Homily

Christmas is one of the great feasts of the Church, celebrating the birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It only seems right that we as Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. So what is it that makes our celebration of Christmas Christian? The buying and exchanging of gifts, the family together at a big dinner, decorating the inside and maybe even the outside of our homes, having the day off from work—these are all things that some pagans, atheists, even some Buddhists, Rastafarians and even some secular Jews will do as well—so obviously these things do not necessarily make our celebration of the day a Christian celebration of the day. Ah! Of course not! What makes it Christian is that we go to church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, right? But then again there are also some atheists, agnostics, pagans, and a number of people with non-Christian beliefs who help to fill the pews of many, many churches across the land on Christmas day. So going to church does not necessarily mark a Christian participation in the feast day.

That's why I think it's a good thing to ask ourselves how we, as believers and disciples of Jesus Christ plan to celebrate the feast of His birth. It doesn't mean that we can't do all of the things I listed earlier, and certainly it does involve coming to one of the Liturgies to specifically worship the Lord Who became man for our sake, but I suggest it's better that we stop and take care about what we are doing, why we are doing it, and about the person whose feast it is so that we can spend the whole day in an even better way, every single year, because every single year we have used the occasion of the birth of Lord to grow closer to Him.

Every priest knows, or will soon enough learn, how tender and bruised and even sad people can become at this time of year. Tempers can flare up, anxiety can wear on us, wounds that have never healed can be re-opened, stress can weigh us down, difficult relationships with family members can make us sad or angry or both, even at the same time.

And then there's the question that people ask you when they're making small talk, like a teller at the bank, or the butcher behind the counter: "Are you ready for Christmas?" Of course I know what they mean by that. They are asking about material things. But it's still a good question. Am I ready for Christmas as a Christian, as a man, as a priest, as a follower of Jesus? Am I ready to surrender myself more to the Son of God Who surrendered Himself to Mary and Joseph? Am I ready to better live in virtue instead of allowing my emotions to carry me wherever they feel like carrying me? Am I ready to welcome the Savior even more deeply into my mind and my heart, and—dare I say it, on the day of His birth, can I place Jesus as the number one person I need to talk to and visit with, even if I do all the other Christmassy things?

With family members there may be past or present hurts, friction, sadness, thoughts of loved ones lost or far away, frustrations and disappointments and even anger. Shouldn't we turn to the Lord to help us in these times we spend with our relatives? If we need empathy, or forgiveness, or patience, or peace or spiritual strength to do well with family members where else shall we find it if not in Christ? And while it may even be true that this person or that one is a bigger sinner than I am, holding that thought and acting in that thought will never change them, and it actually hurts the person holding on o it. Our challenge is to try and love them despite their sin, and to pray for them that they may come into better living, and I don't know how we can do that well without the grace of Christ to help us. If we place Him first on our to-do-list for Christmas, if He is the first person we greet and talk to on December 25th, if we can focus and keep Him close in our thoughts and in our intentions today and tomorrow and Tuesday, then we can indeed have a Christian Christmas because we will more clearly carry Christ with us wherever we are and whatever we do.

There has long been a campaign and I'm sure you have seen the slogan on signs or posters that promotes the Christian celebration with the slogan, "Keep Christ in Christmas." It's a great slogan of course, but I think too many people believe it means keeping Christ in Christmas out there in the public, in the market place, in the town square. I imagine myself standing at Gateway Mall the day after Thanksgiving holding up my little sign at 2 a.m., "Keep Christ in Christmas," holding up that sign before the door where the queue of crazed, credit-card carrying consumers crowded quite closely, cold and concerned about carrying away cheap consumables from the store called Kohl's. Que lastima! I don't think that I would have much of an impact. In fact, if I got in the way I might end up being impacted. Because if Christ is not in here how can we expect to see Him out there? So let's get ready for Christmas, and let us be attentive to Christ. Let Him be on our minds so that we act with wisdom and understanding. Let Him guide our eyes that we may look for good and not evil, and our ears that we may close off gossip and not be listening for insult or disrespect. May He fill our mouths with His praise and after that only with good words for others. May our hands bring His love to the work we do, the people we touch and a special grace each time we make the sign of the Cross. May we allow Him into our hearts so that we will not let emotions control us, but that we, in patience and humility, allow Him to guide us along His path. Let us trust only in Jesus, so that we can get ready for Christmas.