December 13, 2020
Editor’s note: This reflection was originally published on Fr. Mark-David’s Facebook page.
If the devil is successful, if evil has its way,
then Christmas is a commemoration of a past event,
A recognition that someone named Jesus
was born over 2000 years ago.
We will sing carols to someone we do not know,
decorate our home in lights
without ourselves, ever having seen the Light
of whom we sing.
The devil will endure a month of celebration, even kindness
Because he knows, if he is lucky, if he is successful,
What we celebrate will never quite touch us.
In a month it will be packed away in boxes
And we will get back to living as if nothing serious has happened.
If the devil keeps Christmas a memory
He can look forward to a 2021 that will preserve the worst of 2020
Where only some lives matter,
sickness and death remain acceptable collateral damage,
people will fight over vaccine as over masks,
e pluribus unum, is replaced by violent factionalism,
and the spiritual life is separated from everyday life
except, of course, when religion can be used to divide and belittle.
If the devil is not going to get what he wants from Christmas
Our Christmas celebration must not be about the past,
but the present.
Our rejoicing not a memory but an experience.
A medieval German mystic, Meister Eckart wrote,
“Here in time we make holiday because the eternal birth
which God the Father bore and bears in eternity
is now born in time, in human nature.
St. Augustine says this birth is always happening.
But if it does not happen in me, what does it profit me?
What matters is that it happens in me.”
What matters is that it happens in me.
What matters is that Christmas happens in me.
What matter is, that for us,
Jesus of Bethlehem is Jesus the Christ, the Risen Lord,
who fills our hearts with the God who is in love with us,
in love with all of us, so all lives matter, all lives are needed.
Christmas happens in me,
When I trust the divine breath of life is active within me.
The bible calls the creative power of God the Holy Spirit
Who despite affliction and catastrophe
Plants in the human heart, hope, patience, courage
Imagination and the insight
to thirst for justice and be generous with mercy.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit
Jesus was born in the poverty of Bethlehem
And to that Spirit Jesus surrendered his life
Even as he suffered the treachery of the cross.
Christmas happens in me when I trust
that same Holy Spirit of love is part of me
even in all the poverties and treacheries of my life.
That sisters and brothers is why we sing carols,
light candles, display lights, give gifts
and send messages of Merry Christmas.
In this celebration we witness to the Light of Love
Shining even in the darkness.
We proclaim the creative Love of God
that will not be extinguished
By all the suffering the devil brings.
Today’s New York Times tells the story of Hig Roberts,
One of those white men gifted by privilege,
twice a US National Champion
in the rarefied wealthy air of alpine skiing.
Yet, his success did not penetrate his soul.
He was dominated by the death
of his younger more carefree brother.
He was haunted by the knowledge that since age 12
he had been hiding the fact he was gay
So he would fit into the competitive world of skiing
Where he felt he had to belong.
Grief, as well as the memory of his brother’s authentic free spirit
Contrasted with his own forced and unhappy success.
The story of course is that he left the world of competitive skiing
Came to terms with his sexuality and his desire to live
The spontaneous authentic life modeled by his brother.
The concluding words of the article being:
“I am ready to be happy.”
I have no idea whether he is religious or not
But I like to think the Holy Spirit, in some way
revealed the light of God’s love for him.
When this love is accepted, Christmas happens within us,
And we are “ready to be happy.”
Happiness must be supported by prayer.
The apostle Paul reminds us that rejoicing and praying
Are constant companions.
As we celebrate Gaudete Sunday, a day dedicated to rejoicing,
Let us pray a prayer given us by Pope Francis :
“O God, Trinity of Love,
From the profound communion of your divine life,
Pour out upon us a torrent of fraternal love.
Grant us the love reflected in the actions of Jesus
In his family at Nazareth
And in the early Christian community.
Grant that we Christians may live the Gospel,
Discovering Christ in each human being,
Recognizing him crucified in the sufferings
of the abandoned and forgotten of our world
And risen in each brother and sister who makes a new start.
Come Holy Spirit, show us your beauty
Reflected in all the peoples of the earth
So that we may discover anew that all are important
And all are necessary,
Different faces of the one humanity that God so loves.
Amen.
Paulist Fr. Mark David Janus is president of Paulist Press.