The Real Meaning of Christmas (continued)
By Tom K. Lloyd
Many times, the celebration of Christmas can be literal and superficial. Even at that level it is great fun involving Santa Claus, the kids, the “Night before Christmas” and the great moment of opening the presents under the Christmas tree. The younger children delight in the Santa Claus myth and the parents delight in their children’s happiness at the fulfillment of the story on Christmas morning.
Myths may be fiction but they carry a very important truth passed down by humanity from one generation to the next. The story is the means of finding that truth, not an end in itself.
Of course there are many other levels to Christmas and many people will celebrate the spiritual aspects of the story by going to Church, singing the Christmas carols and visiting the manger where the statues give a snapshot of the Christmas scene, of the baby in the manger. Here too is the great happiness and joy for adult and child alike as we celebrate the great coming of God’s greatest gift to us. There’s that warm and fuzzy feeling again.
For those in the religious life or for Catholics of a more spiritual bent, there is the Mass and the Eucharistic celebration, internalizing the coming of Jesus Christ into each one of us, as Jesus came into Mary. There is the hope of a re-birth within each of us, of the child, who will lead us to the road less traveled. The higher way. The way of love and peace.
I am blessed to have priest in the family. A missionary veteran of Bangladesh and Nepal. (My personal prejudice is that missioners walk more closely in the footsteps of the apostles and Jesus Christ than the diocesan priests or Bishops or Cardinals and for that matter even the Pope. My further prejudice is that nobody should be made a priest, Bishop, Cardinal or Pope unless they have served a few years in the missions.) We are blessed to have our retired missioner say Mass at home for all the family and friends on Christmas Eve. But even in this delightful and spiritual scene, I don’t think we have found the true meaning. What then?
The true meaning of Christmas is not to be found in the literal story, which is only a means to an end. Most people never get past the literal story. I have traveled to Bethlehem following the literal story. I walked the road from Bethlehem to the temple in Jerusalem. It was a tremendous and awesome experience, but it was literal, and only a means to truly understanding the meaning of Christmas. The only purpose of the story of Christmas is to challenge each one of us to find the true meaning of Christmas. (Perhaps you will find that for yourself if you look anew this Christmas. That is my wish for you this Christmas.)
For me, the meaning of Christmas has to do with the feminine. God is delivering a message of salvation and that message is that salvation comes through a woman, you will be saved through a woman, Mary, Jesus in Mary, or you will likely not be saved at all. (For the theologians in the crowd, you can go to St. Louis de Montfort for a full explanation of this. Read his book “True Devotion.” But take it from this “almost” doctor of the church; it is the message from God about Christmas day.) The literal story is that the Jewish world waited for Mary. Every Jewish woman wanted to be Mary. Now that it was accomplished 2000 years ago, it is done. Not so!
Stepping beyond the literal, staying focused on the message from God, we must ask why did God chose a woman to bring Jesus into the world? This was not necessary. Jesus could have just come down as a fully formed man. There was no need to use a woman. Obviously God is delivering a feminine message here. It is an ongoing message. Every time a woman gives birth to a child, there is that potential that this child will help to change the world, just as Jesus Christ changed the world. There is the potential of a “second coming.” And since women can give us children, the current and future salvation of the world depends on women. They, literally, have the power to change the world, just as Mary did. Jesus did not just happen. He was formed spiritually, raised by Mary and Joseph. (By Mary alone in the years just before the start of Jesus’ public life.)
For me the true meaning of Christmas is that every birth, every woman giving us a new child, is potentially giving us someone who can change the world for the better. Of course, the mother must be like Mary in forming that child to adulthood. If the mother consecrates the child to God, then God will do all the rest.
I leave you with a true story about the power of a mother and a child. The power of formation. The child was receiving first Holy Communion and the mother told the child this is a very special day and you must ask God for something very special. The child said what should I ask for? The mother replied ask to become a saint. The child did that. This child went on to receive the visions at Fatima, gave us the “secrets” of Fatima, and is now up for canonization.
The gift of a child from God did not end with Mary and Jesus. It was only the beginning and continues to this day. God bless every mother and every newborn child. This is the true meaning of Christmas for me. And I ask myself who was the mother of Mother Teresa? Who was the mother of Padre Pio? Who will be the mother of the next saint to change the world? Who will be the mother of the “second coming?”
Note: this is not a “pro-life” message per se, because I am not a “pro lifer” in the usual use of that term. Nor am I suggesting that women be tied to only raising children. My mother was a single mom. I know better than most men, what great women are capable of doing, namely the seemingly impossible.
HAVE A HOLY AND BLESSED CHRISTMAS!
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