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Fox News
host Bill O'Reilly has garnered a lot of media attention in the
recent two months by claiming that “war” has been declared on Christmas. He argues that
this war is “all part of the secular progressive agenda...to get
Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square.”
O’Reilly adds: “…if you look at what happened in Western Europe and
Canada, if you can get religion out, then you can pass secular
progressive programs, like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia,
abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those
things is religious-based, usually.”
That’s
all pretty potent and inflammatory rhetoric! It seems as if O’Reilly wants to
use The Factor and its No Spin Zone in order “rally
the troops” in a national jihad to stop any person or group who would seek
to drive Christianity, spirituality, Judaism out of the public
square.
Now, I
don’t know whether or not a “war” has been declared on Christmas. I
do know, however, that the increased secularization of American
society, especially since the end of World War II and perhaps even the
prosperity we have enjoyed as citizens of our great nation during
those decades, has had the net effect upon many of our fellow citizens—and
perhaps many of
us as well—of pushing the religious symbols associated with Christmas to the
sidelines.
Perhaps
the secularization of the public square and the removal of religious symbols
like those of the Christmas season from the public square should prove troubling. But, for us
as Catholic Christians,
what should prove very troubling is when the meaning
of Christmas becomes secularized to the point that we view it more as a civic holiday
than as a time to reflect upon all of the wonderful things God
has done for us.
But, before
jumping on Mr. O’s
bandwagon and
calling for a
jihad on ourselves, let’s step
back for a moment to assess what may well be going on.
Remember
the classic Christmas movie, “Miracle on 34th Street”? First
produced almost 60 years ago, this movie suggested that
secularization was destroying the meaning of Christmas...in the late
1940’s!
Seems as if nothing has changed, doesn’t it?
As the
movie unfolds, a man
named Kris Kringle believes himself to be Santa Claus and Macy’s
Department Store’s hires Kris Kringle to work as Santa Claus during
the holiday season. He
does a great job, but the store’s manager believes Kris Kringle is
delusional. So, the manager orders Kris Kringle’s supervisor, Mrs.
Walker, to fire him, which she does. However, Kris Kringle had
proven himself to be the most popular Santa Claus Macy’s had ever
hired that the store’s manager then ordered Mrs. Walker to rehire Kris Kringle, which she does.
Then, in
a conversation, Kris Kringle tells Mrs. Walker,
For the past 50 years or so [remember: that would go back to 1890], I’ve been getting more and more worried
about Christmas. It seems we’re all so busy trying to beat the
other fellow in making things go faster and look shinier and cost
less that Christmas and I are sort of getting lost in the shuffle.
“Oh, I
don’t think so,” Mrs. Walker responds. “Christmas is still
Christmas,” she says.
“No,”
Kris Kringle objects. “Christmas isn’t just a day. It’s a frame
of mind. That’s what’s been changing.”
It’s
that “frame of mind” and the likelihood that many of us may be
relegating it to the sidelines that is so very important for us to
consider. As we approach the celebration of Christmas, are we
preparing in such a way that we will truly appreciate what God has done for us in sending His
only begotten Son and do we allow this gift to change us? Or, are we expending so much time,
energy, and money on celebrating Christmas that we’ve distracted
ourselves from entering into the meaning of Christmas, that “frame
of mind” Kris Kringle feared was being lost?
In his
epistle to the Romans, St. Paul
reminds us of
what God has done for all of humanity (and for all generations as
well!) in sending His only begotten Son:
All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ
Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his
blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins
previously committed, through the forbearance of God—to prove his
righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and
justify the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26)
For the
Christian faith, this is
a most crucial passage of scripture and one that certainly is difficult
to understand. Scripture scholars—beginning with St. Augustine
and followed-up by one of his disciples, Martin Luther—suggest that
St. Paul is reminding us that God does not express His
“righteousness” by chastising human beings or, worse yet, by taking
out revenge against them, or condemning them to eternal perdition,
as many believe. On the contrary, St. Paul is
reminding
us that God expresses His righteousness as He acts to make us
justified to receive God’s
gifts, especially His love and mercy.
In this
sense, God’s righteousness has nothing to do with how we make
ourselves righteous and holy. No, God’s righteousness reflects
God’s nature: He is the God of love and mercy. God isn’t
righteous because we’ve done anything, like turning away from sin or leading
virtuous lives. No, the meaning of Christmas—what that day is
truly all about—is that God has already acted to justify us—sinful people—by
extending the gift of Divine Love and Mercy. It’s a gift that
has already been given. All we have to do is to accept this
gift and allow it to change us!
This
belief—that God has acted first to justify us—makes Christians
different from any other religious people. Whereas other religions
stress the importance of walking the pathway of salvation and
proving love of God by practicing virtue as well as learning
and practicing religious tenets, Christians know they cannot “earn” God’s love and
mercy. Quite the opposite! It is not we who, all of a sudden,
change our lives and engage in doing good. No, God has acted first
by extending His love and mercy to us. Salvation doesn’t begin with
what we do to save ourselves. Instead, salvation begins with what
God has already done to save us.
The
gospel readings of the past two Sundays spoke directly about this belief
that reverses the order of salvation.
Focusing
upon the figure of John the Baptist who called upon those seeking
baptism to convert, we oftentimes think about “conversion” as
changing our behavior, likening this change of behavior to a “precondition” for
salvation. But, in light of St. Paul’s assertion about God’s
righteousness, John’s call to “convert and believe” doesn’t mean
that we change our behavior and then believe. No, John’s call
requires that we convert by believing in God’s initiative, as St. Thomas
Aquinas asserted in the Summa Theologiae (I-IIae, q. 133, a.
4). Conversion, then, is belief in God Who has revealed His
love and mercy by sending His only begotten Son into the world and
then,
as St. Paul notes, belief in the blood of Jesus Christ poured out to
seal our salvation (Romans 3:25).
Properly
understood, the idea of God’s righteousness reminds us—as Kris
Kringle stated in
“The Miracle on 34th Street”
—that Christmas isn’t a
day but a way of life. Each day, our conversion—the decision
to believe in
God—assists us to recognize how God continuously has offered His love and mercy. But,
instead of failing to recognize the gift and the Giver of the gift,
conversion has changed us. We believe not only in God and His
presence in our lives, but in the blood of Jesus Christ which has
sealed our salvation.
This is
the “good news” we celebrate on Christmas day. God isn’t going to
chastise us for our sins or, worse yet, take out revenge against us,
or condemn us to eternal perdition. No, the good news of
Christmas day is that God has definitively offered us Divine Love and Mercy
in the gift of His only begotten Son. All we have to do is to
accept this gift, recognize the Giver of the gift, and allow the
blood of Jesus Christ to seal our salvation. That is the
“conversion” to which John the Baptist has called each and every one
of us, not just on Christmas day but, as Kris Kringle noted to Mrs.
Walker, every day as that “frame of mind” assists us to see God’s
gifts present and active in our lives.
The
celebration of Christmas doesn’t end there, however. As today’s
first reading and gospel remind us, God also surprises us in many
unexpected ways as God offers Divine Love and Mercy. But, again,
it isn’t we who “earn” these gifts; it’s God’s righteousness that
justifies us so that we will receive these gifts.
Take
King David, for example.
God
loved David, as God loves all of us. Having failed miserably in his
dalliance with Bathsheba yet having experienced God’s love and mercy,
David knew first-hand about the grace of conversion. Now, instead
of seeing everything around him as something he earned through his
efforts, David realized that everything around him was God’s gift.
In
typical human fashion, however, David thought he “owed” God for the
gifts of Divine Love
and Mercy. David was embarrassed that, while he lived in a royal
palace, the Ark of the Covenant—the symbol of God’s earthly dwelling
place—was housed in a lowly and meager tent. So, David concluded that he would give
God a gift, much as we give gifts to one another on Christmas day.
For King David, the gift would be a glorious temple, a dwelling
place that King
David believed suitable for God’s majesty. That would prove
David’s
love of God.
But,
like King David, we cannot give God a gift equal to His gift of Divine Love and
Mercy. No, God is the “Gift-Giver” par excellence who builds His earthly dwelling
place among us. And, just as it was for King David, so too, it is
for us. God’s dwelling place is not going to be housed in buildings but
is breathed into people—a
lineage of people—the heirs to Divine Love and Mercy. The
surprise for King David—as it is for us—is that this kingdom, made of
the Spirit and not of the flesh—the People of God—will last
forever. Like King David, we have done nothing to “earn”
or
“merit”
this surprise. It is God’s righteousness
alone that justifies us to be
surprised by and to receive Divine Love and Mercy.
As we
heard in today’s gospel, God also had a very big surprise in store
for Mary.
In
Nazareth, which was really nothing more than a small outpost in the
middle of nowhere where people spent their days just surviving, God
surprised Mary by sending an angel who hailed her as “full of grace”
and “blessed among all women.” Imagine what it must have felt like
for Mary—a simple, 14-year old peasant girl who lived in the middle of
nowhere—to be gifted by God with the surprise that, among all women,
God had chosen Mary to bear God’s only begotten Son.
“What
good could ever come out of Nazareth?” snorted those bigots who considered this
outpost and its inhabitants unworthy of any such a divine gift.
Yet, the surprise was not just Mary’s; the surprise was not just
bigot’s;
the surprise would be ours as
well. God’s love and mercy aren’t reserved to those who think they
are deserving of these divine gifts because they have
“earned”
or
“merited”
them. No, God’s love and mercy are
freely given to those who know they are undeserving.
Though
confused and fearful, Mary responds to God’s surprise by
converting, that is, she believes in God and, as a consequence,
would eventually see God’s gift become something greater than she could
ever imagine. It would be the blood of her son poured out on
behalf of sinners that would seal
salvation for those who believe in God and in the blood of His only
begotten Son!
Today’s
scripture reminds us that Christmas is about surprises, generosity,
and love. But, it’s not about how we will surprise others, be
generous to them, and love them come Christmas day. No, Christmas
is about how God surprises us, is generous with us, and loves us
beyond all measure. In these surprises, God gives us the gifts of
Divine Love and Mercy that becalm and eliminate the chaos swirling about us and
which swell our hearts with gratitude. Through His love and mercy,
God communicates that we are special and beloved. Most importantly,
these divine gifts make it possible for us to love others—especially
the least among us,
“sinners” we bigots call them—just as God loves us. That is the
meaning of
Christmas which brings the peace of God’s
kingdom to the world!
The days of Advent are
drawing nigh on, just as the sun
is setting earlier each day. Yet, the star of Christmas is rising on the horizon. During these
precious few days, our challenge as the People of God is to develop that “frame of mind,”
as Kris Kringle called it, so
that, when Christmas day comes, we will truly appreciate how God
has gifted us with Divine Love and Mercy, especially in sending His
only begotten Son whose blood has sealed our salvation.
A very brief commercial
break...
As
Catholics, the way we celebrate the Incarnation can be a time of
spiritual renewal for families. Building upon the family's
preparations for Christ's coming during the four weeks of Advent, what
family members do together on Christmas day can strengthen the bonds
of love, encourage solidarity, and overcome the divisions caused by
sin that have weakened family members and the family unit. For Catholic families, let me suggest
four very practical ways to celebrate Christmas day:
1.
Set up a Nativity scene. During the 13th century, St.
Francis of Assisi popularized the Nativity scene.
Christmas day is the day for the Baby Jesus to be placed in the
manger. Early on Christmas morning, gather the family around
the Nativity scene and have the youngest child place the Baby Jesus
in the manger. After this is completed, have the family
members join hands and sing one verse of "O Come All Ye Faithful."
2.
Attend Mass. The celebration of "Christ's Mass" on
Christmas day as a family is the moment toward which all of our
Advent preparations have brought us. In
the Eucharist, Jesus Christ—the
Incarnate word of God—becomes one with us. When family members
participate together in the celebration of the Eucharist by uniting
their hearts and minds in God, Jesus
Christ will unite the family in his body and blood, dwelling in them.
2.
Exchange gifts. On Christmas day, God gives the world His
only begotten Son. The exchange of gifts of Christmas day is
one way that we can echo God's greatest of gifts. Before opening gifts,
gather the family together and have the oldest child read the
narrative found in the Gospel of Matthew where the Magi travel from
afar to bring their finest gifts to the newborn king.
As family members exchange each gift, have the gift-giver say "Merry
Christmas, Peace be with you." In response, have the recipient
say, "Thanks be to God!"
3. Let
the lights shine. As the Christmas meal is to begin,
gather the family members and guests around the dinner table before
each person sits down to eat.
Have one family member place a white Christmas candle in the middle
of the Advent wreath located in the center of the table. Then,
as another member of the family lights the candle, a parent reads
aloud the first chapter of the Gospel of John, announcing that all
of the family members are "children of the light."
Conclude by singing one verse of "Silent Night, Holy Night."
4. Don't
forget the feast! Sharing a meal is a universal symbol
that expresses care, love, and solidarity. On Christmas day,
the meal is should be festive, a way for the people gathered around
the table to express their joy in the coming of Jesus
Christ. Inviting relatives, friends, and those who are alone
to share in this feast is a particularly apt symbol of our communion
as God's children
By
participating in these four practical activities on Christmas
day, Catholic families will not only have thanked God for the gift
of His only begotten Son and welcomed Jesus Christ into
their lives and home.
In addition, they will have experienced God present and active in
their lives and home. Then, in the days that follow, these
activities will continue to strengthen and nourish the family and
its members to bring Christ
to the world.
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HOMILY
