Well it may not be exactly the night before Christmas but we are pretty close, Monday is Christmas Eve, and so it we can say with certainty that this is the weekend before Christmas.
Ready or not the great feast of Christmas is upon us! Often as Christmas draws near, I hear people saying “I’ll be so glad when it is over! We are tired of all the work Christmas entails from shopping to wrapping and baking and cooking, not to mention entertaining! To some degree, we have brought it on ourselves, after all, our culture tells us to start celebrating the day after Halloween. Christmas music abounds in stores, restaurants and radios days before Thanksgiving, and of course the man in the red suit arrives in malls even before he makes his debut in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade down Broadway. Is it any wonder that when this great feast of God made Man descending on earth arrives we are tired of Christmas? Christmas Eve and Day have almost become anti-climactic! Sadly, this phenomenon is not just a product of American culture, but spans across the globe. Frs. Perera and Azuibuike told me that Santa Claus is the be all and end all in their countries as well and Christmas has become extremely commercialized in their native lands.
I came across the following poem which is a religious version of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. I hope you will agree that all the commercialization from Santa to the Rockettes and everything in between is pale in comparison to that great mystery we as Catholics proclaim every Sunday in our Creed, “For us men and for our salvation He became man.”
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas;
God glanced over the earth.
He looked to and fro,
All over its girth.
They missed it again He said with a sigh,
A heavy heart and a tear in His eye.
I gave them my Son,
So they could be free.
My greatest gift to them from me!
They traded me in for a fat man in red,
A little tree and a horse drawn sled.
How do I save them and make them see,
My love is complete and my grace is free
How do I help them when all they know is a talking snowman
And a big box with a bow?
Maybe next year they will stop and see
The biggest gift of Christmas is the little child from me!
I pray that you and your loved ones appreciate and know the true meaning of Christmas which is the infinite love and generosity of our God who for us became human, someone like us in all things but sin. May God bless you at Christmas and always! Merry Christmas!
-Fr. Kevin
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