MEANING OF MERRY CHRISTMAS

May you have a Merry Christmas!

What does Merry Christmas may mean? Certainly it may signify many things – for you and for me. Let me share a few notes on what it means for me.

Christmas means Christ. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us… Of his fullness we have all received” (Jn 1:1-5, 9-14). Christ is the center of Christmas: the Child Jesus in a manger; the Child Jesus as the light of our Christmas – of our hearts. There cannot be a true Christmas without Christ: without Christ Christmas is merely three meaningless letters – m, a, s. There can be no true Christmas if Christ is forgotten or sidelined. The incarnation of Christ is part of the mystery of our faith: He became man, one like us, but without sin. Merry Christmas means a happy encounter with Christ! With the Child Jesus in the crib! If you wish a see the most beautiful thing in the world, ask the Lord to give you the eyes to see a young maiden with her child in her arms in the town of Bethlehem (St. John of Avila).

Christmas is love of God. : “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son.”  “The Son of God is born in eternity without mother, in time without father, and become our brother” (John Tauler). It is God’s incredible love for us and our humble response to this love. We respond by adoring the Child Jesus. Adoration encompasses our attitude through the Christmas season. It was the attitude of Mary and Joseph, the attitude of the shepherds, and the attitude of the Three Kings. Mary and Joseph kept everything in their hearts in an attitude of contemplative prayer; the shepherds knelt before the Child in the crib, and the Three Kings offered their gifts as a sign of worship. “O come, let us adore him.” Christ is born for us. Let us adore him!

Christmas is love of neighbor. “In this they will know that you are my disciples that you love one another.”  Love of Christ in the manger entails love of all, neighbors – all children of God. True Christian love is not selective but unconditionally universal – like Jesus’. Rabindranath Tagore writes: “The birthday of Jesus is not only a historical day, but a spiritual day… When we will be able to sacrifice in truth, when we are able to call man brother, then the Son of the Father is really born, whenever it may come, that is Christmas, the Birthday of Christ.”

Christmas is joyful love. A birth in the family is always a great joy. How much more the birth of the Son of God, our brother and Savior? “This is the day our Savior was born: what a joy for us! This is no season for sadness, this, the birthday of Life, the Life which annihilates the fear of death, and engenders joy, promising as it does, immortality” (St. Leo the Great). The new-born Child is the cause of great joy: the Virgin-Mother rejoices, John the Baptist moves for joy in the womb of her mother Elizabeth, the shepherds rejoice…” Yes, Christmas is joy, the joy of Life, the joy of the Gospel of Christ (Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis). Indeed, “Joy to the world, joy to you and me.”

Christmas is compassionate love. “I feel compassion of the crowd. “Jesus says. Charity is universal love, love for all, in particular the poor and needy, the “little ones.” Love is mercy and sympathy and compassion. Thus, Christmas is not merely feeling sorry for the suffering and needy, but also doing something with and for them. It necessarily imply sharing something with the poor around us, accompanying our sick brothers and sisters. “What you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do it to me”; “I was in the hospital and you visited me.”

Christmas is peace.  The angels sung: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men whom God loves.”  Peace, like joy is a consequence of love and means living together in justice and love. As believers in Christ, the Prince of Peace, we are asked to be peacemakers in our families, in our communities, in the world. To be peacemakers, we have to be at peace within ourselves and with God: the body under the spirit and the spirit under God (St. Augustine). We need to have interior peace to be able to work for external peace, for nobody can give what he or she does not have: “Acquire inner peace and thousands around you will find liberation.”  Peace with God and within us implies necessarily peace with all others, who are our brothers and sisters. Pope Francis tells us in his first Message for the World Day of Peace (January 1, 2014) that “Fraternity is the foundation of peace and a pathway to peace.”

Christmas is gratitude. Zechariah is grateful to the Lord for giving him his son John the Baptist: “Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel” (Lk 1:68). Mary, the Virgin-Mother is grateful for the marvelous things God has done to her: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord” (Lk 1:46). We are grateful to God for everything, above all for giving us Jesus, his only Son and the Son of Mary. We give thanks too to many people around us! To wish “Merry Christmas” to our family, friends, and companions is a lovely way of giving thanks to them for their help, for being there when we needed them, for travelling with us on the journey of life. Indeed, “for all that have been thanks!”

 My dear co-pilgrims, may we all have a Blessed Christmas,, that is,  may your Christmas and mine be permeated by love and joy and mercy and peace! Above all, may it be permeated by love!

St. John the Evangelist tells us in the Prologue of his Gospel that we are God’s children if we accept Christ as our brother and savior. And if we are children of God, then we are also brothers and sisters in Christ of one another. As followers of Christ, we believe in the total Christ: the Christ who is born and grows; the child who later suffers and dies on the Cross, and rises from the dead. We believe in one Lord whom we may adore as the Santo Niño and as the Good Shepherd and as the Nazarene and as the Crucified and Risen Lord.

The birth of Jesus is an open event that reminds us of our Baptism, of our birth as Christians: One day Christ was born for you, and it was Christmas. / Another day, you were born for Christ, and it was your Baptism. / When you remember the joy of Christmas / do not forget the joy of your Baptism” (Text, Christmas Card).

Baptism inclines to baptismal repentance fort sins after Baptism: “To forgive and be forgiven make the world new every day” (Text of a Christmas Card). The Birth of Jesus links closely with the Eucharist: “Mary was the first tabernacle who carried Christ within her and gave birth to the One who would say, ‘I am the living bread come down from heaven’” (Fulton Sheen). “With the Eucharist, it is always Christmas for me” (Andrés Manjón)

The Birth of Jesus leads to his death on the Cross. A story tells us that once a woman went to the supermarket to buy gifts for Christmas. When she finished shopping she proceeded to the elevator which soon was completely crowded. Almost without breath, she shouted: “He who invented Christmas should be arrested and hanged.” A voice at the back answered her: “We did that already. We crucified him.”

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may the Child Jesus bless you and your loved ones! May the Child Jesus be born in our hearts in a deeper way! May we all have a Blessed Christmas and Season filled with the gifts of love, mercy, joy and peace,  and may those around us notice it by the way we treat them with kindness, with compassion, with love.

Mother Mary, St. Joseph, help us have a Merry Christmas!

 FR. FAUSTO GOMEZ, O.P.

St. Dominic’s Priory