Blog 121 Christmas

121 Christmas Christmas is whenever you think about it, and the more you do the better it gets. Christmas is whenever you think about it and whatever you think about it. With the original event of Christmas occurring two thousand years ago the only access we have to formulate our thoughts about it today is by faith. Speaking of here in the United States, on December 25th the whole country is aware of the day we Catholics call Christmas. The day on the calendar is the same for all of us as all the other days of the year as far as the number of hours it contains, or in other words as far as the sun is concerned. But it is very special for some of us who have spent the whole month of Advent getting ready for it to come. Even so, especially since under the influence and effect of the present current pagan culture and mass media , whether we realize it or not, we are pressured and tempted to conform to the way the day is lifted up under the name of Holiday rather than Christmas in many instances. As the sun goes down on Christmas Day we sometimes have the feeling the day was too short and we have wished to event of Christmas could go on forever. Actually the event of Christmas can and should and does go on until the end of time. But we must think about it, understand it and make it our own by faith in order to experience Christmas as it was designed to be. We are advantaged thinking about Christmas here in February without the possible distractions and competitors for our time and energy such as pies and presents, snowmen and reindeer, Santa Claus, gourmet dining and jolly good times of December 25th. All of these are good and we will be blessed and please the Lord if we are still on earth and enjoy them again in December 2011. But they are not what Christmas is all about. The theology of Christmas invites us to think more deeply than the colors shapes and sounds of Christmas to discover the identity and meaning of the original event two thousand years ago. We are called to realize in our limited human way the baby born of Mary, to be called Jesus, and the divine person revealed in the Gospel of St. John as the Word of God is one and the same person. The Resurrected Jesus as the Word of God on earth, Emmanuel, is by the power of the Holy Spirit our prime and sole witness today to the creation by God of all that exists, the love of God for all people, the authenticity of the Bible and of the Church, His Body, and the possibility and unimaginable power what would be required and available to bring peace among all nations around the world if we would seek and follow His will.