December 23, 2006
An Embattled Christmas
I am happy to say that the campaign run by many different people to keep Christ in Christmas has been quite successful. Even some of the atheist writers admitted in public recently that they have no problem with people celebrating Christmas—and some of them even have Christmas trees. I heard an interesting story that if somebody won’t say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah,” just say to them: “good luck”—they may need it.
Beyond that is a sign that I saw in front of a Protestant Church, “Christmas without Christ is Meaningless.” I’m sure every one of our readers is hoping to communicate to all their friends and relatives how important Christ is. I encourage you to do this in a direct but gentle way with a smile on your face. A good way to do it is to just mention casually to the unbelievers and the non-practicing Catholics in your family that you have been participating in different things getting ready for Christmas and what you intend to do. The casual mention of details of life pertinent to the spiritual meaning of Christmas is a great way to get the message across. People expect you to listen to things they say about shopping, or about the weather, or about where they are going; and so the casual mention of religious observances is a very effective thing. You might even get a question or two, which gives you a bigger opportunity to get your foot in the door.
In the meantime, let us keep Christ in Christmas. As the world becomes more secular and confused, let the believers become more spiritual and integrated in their thinking. There has been a wonderful response this year to our work with the poor. People understand this very well at Christmas. It’s a marvelous opportunity for people to get out of themselves, to see beyond their narrow self interest, and to give themselves away. When you think about it, isn’t it God giving Himself away at Christmas and isn’t that what this holy week is all about?
Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR
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