Homily

There has long been a campaign and I'm sure you have seen the slogan on signs or posters that promotes the Christian celebration of the Nativity of our Lord with the slogan, "Keep Christ in Christmas" or “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” There’s a few of these signs in our neighborhood here. They are great slogans of course, and great messages. Certainly, there are many people who want to keep Christ in Christmas out there in the public, in the marketplace, in the town square. That would be a good thing, of course! But why do we even have to urge people to “Keep Christ in Christmas”? I think it’s because for many, many years people did not really keep Christ in Christmas, nor did they really keep Him much in the other 364 days of the year. And that’s why we are where we are today, putting up signs urging people to pay attention to Christ on the celebration of His birth.

Christmas in past years almost always meant going to church for services, but that didn’t necessarily have much of an impact on many Christian lives, because their lives were not so much centered on Christ, or at least not the Christ of the Gospels. In the movie comedy “Talledega Nights” race-car driver Ricky Bobby is praying grace. He prays to the Baby Jesus, because, as he tells his wife, “I like the Christmas Jesus best.” It’s a great bit of satire, because, of course, baby Jesus who lies in a manger, as Bobby says, “doesn’t even know a word yet.” So, Baby Jesus makes no demands on us, He is just cute and cuddly. No need to think of a Savior, and no need to think why we might need saving, or what we might need saving from. So, it should not be surprising to see how easy it is to detach the Lord from the upcoming celebration and transform Christmas into a huge mix of trees, meals, gifts, and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Over here the Magi are led to follow the star so that they can pay homage to the King of the Jews and offer Him gifts. Over there, Santa follows Rudoph’s nose to deliver presents to children. These represent very different ways of looking at life in this world. It’s important that we really think about which way we see our lives in this world.

When people get ready to have some kind of celebration they naturally think of stuff; the stuff you need to help you celebrate: cake, wine, flowers, fireworks, food, presents. Same for Christmas. All those things can be very helpful and good. But they can also get in the way, if we let them. It’s easier to to cut a fir tree than it is to cut down on sin. It’s easier to cook a dinner than it is to spend time in prayer. It’s easier to decorate a house than it is to work on virtue. It’s easier to think that the material things I take care of will make for a better Christmas than any spiritual efforts I put into preparing for the celebration. No matter how hard we sweat and struggle to do those material things, they are all easier to do than making a spiritual preparation.

What can we do? For this next week, why not a little extra prayer every day? We can find 10 or 15 minutes for that every day until Friday to prepare for Christmas. On our parish website are the texts for the First and Sixth Hours. Those take about 15 minutes if you sing them, a little less time if you just pray them without singing. Or pray using some other way or type of prayer. Find a virtue to practice and every day be aware of it and ask the Lord to help you live in it better. Maybe it’s patience, or perseverance, or humility, or peace in the heart. Make it an important part of your day for the next five days. Christ our Lord will help us if we ask Him, because He wants us to grow up in Him, and to share His life with us. To actually celebrate with Him this Friday, instead of just remembering His birthday.

If we place Him first on our “things to do list” for Christmas this week we can celebrate so much better a Christian Christmas, because we will acknowledge that Jesus is not just the “reason for the season.” He is so much more than that. He is the reason and the foundation of our very lives, at all times, in all places, in every season.