December 27, 2005

There are some words that one would never think of saying in polite company. PLEASE! Don’t list them in your mind. The point I wish to highlight is that it seems that “Christmas” has—at least in the marketplace and mainstream media—become one such offensive word. “Christmas” is the kind of word that decent folk just would never say in polite and politically correct company. Why shouldn’t it be so, when, after all, Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ was rated –R– right?

O, the humility of our God who by taking on human flesh stripped Himself of glory and made Himself for a little while less than the angels. He stripped Himself of glory, so that humanity—you and I—might be glorified. Saint Gregory of Nyssa once marveled as follows:

     Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the      possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary      to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator.

     Are these things minor or insignificant?

     Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it since humanity was in so miserable and      unhappy a state?

Somehow the sentiments of the words “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays” fail to convey the mystery and majesty of the God-Man fast asleep in Bethlehem’s manger. How those words lack the marvel and wonder of the Magi and the shepherds who saw and believed.

How meaningless are the words “Seasons Greetings” if we fail to see the Son greeting mankind so intimately and mysteriously by becoming incarnate? STOP! Meditate upon what has made so happy and holy this great “Happy Holiday.” O how the great Saints spent countless hours contemplating the love of God made known to us in Sacred Flesh and Precious Blood—Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Bd. Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul the Great . . . just to name a few.

To conclude, please allow me to ask a rather hackneyed question.

What is in a name?

When it comes to Christmas, the very name—CHRIST. Nothing like stating the obvious, right?

It is with great awe and wonder that I say to you and yours, Merry Christmas! Glorify Him Who has first glorified you!

Fr. Sylvester Mary Mann, CFR