Christmas is for adults too

Catholic Aid Spiritual Director Monsignor James Habiger shares with us this timely Christmas message: The Monsignor says we equate Christmas with gifts, and Santa Claus and the excitement of children, but Christmas is mostly for adults. Read on...

It seems to me that for many people, Christmas is for children. Who does not delight in the excitement of the little ones at this time of year? However, I would suggest that Christmas is mostly for adults.

Just this week I came across the Christmas card from Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. He wrote: “My dear friends…this is a very special Christmas for me because it is likely my last on this earth. There is, of course, a tinge of sadness to this reality. But there is also joy and anticipation at the prospect of being more intimately united with the Lord in the world to come. His incarnation, which we celebrate during this season, is the basis for our present faith and our hope for the future. When I begin my final journey home, know that I will carry you in my heart…A Blessed Christmas.”

We as adults should ask — If this were my last Christmas on earth, what quality should my celebration have? Do I really appreciate the crib of Christ? Is God’s great plea to be taken seriously? 

It seems to me we should not view Christmas as just what God does, but, instead, we must become participants instead of mere spectators, and give flesh to the mystery of Christmas. 

When children draw a crèche, they often put themselves in the scene. Is this naivete or true belief? It seems to me we do well to imitate their insight.

In at least three ways, we give flesh to the mystery of Christmas:

• When people can come home to themselves in our presence.
• When people dislike our absence because they find hope when we are nearby
• And when people see that the Gospel message “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” is given flesh in our lives.
  

When people can come home to themselves in our presence, we give flesh to the mystery of Christmas. St. Irenaeus said that the glory of God is man fully come alive. Rabbi Heschel said, “I was born a human being and therefore I must be about the work of being human.” Knowing this, as part of our belief system, people will want to become their best in our presence — strive for their full potential, broaden their minds, expand their hearts and enhance their whole being.

We give flesh to the mystery of Christmas when people dislike our absence because they find hope when we are nearby. This is so because we take Him at His word. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is called “savior” 14 times. In the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus is called “savior” more than 40 times. His name Jesus means “God saves.” 

We give hope to others because we believe that eternal love wrapped Himself in our human nature. We believe that Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, is with us today. We believe that it is the Word made flesh, Jesus Himself, who speaks to us in the readings of the Liturgy of the Word. We believe that Jesus, the God-man in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, touches our flesh with His humanness, with His Body and Blood. Because this is the faith by which we live, we give hope to others. 

We celebrate the mystery of Christmas when people see the Gospel message “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” made flesh in us. 

Pope Pius XII said when we eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus, we become what we eat and drink. Therefore, as He gave His life for others, we who become Him in our eating and drinking at the Eucharistic table are called to do the same — thus giving flesh to the Gospel message.

Christmas is not just what God does. We do Christmas, too. We do Christmas when people can come home to themselves in our presence; and when people dislike our absence because they find hope when we are nearby; and when the Gospel message, “There is no greater love…,” is incarnate in us. In these ways, we give flesh to the mystery of Christmas, the mystery of God’s infinite love for us.

Believing this, we go forth into our world not only singing “Joy to the World,” but being joy to the world.

Copyright 2009 Catholic Aid Association. For reprint permission, please email news@catholicaid.org. Reprinted from the November-December issue of Catholic Aid Journey, a publication of Catholic Aid Association.