Christmas: a lost festival
Dear Editor: John Waters, the Irish writer and author of Lapsed Agnostic, spoke in my presence of his awakening to what he had lost from his childhood.
Christmas then was astonishment at the wonder of Jesus coming as a baby, offering us the gift of himself. He could recall the day he walked away from Jesus of Nazareth, believing he could satisfy his desires in other ways. Georgie Best’s Saturday football with Manchester United was the new faith, hope and love for the youth of Ireland. When Waters eventually came to his senses, he felt ashamed of walking away from the one who had truly offered him everything and that amazingly, the affection was still there, deep within him.
To describe his inner journey back to God, he said he was really helped by a metaphor of Pope Benedict: “Modern man has built himself a bunker in which there are no windows.” Those in the bunker get a feed-in each day from the media which speaks nothing of our origin or destiny. We are defined as consumers, taxpayers, voters, sports fanatics, but not as human beings in need of a Saviour. This bunker lifestyle is a very serious situation for our children. They stumble around in the dark and wonder why it doesn’t satisfy all of their needs. The surging desires inside of them are not satisfied. This leads to dire consequences as the latest reports on the escalation of teen suicide attests.
After 50 years of priesthood, I can see clearly that only the spiritual power of the Advent season can help us to escape the bunker; to breath the clean air of a true Christmas again.
John the Baptist has never died and he offers the true medicine, a change of heart. It will take humility to confess the truth that we allowed ourselves to be deceived, that we did not remain vigilant to the truth of our frailty. This experience will open our eyes to the world of mystery we had lost.
Tom Hanks was asked recently on American public radio what he had to say about high profile Hollywood men being accused of sexual harassment. In reply he said, “I think we should call it for what it really is, sin.”
Can the word “sin” make a comeback into our consciousness, so that we can recognize Satan at work in the crazy things we do? When it does we will discover again the need we have for a true Christmas. Fr. Harry Clarke
Kelowna