Christmas

Christmas - a word evocative of so much in the hearts of all Christians! Christmas - easily the best loved and therefore the most proclaimed of all perennial events.

Wherever one goes, in cities, towns, schools, and homes, one finds representations of the Yuletide mood, a spirit which seems to flourish in the twelfth month of every year and which seems to break through into all of us as though it suddenly came to exist in the very air we breath. In the busy downtown sections and in the private recesses of our homes, we hear disc jockeys reviving old popular songs appropriate for the season. These are the Christmas carols, classic but engrossing strains which have stood the transitory of years and without which the celebration of Christmas will probably seem imperfect.

At night time, the iridescent glitter of vari-colored lights lends a jubilant air to our metropolis. Big and small stores alike, at times even little stalls, display appealing paradigm Christmas threads. In department stores, the sale of greeting cards and gifts becomes a quick and lucrative business. Once more we greet Santa Claus, the modernized version of St. Nicholas, as the jolly, ruddy-faced oldster with the thick, white beard and with the red cotton-lined suit and cap. The living room of every home is often than not, graced by a captivating Christmas tree decorated with gleaming tinsels, bulbs of red, blue and gold, and cute, bright little what-nots.

These are spectacles and traditions amalgamated with Christmas; however, to some people the word has a gustatory supplication. To the rich there are visions of the dinner table crowded with "jamon", "lechon", roasted turkey or "puchero". To the poor, no matter how hard they have to economize for months in their daily meals, there is always a dinner celebration suitable for making a blissful though simple Christmas. There are always native delicacies usually and ordinarily associated with Christmas. The Tagalogs have their puto bumbong and bibingka, the Visayans, their empanada and pancit molo, in Pampanga, reputably known to be the home of good cooks, we have open "calame" and if it is the "pasalubong" type, only a Pampangueno heart can respond to that challenge to the teeth and tongue and palate. The resistant but tasteful and utterly savory delicacy is a pleasure to served more fully for the young who have strong teeth and jaws and to those who can bite crunch and grind it, and the Ilocanos their tupig.

But this are only eventual. A true Filipino and Catholic Christmas is one which becomes a fountain of gaiety, delightedness, and satisfaction not only because of the external traditions that have come to be associated with it such as the carollings the gay parties, and the exchange of gifts, but also because it calls for the best in us and reawakens our slumbering Faith. In response to the invitation of the church bells we brave the cold December air to attend the Misa de Gallo for nine consecutive days.

The true Filipino spirit of Christmas is not felt in the erroneous feature of Christmas trees and lanterns of different styles and arrangement and gay colors, to the ensuing disregard of the Christ Child in his lonely manger. For us Catholics the veritable spirit is more befittingly revealed in a belen,for the Christ Child Who came to earth for love of man is the pure emblem of love. Christmas to be fully Christmas must be uttered by Love. Christmas is the time to forgive and forget past injuries, to reconcile families than to receive , to be at peace at oneself and with the world - for peace on earth can come only to mean of goodwill.

Christmas Gift List

by Msgr. Ruben Dimaculangan

Resurrection narrative preceding the Infancy narrative. Regarding the dates of Gospel episodes, you must have heard more than once in your home parishes that the birth of Christ was written after the story of the Resurrection. This indicates that though Christ's messianic birth was prefigured and expected, our rising with Him in the last day to be with the Father is the center of our faith. For that, we proclaim it in every Mass as the Mystery of our Faith: "Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again." That is why, during this Giving Season, while you are contemplating about your gift-list, let me tell you about some epochal figures whose lives remind us that after all, their authentic gift-giving, offered in union with the Lord, was the best for Christmas and for as long as they lived:

Death as a fulfillment. Alexander idealized Achilles, who preferred a shorter life in return for eternal fame. Almost like his idol, Alexander died young at thirty-two. No one knows whether his shortened life was caused by typhoid or by a conspiracy of his officers who got tired of his conquests, alleged unreachable dreams and unreasonable slavery to his power and megalomania. Meanwhile, in another civilization, we see another figure, Solomon, whose gift-list registers his love of God as his top priority. For choosing wisdom over power and wealth, he was rewarded with both. Truly, "our strength is shown in the things we stand for; our weakness is shown in the things we fall for."

Surprisingly, some prefer death to life because of the fear to face life. At times, seduction to death comes from boredom in success or from fatigue in trying. Dag Hammarskjold, along this regard, left lasting advice: "Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment."

Resurrection as a guarantee. Two weeks before his assassination, Oscar Romero, Archbishop and martyr of San Salvador , said: "I have frequently been threatened with death. I must say that, as a Christian, I do not believe in death but in the resurrection. If they kill me, I shall rise again in the Salvadoran people. Martyrdom is a great gift from God that I do not believe I have earned. But if God accepts the sacrifice of my life then may blood be the seed of liberty, and a sign of the hope that will soon become a reality … A bishop will die, but the Church of God – the people – will never die."

Being a saint in secret defines the uniqueness of our meaningful role. Not everybody can be a Solomon or an Archbishop Romero. Besides, martyrdom is a gift only to some. The purpose of this Christmas article is just to affirm your daily sacrifices. I have met people who become "like a fish crazily searching for the sea, not knowing he is already swimming right there." They constantly search for the meaning of life, not knowing that its meaning is in finding meaning in the daily-ness of their gift-list. My dear Readers, just by being a saint in secret you become the best saint that will ever happen to the people around you. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Self-Interview about Christmas

by Msgr. Ruben Dimaculangan

Visit his blog at http://www.siyanganaman.blogspot.com

What can you say about Christmas?

Well, this being my 52^nd Christmas, the first I can say is that it's the time when people "go back home". In Italy they say, "Natale con i tuoi; la Pasqua con chi vuoi". Loosely, it means, "Christmas is spent with your family; Easter Sunday, with whomever you want".

Reunion with the family on Christmas is yet a strong tradition in Europe . To the Filipino migrant worker, the noche buena is always a dream, if not an obsession. Some are given to the extent of self-sacrifice during the whole year just to be able to come home for Christmas.

Christmas is a "going back home". I love it. Christmas is also a happy return to where and to whom I belong. For me, it's more than a recurrence of christmas rituals, steadfastness to tradition or a passion for soft memories. It is a reunion with those significant loved ones who have gone ahead of us. The family table glee, the Yuletide colors and carols, the values that the gospel and secular Christmas characters re-project, the joy of giving and expressing goodwill - they all shepherd me back "home". Christmas is a return to my God, who is so simple, but made complicated unfortunately, by my complicated past.

Christmas is being at home. It's a personal renewal and proclamation of the collective rootedness of my existence. That rootedness gives me strength... just as how much my late visit to my loved ones (Inay, Tatay, Kuya Ben, Kuya Fr. Joe) at the cemetery, some hours before my flight back to my mission, added me life. I want to believe that Pinoys start playing Christmas carols as early as October not so much to give way to their commercial bent as to haul off for strength, inspiration and for the authentic experience of Christmas.

Is that so? Well, do you find anything peculiar about Christmas?

The waiting and the preparation. It's peculiar that people are just so excited waiting and preparing for Christmas. In real life, waiting and preparing appears to be the most exacting and boring piece of experience. So, I see, Christmas teaches me patience. But patience here does not mean cynicism, indifference, apathy, inactivity and senseless surrender. Christian patience means active waiting, persevering hope, a constant prayer that the Lord of history bless my consecrated effort. St. Augustine says that St. Paul 's admonition to pray constantly does not only mean the bending of one's knees. Rather, it is an interior disposition of not ceasing to desire to do perseveringly the will of God while bearing in faith the pain of growth.

For some of us it's easy to be impatient because we might have a different measure of time and a different criterion of victory. My impatience occurs when my time does not harmonize or cohere with His time; also, when I restrict time to my own perspective and measure victory mainly in the measure that it compensates my effort.

To spend an authentic Christmas do you think we should really do away with the christmas tree and with Santa Claus?

It was not only this year that many, from the pulpit and from the communications media, have strung together criticisms against commercialized Christmas. Many have come to suggest eliminating the christmas trees and poor Santa Claus. But, why should we jump in to the idea when it's just barking plainly at the wrong tree. In fact, Santa Claus is but just a symbol and an extension of a God whose joy is self-giving, incarnated as Jesus. Equally, the Christmas tree is but a leg up to heighten the thrill of the Christmas ambience that normally features the crib. So, rather than eliminate them I can "christianize" Christmas again just as what the Catholic Church did to the feast of the Roman pagans when the latter used to worship the Invincible Sun on the first day that daylight started to be longer than night time.

Is it true that Christmas is just for kids and for the rich?

On the contrary it's for everybody. Christmas is for adults who can "christianize" Christmas. I can start it up by deepening on my act of giving. I should remember, what Yahweh wants is not the ritual sacrifice but our love. Rather than agonize because I don't have anything to share on Christmas I can determine to organize myself by being convinced that the giving on Christmas is just a symbol of what I can do and what I can give the rest of the year. When I say "giving" I speak not only about the exchange gifts and the aguinaldos; I refer as well to the performance and integrity of a public servant, voluntary, elected or appointed.

I can "christianize" Christmas by being convinced that I am God's instrument. Like Mary and Joseph after the angel's announcement of the part they can do in the plan of salvation, I should not be paralyzed by fright. It's just normal to be afraid of our littleness, to feel insecure of the little gift that we can best afford. After all, it's only in our powerlessness, in being less than Harry Potter, that the saving act of God happens through us. Only he who is convinced that the mission he is doing is for God and for the greater family of God, can afford to put up with all sorts of antagonisms. He could live with almost anyhow; he would not even be afraid of death, much less of rejection. He knows and feels he is not alone. For trusting a God who knows what he is all about, he knows everything has a purpose.

Christmas is for the poor. It's for the "little drummer boy" who could offer nothing to Jesus except his drumming. It's for John the Baptist who said he was not even worthy of undoing the straps of the Messiah's sandals. It's for Mary, a simple housewife, who confessed how she was but a handmaid of the Lord. To "christianize" Christmas I should not be afraid. Whether I am a plain housewife, a public servant, or a technocrat dwarfed by my particular mission, in my poverty and powerlessness I should hope. I should pluck up more courage and be more determined. But in all this, the secret of my perseverance and a meaningful Christmas and New Year is when I believe more in the Lord of history than in myself.

Visit Msgr. Ruben's blog at www.siyanganaman.blogspot.com