ARED DEMS FIGHTEN WORDS?

Merry Christmas!

 

The past two days made me so happy to be Catholic!  What a wonderful (if exhausting) celebration it was.  We may do a lot of things poorly, but we know how to do Christmas as a community.

 

This is also my favorite time to get into conversations with non-Catholic experts on Catholicism.  One of my favorites that usually takes place over the last cup of eggnog is the person who pushes back in his chair with a crooked grin and announces, “Well, you know, Christmas is just a pagan holiday that Catholics are celebrating.”  Then, for some inexplicable reason, Catholics feel they have to save the honor of the Church by fighting this accusation.

 

Catholics: Relax.  There are a number of reasons not to get excited.

 

#1  True pagans are not evil.  Paganism gave way to Christianity.  It passed for a reason.  Neo-pagans are trying to reclaim something like guys in midlife crisis trying to reclaim college dorm life.  (I know neo-pagans are not going to like that.  But this is not a pagan blog, it is a Catholic one and is expressing Catholic beliefs.  Counter this on your own blog.)  It may not have given birth to it the same way that the Jewish faith did, but in many ways it too prepared the way for a belief in God.  Chesterton spoke highly of them.  (Search for Chesterton and pagans and find various essays.)  Don’t take the bait about being “tainted” with pagans.

 

#2  So what if the 25^th isn’t the exact date of Christmas?  What if it was just decreed that day, say in the year 350 by Pope Julius I, to help Europeans being introduced to Christ to make the transition from their pagan roots to Christianity?  The whole of society is celebrating and were Christians supposed to sit at home and twiddle their thumbs?  If we don’t know the exact date of Christmas, why not make it on this day?  Does that taint the day somehow and if so, how?  Once we “baptize” the day, does having it on the same day as a former pagan holiday somehow make it evil?  Is it really that far beyond the power of God to overcome?  Really? 

 

Does that mean we have to investigate every day of the year and make sure there was not a pagan holiday on that day so that Christians will not accidently celebrate something evil?  (Just how does one accidently worship a pagan god when their intent is to worship Jesus anyway?)  Here is just another example of something forming (worship of a god no matter how poorly conceived) giving way or blossoming into truth.  That is really quite beautiful.

 

#3  All that being said, there is some argument over which god was being celebrated and when.  There is some belief that it is possible that this was in fact THE DAY though we won’t know for sure in this life.  There is some scholarly evidence out there that in actuality it was not until AFTER Christians started really celebrating Christmas that the pagan holiday took off in order to counter it. 

 

In the end – who cares?  God is so powerful in can purify any day.  He is so awesome that He is not disappointed in us if for 2,000+ years we celebrated His birth on the wrong calendar day.  And so to the guy trying to be the (birthday) party pooper, the only response needed is, “And isn’t it so cool that God is so good and powerful that that doesn’t really matter?”

MONDAY DIARY: IF ONLY SATURDAYS WERE CELEBATE

One if by land! Two if by sea!

Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming!

But we have no fear here at St. Sebastian. No sir! We designed our Christmas preparations with one full day to use as catch up in case of emergencies. And good thing too because by last Saturday we were sufficiently behind schedule to warrant wishing there was an extra day in the week. And we had it and her name was Saturday. Oh, beautiful Saturday, your arms promised comfort and your ruby lips whispered poems of quiet, lazy hours of writing bulleting articles, homilies, and other Christmas activities that require the cleverness of baking pies – time and space to do as you need.

Oh, but Saturday, you were a fickled mistress. Unfaithful were you to your promises. For during the Mass of your early hours the electricity went out. It was only for a moment. An instant really. Thanks to the hawks that have kept the critter population down to only the most intelligent of the tiny beasts, the others who used to regularly crawl into the transformers and turning themselves into an instant cooked dinner long ago serving as hawk food, save one. There was a tiny, solitary bird that slipped through your radar and cooked his own goose.

One comes to realize how truly fragile our way of life is when experiencing just one instant without the life line of electricity. The heat went out and part of the boiler system fried. The internet went down meaning that not only could we not go on line, we could not use the copiers, work on the bulletin, or send messages to each other. Then the alarms! Oh! The alarms! In every building! No sooner was the code punched in than because the system was damaged they would go off again and the company would call again and say, “Do we need to send someone over there?”

Who could think with alarms going off? Pillows were placed over the screaming, angry sirens with boards holding them in place in an effort to teach it only to speak with inside voices.

Oh Saturday, you filled your life with other men than me! How could you be so cruel? Boiler repair men, the computer repair man, the electricians, the alarm company. How they gathered at your skirts and danced with you all day long while I played host to your infidelities.

Today at Mass I see remembrances of you as we count the light bulbs blown out by your great burst of energy. Good bye Saturday for ever. No one could say your were not exciting. But you need to go. If you don’t, I will regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of my life.

We will always have Paris.

A CHRISTMAS STORY - (PART THREE OF THREE)

BRUTUS OF THE NORTH POLE

This was going to be a disaster. This is not one of those businesses that you can take off for a year and then come back as if nothing happened. Credibility is not a boomerang. Once you throw it away it doesn’t come back and I’ve worked too hard on this job. There was only one person brave enough, strong enough, and smart enough to handle this problem though. It was Mrs. Clause and right to her I went.

She was in her kitchen preparing the banquet feast for the whole team for the night of the big flight in the main house. “Mrs. Clause,” I said softly, not wanting to scare her.

She turned and her face lit up. “Brutus. What a surprise! What are you doing here? It’s so kind of you to visit but if aren’t you terribly busy now?”

I sighed. “We’ve got a problem.”

A funny look came over her face as if to say, “Now what did he do?” She walked over to the table, poured some tea that had been just whistling on the stove (how does she always do that?) and said, “Sit down right here, have a sip of tea, and tell me all about it.” She always seemed to be moving slowly when I thought it was the time for rushing and quick decisions but I’ve learned to follow her lead. She always seems to be right.

At the end of my story she didn’t seem the least bit flustered. She simply tipped the pot into her cup again and said, “Oh dear, that won’t do. It is simply a matter of confused thinking. They won’t love Jesus more because Santa refused to come. In fact, they may come to be actively angry at Him if Santa uses Him as the reason to cut off all gifts. Now that would be a disaster. No, people are just sleepy. They don’t need to be punished, just wakened up. Now you just go get things ready and I’ll have a nice heart to heart with Santa.”

She got up and got and started to put a couple of mugs of coffee together and since I wasn’t dismissed, I took the opportunity, in secret I hate to say, to see what would she do. She took the cups and some cookies (fat free, low sugar, and high in fiber) and sat next to Santa who was in his recliner. (Apparently the reindeer was just fine.)

“Are you mad?” he asked.

“When have you ever known me to be mad?” she said simply.

“I’m right you know.”

“Of course you are dear.” And she let a few moments pass. “And that’s why I’ve decided to stop cooking.”

“What?” exclaimed Santa.

“You’ve been overweight far too long. It is an abuse what you do to your body and I’m afraid my cooking is part of the problem so I am following your advice and not cooking anymore until you get your waistline down.”

“That’s ridiculous. Besides I’ll just find another way to get food.”

“Oh my! Do you think so?”

“Yes. And I won’t like it. So I’ll be fat and upset. That’s not healthy either.”

“Upset like the people you refuse to bring presents to? Do you think that will force them to think of Jesus?”

A hurumph came out of Santa. “All right. Out with it.”

“You can’t force Jesus on people. Punishing people for not paying attention to Him doesn’t work, or if it does, it isn’t a long-term fix. And making great shows like kneeling down before the manger didn’t work because it wasn’t sincere. You did it merely to be seen.”

“Alright then. What can YOU suggest that I do that Brutus and his team haven’t already tried?”

“The best way to pass on the faith is to live it and live it boldly. You are in the public eye. Time for you to be a man of faith. When is the last time you got to confession?”

“Well, I . . er . . . it was . . . let’ see”

“Uh huh. And the last time you made a Holy Hour? I’ll tell you when.”

“No need.”

“Or prayed with the staff? Or used wrapping paper or sent cards with a religious theme? Or offered your communion for all those who are spiritually lost at Christmas? Or blessed the tree and presents without being prompted? Or offered a prayer of thanks for our gifts . . .”

“God knows I’m thankful.”

“Or invited the good father over to bless the house. I do it, yes. But when did you initiate it?”

“Well. That always seemed your job.”

“The only sure way, the only lasting way to get people to pay better attention to Jesus at Christmas is for individuals to start doing so themselves and it always starts with an individual “you”. It is a slow process but the only one that works long-term. Now, I’ve called Father over at St. Nicolaus and he’s said to come right over, he’ll hear you confession. Make a Holy Hour praying for all those to whom you will be delivering presents, especially those who will be getting lumps of coal. Then come back here. We will pray with all of our friends and have a fine meal before you take off. Now go. I’ve got too much work to do and you’ve already taken up too much of my time. Go! GO!”

And Santa did. He came back. We prayed, we ate, and he left on his yearly journey. Nothing looked too much different that year, but in a sense it was. There seemed to be just a little more purpose to the season, a little more focus. Who knows? Maybe it was the start of something big.

A CHRISTMAS TALE (PART TWO OF THREE)

BRUTUS OF THE NORTH POLE

The other thing (I can’t believe this) is the concern over his, “Ho! Ho! Ho!” Interestingly enough according to our recent poll a significant group of people find this offensive. This is serious. It is his trademark saying. My personal recommendation is that we weather the storm for now. I got a feeling that if we change too soon, the storm will blow over, people will say that we were nuts for caving and demand it back. By that time he will have developed a new trademark and it would be hard for him to go back. He is not a big fan of change.

The big concern that my office is handling right now is trying to help people remember that this season is really about the birth of Christ. Santa is all upset that he as gift giver is upstaging the Giver of Life, Savior of the Universe. Changing this is not as easy as you might think. It was my idea a few years ago to have Santa publicly kneel down before the manger and worship Christ to show the proper order of things. It worked for about ten minutes and then it spread like cheap margarine and soon there were depictions of this everywhere like those “witches flying into a telephone pole” things at All Hollow’s Eve. Soon people even had “Santa’s” walking into mass – INTO MASS – to reenact the moment. Think THAT kept people’s attention on Jesus . . . ?

Anyway, we had a meeting about a month ago right here in this office around this old knotty table. It is about as old as the factory itself, but I love this table. It is worn smooth and wavy from heavy use over the years. It has thick, ornately carved legs in the shape of polar bear paws. It was on this table that the Christmas concordant was signed between the Vatican and Santa giving Santa the right in certain countries to deliver Christmas cheer to people on Christ mass day. If you look closely beneath the polar bear paws there is a ball and on each one is a symbol of Christ representing the foundation upon which all of this is built. Pretty cool huh? Helps me keep things in perspective.

Plus it’s short.

Santa sat at the far end in his throne like chair. He rested his chin on his fist with his elbow on knee since the table was too short for him and messaged his forehead with his other hand. All of us in the public relations department sat around the other sides of the table with me at the far end.

“What are we going to do?” he asked in a pained voice. “It is getting to the point where I completely outshine Jesus. This is so far outside the concordant that I fear bad things ahead.”

“I have an idea,” said Pinky and everyone growled. He’s a great one for ideas. It was his thought to do the, “Put the CHRIST back in CHRISTmas” campaign. That (and a couple of other marketing goofs) has led to the all but banned use of even the WORD Christmas by most people in the United States. Needless to say he remained quiet.

Several other people suggested a few things but they were all thrown out as causing more problems than they solved.

That is when Santa leaned down and pounded a fist on the table and made a grand pronouncement. I remember thinking that the mark the ring on his finger made on the tabletop would stand forever as a memorial to this moment when this decision was made. “If we can’t get people to stop paying more attention to us than to Christ, then we will stop! We will not deliver any more presents; I won’t make any more appearances! Let it be known from this moment on that I will not longer be a distraction from Christmas!”

Of course we all started chattering. “You can’t do that!” was the crux of most of the comments, not the least reason being that then we would all be out of a job. Can you see our applications? “Previous job experience: Elf: (or worker of undisclosed height) North Pole.” Besides most of the jobs are moving toward the warmer climates, not easy to get used to when you’ve spent most of your life in the coldest.

“Stop!” Santa bellowed. “No more discussion. Now I’ve got a sick reindeer to check up on. You,” he pointed at me, “figure out how to handle this.”