December 14, 2004

It certainly didn't begin in the fifties, but since then, the Infant Christ has increasingly been ushered out of the public eye. How many of you remember when magazine covers like Time and Look would feature beautiful pictures of the Madonna and Child during this holy season. Television would broadcast shows and movies which celebrated the story of Christmas. Religious shows were presented and repeated back-to-back on the "Million Dollar Movie", while even the run-of-the-mill television shows would attempt to present religious programming and "Christmas Specials".

Yes, in recent memory religion in America was not only acceptable, but celebrated - in public places - on air-waves, in schools and in shopping centers. Yet silently and slowly the Christian holy day was secularized and stretched this way and that. It is now beyond recognition. Of course, the original intent was to celebrate the Incarnation, that is, the enfleshment of Almighty God in Jesus Christ. Now look at the lawns - we slowly went from Christ to cartoon characters. When Christians began to celebrate Santa, it silently slid downhill - first to Frosty, then to the Grinch, now to Winnie-the-Pooh.

Don’t think for a moment I am blaming this secularization on Hollywood or any irreligious people – we have only ourselves to blame. When a person gets sick, they should not get angry at the cold weather or their sniffling co-worker; not dressing, eating or resting properly is the real problem. When we allow the wall of our natural resistance to get so low that germs and viruses simply step up and into us - well, whose fault is that?

Why so many Christian homes display large lit-up mythical figures and not the newborn Messiah is a good question - to which many of you know the answer. Getting Christ out of the public eye didn't begin in the 50's - it started on "day one" with King Herod. The effort continued and failed with Pilate; but the battle will continue on. The question we must ask ourselves is this -Whose side am I on? The answer? Easy! Look on your lawn.

Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR
Community Servant, residing at St. Felix Friary in Yonkers, New York
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