Keep the Christmas star shining
Monday, December 30, 2013
Father Manny Alvarez
A couple of years ago, I walked into a Macy’s on Dec. 27 and found not a single trace of Christmas. Last year, when I visited my parents for a couple of days, I noticed Christmas trees dumped on the side of the road waiting for garbage pickup on Dec. 26.
I don’t get it. Why is the world so quick to discard Christmas? Why must we put this glorious celebration behind us as if it were something we had to do and are thankful that it is finally over?
In the Church, the Christmas season lasts until next week, when we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord; so you will see the decorations even though the world has moved on. But before that we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, when Christ is revealed to all nations.
In the Epiphany Gospel, three men from the East come looking for the newborn king of the Jews. Foreigners come looking for Jesus while his own people fail to recognize him. All the signs were there: the star, the words in Scripture, their longing for a Messiah. Jesus was in their midst but even the king’s own priests and scribes failed to recognize what three foreigners recognized.
The beauty of this day — and the entire Christmas season for that matter — is that we marvel and do homage to this God-child who was born for us. Like the Magi, we rejoice upon seeing the star, and we prostrate ourselves in the presence of the newborn king who shines brighter than any star. But the world seeks to hide that star or diminish its light.
The feast of the Epiphany is a reminder that the light of our faith must shine as that star did over Bethlehem. This light must be in the heart of every Christian so the spirit of Christmas doesn’t vanish when we go back to school or, as the Church calls it, “ordinary time.”
The world will leave the joy of Christmas behind. As Christians, we should not.
So it comes down to this as we continue our Christmas celebration: Are we going to be like Herod and his priests who fail to see the beauty of the presence of Christ in their midst? Or are we going to be like the Magi and recognize Jesus in our midst, seek him out and share his light?
Comments from readers
Thank you for this much needed observation. Our society tends to turn Christmas into a parody of sorts whereby Advent is not understood as a penitential season of preparation but a time of intense discount hunting and shopping spree; Christmas is regarded as a single-day event of gift-trading under the auspices of the jolly Santa promptly to be replaced by �Valentine's� - devoid of any religious significance, whereupon Lent is ignored or treated as a time for Carnivals to be followed by the sudden appearance of the Easter Bunny. I wish our parishes would resist these trends, perhaps by giving greater allowance to liturgical austerity and silence during Advent and Lent.
Por ello nosotros en Radio Paz y nuestra conferencia de San Vicente de Paul entregamops juguetes el Dia de los Tres Reyes Magos, porque no estamos de acuerdo con ese mu�eco barrig�n que llaman Santa Claus, el verdadero santo fue San Nicolas y regalaba los jugutes que el mismo hacia a los hijos de sus parroquianos en su iglesia. Lo otro no es mas que la creaci�n de los negociantes para llenar sus bolsillos, olvidandose de los necesitados y de los que nada tienen.
Thank you for your article. It is very easy to discard the Christmas tree and put the house in order, but this is a good reminder that we are still celebrating the birth of Christ until his Baptism. Great example to give to our children, and to continue the celebration to share the light.