Nicholas.
It's interesting to note that many people, like atheists, get offended when Christmas trees go up as decorations, even those they don't really have anything to do with Christianity. The cultural shift that is manifested by their outcries has also led many retailers and other businesses to use the term "Holiday" instead of "Christmas", because they feel that the latter will be offensive, even though this offense is only implied.
And some people prefer to use "Holiday", because then it can account for other cultural celebrations happening around the same time of year. While it's true that Hannukkah and Kwanzaa are going on at the same time of the year as Christ's Birth, ultimately, I feel people have to admit that there would be no such thing as the "Holiday season" with all its associated trappings and commercialism, if it weren't for the presence of Christ's Birth on December 25.
As I see it, there are some trappings of the Christmas holiday that really have nothing to do with celebrating Christ's Birth. For example, the stories of Frosty and Santa really have more to do with celebrating winter, generic feelings of goodwill toward fellow humans, and sentimentality. I was even watching the relatively new program Shrek the Halls for the first time this month, and when Shrek tells the Christmas story, it's a spin off of the "The Night Before Christmas", which is pretty much all about Santa, and has nothing to do with Christ.
We even put up trees, wreaths, and stockings to celebrate the occasion of Christ's Birth. These are stepped in traditions going back centuries, some of them related to pagan culture. They are also drawn from the resources that many people in the Northern Hemisphere had to celebrate an occasion in the midst of winter, when not much else was growing. They have now grown into having a life of their own, much has Santa, who is derived from the bishop St. Nicholas.
This issue was addressed so marvelously in a blog post I found on Patheos that talks about Santa Claus. Reading this post, I couldn't help but think, "That's so true", in regards to how we ingraft Santa Claus into our reality of life. People even ask each other, "What did Santa give you for Christmas?" This isn't even just a question asked of children. People have asked me this question in the past couple of years, as an emerging adult person.
And that shows how Christmas is ballooning from being a celebration of Christ's coming into our world into an occasion full of traditions and customs that don't have much to do with Christ at all, even if they espouse generic feelings of good will and charity, which have their basis in Judeo-Christian ethics.
All of this is part of why I have had problems with celebrating Christmas. I'd get myself too caught up in all those traditions, and I lost track of Christ enough that it started causing me problems. I reached a breaking point after Christmas 2005, when I felt depressed when it came time to take down the decorations, which I saw as just part of society's way of tossing out Christmas like it doesn't matter any more once December 26 arrives.
In my determination to do something, I sought to remove myself from all those customs and traditions because they were so entangled with celebrating Christ and I couldn't focus on Christ. I wanted to focus on Him and nothing else. For a while, I was afraid to have anything to do with "Christmas". I even moved away from saying "Christmas", or using that term at all, because I was so intent on acknowleding Christ in this occasion, and not all those other things that are entangled with it. I wouldn't even say, "Merry Christmas", not because I was afraid of offending those who don't celebrate the holiday, but because I couldn't express my desire to wish people a joyful celebration of Christ using those words. I even didn't want to sing Christmas carols before December 25, because I thought it would detract from my ability to celebrate that day the way it should be. Instead, I turned to more deeply embracing Advent hymns and practices.
In my determination to do something, I sought to remove myself from all those customs and traditions because they were so entangled with celebrating Christ and I couldn't focus on Christ. I wanted to focus on Him and nothing else. For a while, I was afraid to have anything to do with "Christmas". I even moved away from saying "Christmas", or using that term at all, because I was so intent on acknowleding Christ in this occasion, and not all those other things that are entangled with it. I wouldn't even say, "Merry Christmas", not because I was afraid of offending those who don't celebrate the holiday, but because I couldn't express my desire to wish people a joyful celebration of Christ using those words. I even didn't want to sing Christmas carols before December 25, because I thought it would detract from my ability to celebrate that day the way it should be. Instead, I turned to more deeply embracing Advent hymns and practices.
Things have calmed down since then. And I feel that my celebrations of this occasion have regained focus in their proper place. That was especially evident this year, as I had a really good celebration of Christ's Nativity.
My family and I gathered with my Abuela, my Dad's mom, on Nativity Eve, as is our custom going back years. We first went to Mass at St. Cornelius Parish, which was a great way to kick off the celebration. It's always good to go to St. Cornelius, for as the parish were I was baptized, it has special meaning for me. I was also delighted to learn from Father Dan in his homily that it was the 50-year anniversary of when Mass was first celebrated at St. Cornelius, so that made being there even more memorable.
We had a nice dinner, with our special homemade tamales navideños, and then a nice time exchanging gifts with one another, and reading the beautiful Advent Book, by Oak Park residents Jack and Kathy Stockman.
The next day, it was great to get up and go to Mass at Ascension Parish in the morning light of Nativity Day. I had the privilege of serving as the thurifer, for the third time ever, swinging around the incense thurible as a way to symbolize our praise and prayers rising to Christ in celebration of His First Coming to our world. (I find myself getting really drawn into the performance of this liturgical ministry.)
Back at home, there was an exchanging of gifts among our foursome. It was great to give meaningful gifts to people in my family, despite one gift not having yet arrived. With most of my gifts, I bought them online, to avoid the hassles of going out to shop, and the purchases supported charitable causes, so that the gift giving would have even more meaning.
Then I had another good family celebration with my mom's side of the family at my Uncle Bernie's place. We played some games, had a nice dinner, and had some Scripture reading. We even had opportunity to Skype with my Aunt Terri, who lives in Tucson, AZ, and my Cousin Megan.
So yes, it was all around an enjoyable celebration of the Nativity of our Lord, at Church, and with family and good food.
My family and I gathered with my Abuela, my Dad's mom, on Nativity Eve, as is our custom going back years. We first went to Mass at St. Cornelius Parish, which was a great way to kick off the celebration. It's always good to go to St. Cornelius, for as the parish were I was baptized, it has special meaning for me. I was also delighted to learn from Father Dan in his homily that it was the 50-year anniversary of when Mass was first celebrated at St. Cornelius, so that made being there even more memorable.
We had a nice dinner, with our special homemade tamales navideños, and then a nice time exchanging gifts with one another, and reading the beautiful Advent Book, by Oak Park residents Jack and Kathy Stockman.
The next day, it was great to get up and go to Mass at Ascension Parish in the morning light of Nativity Day. I had the privilege of serving as the thurifer, for the third time ever, swinging around the incense thurible as a way to symbolize our praise and prayers rising to Christ in celebration of His First Coming to our world. (I find myself getting really drawn into the performance of this liturgical ministry.)
Back at home, there was an exchanging of gifts among our foursome. It was great to give meaningful gifts to people in my family, despite one gift not having yet arrived. With most of my gifts, I bought them online, to avoid the hassles of going out to shop, and the purchases supported charitable causes, so that the gift giving would have even more meaning.
Then I had another good family celebration with my mom's side of the family at my Uncle Bernie's place. We played some games, had a nice dinner, and had some Scripture reading. We even had opportunity to Skype with my Aunt Terri, who lives in Tucson, AZ, and my Cousin Megan.
So yes, it was all around an enjoyable celebration of the Nativity of our Lord, at Church, and with family and good food.
And it's nice to have these other trappings to go along with the celebration of the Nativity, and I'm definitely not against them, whether they be family, food, or Santa. But I've been made very aware that they have to be put in their proper place, because the true meaning of Christmas is too great to be put aside by these other things. What we celebrate on this occasion is God coming down to Earth and becoming Flesh. Think of that--God becoming FLESH! Isn't that enough to blow one's mind away? Yet as a society, we become so obsessed with buying things, singing songs about silver bells, and wanting snow on the ground to fit Bing Crosby's description of Christmas.
Now granted, there are people who definitely use this occasion to encourage expressions of goodwill, to make it more than just about commercialism. But sometimes, I fear, even goodwill gets watered down. I couldn't help but notice this when I watched the National Christmas Tree lighting program on PBS. President Obama said something in his remarks that really struck me as peculiar: He said that this occasion celebrates the birth of someone who is an example of what the Scriptures teach, namely, love and kindness to others. I couldn't help but think, Mr. President, the One whose birth we're celebrating isn't merely an example of what the Scriptures teach. As the Word of God, He is the Scriptures. Indeed, the true meaning of Christmas can get bogged down in such sentimentality, the same kind by which people recall traditions of celebration from their childhood, more so than celebrating Christ.
I guess it is only to be expected that there would be a lot of sentimentality surrounding Christmas, as would happen with any holiday that's been around for years and has spread around the globe, and then gotten caught up in the engine of capitalism roaring away in the "Western" world. But in the end, none of the sentimentality, customs, traditions, or even gestures of goodwill mean anything without Jesus Christ. This idea is so beautifully expressed by the great genius, Stuart Shepard, my favorite socio-political commentator, who works at Focus on the Family, and made this Stoplight video, entitled "Searching for Christmas".
Note what happens at the end of the video. The boy, who I presume to be Stuart's son, who has appeared in Stoplight videos from time to time, paraphrases words from the story of the Resurrection of Christ, associated with the holiday of Easter. Its inclusion in this video demonstrates how Christ's Birth points to His purpose for coming, to redeem us and bring us to Eternal Life with God.
What a blessed truth to behold at this time of year. And it's something that I'm going to keep celebrating for the days of the Christmas Season, which lasts until January 12, and contains other Feasts celebrating the Manifestation of God in Jesus Christ. It complements well the season of Advent, in which we focus on preparing ourselves to welcome Christ into our lives, not only for the yearly celebration of His Birth, but in anticipation of His Second Coming at the End of Time. My hope, as always, is that these celebrations in the midst of this liturgical context will renew me in faith for the whole year round. And this is the context in which I celebrate Christmas. And despite having been at times caught up in cynicism, and my other struggles with this holiday, Greg Morgan is right on: No matter what has become of Christmas, I won't let anyone take away the way I have embraced for celebrating it.
I make this occasion of CHRISTmas about Christ, not "Kris" Kringle--notice how we usually pronounce "Chris"mas--much as I seek to make my life here on Earth about Him, to whom I ultimately go.
Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax!
Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace to people of goodwill!
May God rest you merry!
What a blessed truth to behold at this time of year. And it's something that I'm going to keep celebrating for the days of the Christmas Season, which lasts until January 12, and contains other Feasts celebrating the Manifestation of God in Jesus Christ. It complements well the season of Advent, in which we focus on preparing ourselves to welcome Christ into our lives, not only for the yearly celebration of His Birth, but in anticipation of His Second Coming at the End of Time. My hope, as always, is that these celebrations in the midst of this liturgical context will renew me in faith for the whole year round. And this is the context in which I celebrate Christmas. And despite having been at times caught up in cynicism, and my other struggles with this holiday, Greg Morgan is right on: No matter what has become of Christmas, I won't let anyone take away the way I have embraced for celebrating it.
I make this occasion of CHRISTmas about Christ, not "Kris" Kringle--notice how we usually pronounce "Chris"mas--much as I seek to make my life here on Earth about Him, to whom I ultimately go.
Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax!
Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace to people of goodwill!
May God rest you merry!
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