Christmas is coming fast…just four days away. Is your shopping done? Your party plans made? Do you know what Church service or Mass you’re going to? Are you going to get to see and do all that you want to?
In today’s blog, I thought I’d address what Christmas is and isn’t. Let’s do the latter first.
What Christmas Isn’t
Christmas isn’t just this commercial thing, where we’re hustling and bustling to buy things. It’s not just parties and celebrations, decorations, food, and drink. It’s not just light shows and concerts, nor caroling or drinking of eggnog.
And it’s not an opportunity to just use a different greeting, given the time of year, like Happy Holidays…
What Christmas Is
Instead, it’s where we can wish others a heartfelt Merry Christmas, knowing that Jesus and His love are at the center of it all. While Christmas can be those things above…as long as they’re wrapped in love, it is so much more.
More than anything, God is love. And the greatest love He could give us is His Son. As opposed to making a grand entrance, Jesus entered this world the same as we did. Unlike us, He was born of a Virgin, our Mother Mary, the first Disciple.
For His first 30 years, Jesus lived the life that we do. Different from his public ministry, He garnered little attention, instead being with His family, learning a trade, learning His faith, and working along-side His father….all I would suspect so He could minister more effectively to those He would meet, in addition to you and me.
Jesus entered into our humanity so that we could enter into His divinity. We celebrate on Christmas one of the truest examples of love in all of human history (the other being Jesus’ Crucifixion)…
- We celebrate God’s love for His Son and Their love for us.
- We also celebrate our love for one another.
Christmas is the time of year when love is truly in the air. There seems to be a compassion and generosity that don’t exist at other times of the year. People seem to be happier, friendlier. It is a time of joy, excitement, enthusiasm, and as we approach the new year, even expectation.
Although holidays, including Christmas, can be hard for some (we just lost my father this past October), December 25th, Christmas Day offers us hope in what can be this sometimes gloomy world. Christmas reminds me of John 3:16, where Jesus says that “God so loved the world, that He gave us His only begotten Son, so that all who believe in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life”. That’s the gift of Christmas.
- Christmas is an example of God’s love.
- Christmas is a time when we share that love.
God loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done. More than anything, He wants you to live a life of Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment.
May you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
God Bless, Peace, Joy, Love,
Mark Joseph