Keeping Christmas All
Year Round
During Advent we have been encouraged to prepare for the
coming of the Lord Jesus through various practices and disciplines. The Advent wreath, Jesse tree, communal
penance services, and works of charity are all popular preparations for
celebrating the birth of Jesus. The
liturgy of the Church has given us a variety of material upon which to reflect
on the coming of Jesus in a threefold manner.
Now that Christmas is here it helps to step back and see if our Advent
preparations helped us in these three areas.
The first coming of Jesus is the historical coming of Jesus
in time. In the Advent readings we heard
proclaimed the prophetic writings and the anticipation of the coming
Messiah. The Church asks us to step back
in time and to relive again the expectation of the Messiah within the community
of Israel. In this practice we can
imagine life before Jesus was born. We
can imagine the mindset of the people of Israel in reflecting on salvation
history, wondering where and when and how God would fulfill His promise of
redeeming His people. With Christmas now
here we can relive the joy and mystery of how it is God came among us in the
person of Jesus.
The next theme of Jesus’ coming is found in the New
Testament writings within the season of Advent, for they speak about a new
expectation: the second coming of Jesus
in history. After the Ascension of Jesus
the early church expected the return of Jesus very soon. As that expectation became unfulfilled with
each passing year, the Church gradually saw the mystery of Jesus’ second coming
as being very similar to the mystery of Jesus’ first coming. So in Advent we are encouraged to wait in
joyful hope for the coming again of our Savior in His final glory. Our lives should reflect a people waiting
with joy for its king to come.
The final coming of Jesus is the one that is often unspoken,
and yet the one that really matters the most:
the coming of Jesus now in our own personal lives. The first two expectations are set in different
times – one recalls a coming of the past, while the other looks ahead to a
future coming at a time we do not know.
While it is important to focus on both of those comings, we would do
well to recall that the point of them both is the fact of Jesus coming into our
lives here and now. Has the Lord Jesus
been born into our hearts? Is Jesus
present to us now?
With Christmas also comes the winter version of the culture
wars known as “the war on Christmas.” It
is a time when the culture warriors fight about manger scenes in public places,
greetings to one another, and a host of other pitched battles. As we observe this phenomenon from a
distance, we might remember the lesson from “The Grinch Who Stole
Christmas.” The Grinch thought that by
stealing the external trappings from Whoville that Christmas would not come,
for the people would be unhappy without all these objects. And yet Christmas came nonetheless, for
Christmas does not come in a box, nor from a store, but rather it means
something much more.
If the Lord Jesus has truly been born in our hearts, then
nothing can take Christmas saw from us and these culture wars are utterly
without meaning. The Grinches may come
to take away Manger scenes, Menorahs and Festivus poles, but what of it? If we have grasped the Church’s preparation
for us in the Advent season, then we know that Jesus has already been born in
the fullness of time historically in Palestine two millennia ago, and the Lord
has already been born within us in the fullness of our own personal
history. And these comings provide us
with the Presence we need to be the joyful people who await the final coming of
the Lord Jesus at the end of human history.
This joy animates our entire being, enabling us to continue what we
began in Advent – to be people of mercy, people of charity – people who will be
like Ebenezer Scrooge and keep Christmas all year round.
As we come together to celebrate the coming of Jesus among
us, let us rekindle our Christian joy in our pilgrimage toward the reign of
God. We pray: “Almighty God and Father of light, a child is
born for us and a son is given to us.
Your eternal Word leaped down from heaven in the silent watches of the
night, and now your Church is filled with wonder at the nearness of her
God. Open our hearts to receive his life
and increase our vision with the rising of dawn, that our lives may be filled
with his glory and his peace, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.”
