December 23, 2022
EDITOR’S NOTE: Earlier this month, Vatican News contacted Paulist Fr. Mark-David Janus for a reflection on Christmas in New York City. This is Fr. Mark-David’s full essay, from which the Vatican News quoted. It was originally posted to his originally posted to his Facebook page.
Christmas in a city of 8.8 million people is complex. On the one hand, New York City’s holiday “vibe” is back. The grand Christmas tree of Rockefeller Center is up and shimmering, holiday displays have returned to store windows, performances of the Nutcracker Ballet and Messiah Oratorio are in full swing, and restaurants offer tempting Christmas day menus. Hanukah Menorah’s are once again lit. Choirs are rehearsing for worship on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The famous New York City traffic gridlock has returned. It is tempting to believe that peace on earth and good will towards all once again prevails.
While people are hungering for the gatherings of family and friends covid has stolen the past few years, some hesitation remains. Whatever variation of covid we are in now has been joined by the flu and a virus called RSV that is especially deadly to children. How big the family gatherings will be, who will be invited, who stays away, will visitors be allowed in nursing homes, and how many people will attend Church are all unknown. The most recent research shows only 60% of the people who had been attending Catholic Churches on Sunday’s have returned, whether that is because of caution or people have gotten out of the habit or are finding spiritual nourishment elsewhere is unknown.
Covid isolation creates a lingering personal anxiety. People are made to live together, befriend each other, find shelter in family life. All of that has been shaken and is not yet back to what is normal and needful. It has also created a spiritual anxiety, none of us believes as well by ourselves as we do when we are together. God calls a people, not individuals one at a time. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are scattered among us to be shared, the fewer opportunities to gather, the harder it is for the Spirit to be experienced. In these moments we are easily scattered sheep.
Putin’s war has made everything more expensive, and no one knows when this war and its economic consequences will end. Food banks are stretched to beyond capacity, the destitute are joined by working families whose income cannot meet the rising costs of food, housing and fuel, much less toys for Christmas. Private charities and Churches have long been responsible for most of the care given to the needy in this country, but the need has outstripped their resources. Working class, unemployed and destitute people face a cold and lean Christmas. Peace on earth evades these the least of the Christ’s sisters and brothers.
New York City needs the hope of the Christmas message more than ever, a message beautifully summarized by Cardinal Walter Kasper:
“God became a human being to bring the warmth of divine love into our world that has turned tired and cold. God wanted to break the ice between himself and us and between us and our fellow human beings. Christmas is the triumph of grace, compassion and love. They shine forth as light from the face of a child in the manger.”
Paulist Fr. Mark David Janus is president of Paulist Press.