Is Christmas for “Holidays” or “Holy days”?
When I was doing my second year BPH in Yercaud, I witnessed the following episode:Group: 1
Sathi: Martin, Did you look at the notice board?
Martin: No. Why? What is so special?
Sathi: RSS group has asked our suggestions for the Christmas notice board.
Martin: O.k. come. Let us write “why at all has He been born?”
Group: 2
Rosario: Did you see the
notice board?
Paciaraj: Why? Has assistant put out some list?
Rosario: No, Martin has written “Why at all has He has born?” For the Christmas notice board.
Packiaraj: Since we are going home for the Christmas holidays let us write “He is born to give us holidays.” What do you say?
Rosario: O.K come let us write.
When I was thinking of giving a reflection on this day, this particular incident blocked all other tho
ughts of mine. So, I have decided to present my views on Is Christmas for “Holidays” or “Holy days”?
Holiday origin
ally referred only to special religious days. In modern use, it means any special day of rest or relaxation, as opposed to normal days of work or school. The word is derived from the notion of "Holy Day", and gradually evolved to its current form.
Notwithstanding I see that the birth of Jesus does depict holidays in three levels.
I. IN THE EXTERNAL WORLD OR PRACTICAL LIFE:
1. In the first place, the birth of Jesus gives holidays to sorrows:
Mt: 2; 10. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
Birth
day is a day of happiness. The Family and relatives celebrate when a child is born in their family. We try to celebrate our birthdays joyfully. Some children even ask their parents not to scold them on the day of their birthdays even if they do some mistakes, because they want to give ‘holidays to sorrows’. Like any other birthdays, the birthday of Jesus also gives holidays to sorrows. Normally our birthdays give joy and happiness to a particular group but His birthday gave joy to the whole world because He is the son of God. We will soon be celebrating his birthday. Unless and until he is born in our hearts, Jesus’ birthday cannot
give ‘holidays to sorrows, to depression’, etc. Holiday to sorrows mean we allow the values of the kingdom of God to mould our hearts, our life, our attitudes. And on this SDB commitment day when we recall 150years of our congregation, it is good opportune to ask ourselves: Have I given ‘holidays to compromises’ or have given ‘holidays to my commitment?’
2. Christmas gives leave or holidays to selfishness.
Matthew 2: 11, they offered him gifts
Gifts signify love, sacrifice and sharing. We don’t give anything and everything as gifts. We take time and select gifts. Gifts show who we are. The mere fact of exchanging of gifts shows the spirit of sharing. It is sacrificing our selfish
ness. Selfish people or egoistic accumulate things but don’t share. Christmas signifies sharing. God gave Jesus as a gift to the earth. He in turn gave his life as gift to the world, the God’s creation. The same God has given us the gift of life. We must in turn give him a gift by bringing his Kingdom on earth. This can be done only when we give holidays to selfishness, to egoism, to our self-centeredness.
3. Birthday of Jesus gives ‘holidays to anxiety’.
Mark: 2; 9, They were terrified.
People were anxious to see the Messiah. The shepherds were living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock. They were
terrified by the message from the angel. Their anxiety for a salvation came to an end on the night of Christmas. It gave them hope for all their worries and they rushed to see Jesus. We start the liturgical year with Advent which leads us to Christmas. It is a time of hope which will come about only when, we give holidays to anxieties, to worries, to our unending busy schedules.
II. IN THE LEVEL OF MIND:
Christmas gives holidays to our imagination of “what the kingdom of God is?
Christ’s birth gives holiday to the imagination and our own idea of kingdom of God (that is having an idea that the city of God is only in heaven and not the earth) and brings a new idea that the kingdom of God starts here and now, on this earth
. His birth is to show to people the governing principles of city of God can be anticipated in the city of man. John Dewey says that to change the society we must change the social values and change our life style, we must change our thinking and values. So, to create the kingdom of God on this earth, his life principles like love, brotherhood and justice first should govern our thinking and become our values to bring the city of God here on earth. Let this Christmas give holidays to our wild and unruly imaginations.
III. IN THE SPIRITUAL LEVEL:
The birthday of Jesus gives holidays to pietism.
This is not to create a heresy. By this statement I don’t mean that Jesus did not pray. I mean by this statement that His life itself was prayer, and not a simple pietism. His spiritual and practical life went hand in hand. There was no difference between them in his life. He did not pray for one thing and practice some other thing. In other words He brought holidays to the concept that practical and spiritual life is not different. The birth of Jesus tells us that our practical life should become our prayer. This is the governing principle of the kingdom of God, to become active contemplatives in this 150th year of our society.
Comments
Post a Comment