12/24/15
Christmas is upon us, the celebration of the birth of our
Savior. It is a period of rejoicing and
a period of joy filled prayer, prayer both of thanks and of asking that we be
ready to receive Him into our hearts and souls. Not only do we celebrate Jesus’s arrival in
Bethlehem two millennia ago, but we also celebrate His desire to implant
Himself in our heart and souls every day and pray that we are be receptive to
that desire.
As I have pointed out every year in my “Christmas posts,”
this holiday has been overly commercialized and its true meaning has largely
been lost. This, of course, is nothing
new; the commercialization of Christmas has been lamented for decades, even
centuries. The seeming desire of
secular society to obliterate the holiday is a more recent, but very real,
lament. Yours truly, perhaps
surprisingly, has never been keen on the “Keep Christ in Christmas” effort;
indeed, I have long been in favor of keeping Christ out of “Christmas,” given
the way our society chooses to celebrate the holiday. See for example…
KEEP CHRIST OUT OF “CHRISTMAS”—2014
EDITION
for a sort of (sort of?) downer take on the holiday. Thank God my mood at this time of year has
vastly improved in 2015.
More lighthearted, but still not caught up in the spirit
as dictated by Madison Avenue, et. al. takes on the season include
KEEP CHRIST OUT OF
“CHRISTMAS,” 2009 EDITION
and
LOOK SLOVENLY, FEEL
SLOVENLY, BE SLOVENLY
The last of the
above, also from 2009, is one of my all time favorite Christmas related posts.
This year, however,
I will not launch into a rant, or even a tirade, on what our materialistic,
self-absorbed, and seemingly bent on self-destructive society has done to
Christ’s birthday. Instead, I’ll do my
part to welcome Him into my heart, realize that there are many things I can’t
control, and wish all of you a blessed Christmas. Perhaps as a result of my slight change of
attitude, it has so far been an especially enjoyable Christmas season at home,
watching (admittedly, for the most part, secular) Christmas movies, enjoying the
family, and generally thanking God that His Son’s birthday is still in the
hearts and minds of many.
As I head off to Christmas
Eve Mass, I wish all of you a blessed Christmas. You are all in my prayers now and always.
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