Everybody in this world needs Christmas. It is the holiday that brightens the end of the year and helps lift up the spirit burdened by all the sad and sometimes horrific events of the earlier months.
After Halloween, by the first of November, hints of Christmas would be on the air. Yuletide decorations start to appear on window shops, the twinkling red and green lights along the streets start to be glowing and carols start to blare from radios and televisions. Newspapers, magazines, televisions and the Internet are loaded with ads on suggestions for all kinds of presents. Restaurants and other banquet halls are filled with parties organized by employers for their staff. Christmas cards and parcels make the mailmen heavily laden. Wine and other alcoholic drinks start to flow in festivities. IT is indeed a time of merrymaking.
For children it is a time for thinking about Santa Claus. What are they going to ask him to bring? Have they been naughty or nice?
The real significance of the holyday seems to have been buried somewhere. It is indeed a holyday not a holiday. It is a religious celebration that somewhat or somewhere turned to a huge celebration with the real meaning almost forgotten.
The real significance of Christmas remains in the core of the Christian Church and is celebrated in its rituals beginning with the season of Advent, four weeks before Christmas. To the churchgoers, the rituals remind them of the preparation for the birthday of Jesus Christ, from, whom the word Christmas, originated. The faithful is reminded that the four weeks are a preparation spiritually for the coming of the Son of God who brought peace to the world.
To the Christian World, Christmas is the symbol of the Child that was born to bring peace, hope, humility and faith to this world.
This child was born in a lowly manger. His parents could not find a place for him to be born in the town. And yet in that refuge for cattle, goats and sheep, the newborn child was visited by kings, angels and shepherds. His guests represented the various strata of society including the unworldly.
He was also pursued to be put down by the powerful during the time for fear that he would seize power.
The narrative of the first Christmas reminds all regardless of faith that the same human thoughts and feelings that pervade our present society existed during the time of the first Christmas. Jesus Christ was born in the midst of greed, power, distrust, jealousies and tyranny. The records of that blessed event has been carried on through more than two thousand years and as clear as ever in the minds of millions of people around the world, reminding them of the possibility of peace in living together in this planet.
Christmas is a time of joy, peace and caring for one another. The three kings who brought gifts to the Infant Jesus had been the origin of the tradition of giving gifts at Christmas. It is indeed a beautiful gesture to give presents at Christmas for people we care for as well as the needy who only get goodies at this time of the year. However, different human interest has diluted the original motivation in giving gifts. Expensive presents tend to influence the receiver to give in to responses that will bestow good graces to the giver. A present could also be a way of expressing gratitude for a generous favour received.
IT is also sad that many people worry and often get in deep debt in order to be able to satisfy the individuals to whom they give gifts.
Every Christmas Season, the number of traffic accidents increases, often due to impaired driving. Christmas parties are held in the name of goodwill but the merrymaking often goes out of bounds when guests go on a binge and then drive unsafely.
To many, Christmas is a time of reunions. Members of the family come together,often traveling far to see close relatives.
It is said that some very ill people often look forward to Christmas that they pass away after the celebration of the day.
Christmas is a time of peace to people of goodwill. WE are all human; we often get hurt and angry. WE harbour unpleasant feelings towards other people. That is normal. But do not let the ill feelings last forever. This is the time of the year when we can try to forgive and forget.
“Peace I give you.
My peace I leave to you.”
These are words we often hear. It is a part of the mass in the Catholic Church. We may not belong to this faith but this is the essence of Christmas that is the heart of the celebration of this season. This is where Christmas is. Let us keep a place for it in our hearts.
Merry Christmas!
