What if you went home after Christmas Mass today and
immediately starting taking down the tree and all the house decorations? What if you removed the Christmas lights and
returned all the gifts? What if you gave
away all the cookies, candies and drinks?
What if you turned off the Christmas music and blew out all the
Christmas candles? And what if you had
hot dogs for dinner? What would that
leave you with? A lot of people would
say, “no Christmas.” And that is
absolutely correct—if there is nothing else.
But is there something else? I invite you to think about some things.
Think about being sick or afraid of being sick, with all the
consequences that would mean for your everyday life. Think about the arguments you’ve had, the fights,
the bad feelings, the tension in your house.
Think about a lost job or the threat of losing it and not being able to
make ends meet. Think about the latest
robbery in your neighborhood—perhaps it was your own house. Think about the drunk driver and the fact
that you or someone you love might be the next victim. Think about the times you have completely
lost control of yourself and the despair it caused you inside or perhaps the
violence it led you to do to others around you.
Think about being arrested for a
crime you didn’t commit—or perhaps you did.
Think about the prejudice you’ve experienced because of your skin color
or your religion or some other condition in your life. Think about losing faith in God and maybe
even going to hell.
When each of us removes the trappings of Christmas, what
have we got left? What’s left, really,
is us and everything else in our life just like it has been the whole year
long. But that is great! When you and I let ourselves look at our
reality, feel what is really going on in us, and not decorate our lives to
cover it over, we can begin to feel the need for a Savior. And that is what Christmas is really all
about. “I proclaim to you good news of great joy . . . a savior has been born
for you” (Lk 2:10-11).
Can we go to the manger and just let it speak to us? The only glitter we will see is the soft
light coming down from the heavens into our messy world. We will experience a natural calm were
everything seems to be in good order. We
will hear only a gentle song of joy that lifts us up. When we go to the manger and let it speak to
us we will see good people living for a loving God. We will see a mother—and she is also ours! And then, finally, we will see revealed the
Savior born for us!
The big question isn't: "What present do I want others to give me for Christmas?" The question rather is: is there not something each of us needs to be
saved from in our lives? And, so, there
he is, the Savior. He was born for
that. He was born to make my life
Christmas.
Our greatest challenge of the season is not “getting ready for Christmas,”
which we do with a great deal of energy, time and expense. The real challenge is to let Christmas get me
ready for life. And that takes just a
little bit of faith, even as small as a mustard seed, just a little bit of
faith in the Babe. That little bit of
faith is the real Christmas decoration of my life.
When each of us goes to the manger this Christmas, whether
it be alone or with others, let us go to be saved by the Savior. It is only then that we can truly have a “merry”
Christmas.
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