Christmas: holy day or holiday?
WITH CHRISTMAS upon us and the year almost ended, I asked myself, what has this Christmas, and so many others past, meant for me? A time to rest, spoil my family and close friends in a season of giving [and getting] and, generally, overindulging in wine, cake, ham, and other vices.
Christmas is supposed to represent a time of joyous celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Mass of the Christ-born. For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son into the world, not to condemn it, but that the world, through Him, might be saved. And yet, here I have been, celebrating for other reasons and failing to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
In as much as God gave us his Son to save us, so we are supposed to give ourselves to God and give back to others, especially in this celebratory season, the season of giving.
For those of us who mouth-wateringly cherish the fun-raising during Christmas and the New Year and who go overboard with the festivities, remember that there is a long stretch until payday in January, by which time the credit cards, bills, and IOUs all become due. If it is at that ‘owe-ful and paying-ful’ juncture when the bonus done that you remember what Christmas is really about, sorry. Too late.
TO THE WORLD
Sadly, despite what the season is supposed to represent, skullduggery still flourishes worldwide, even in largely Christian countries.
In the USA, the world’s largest Christian democracy, the political to-ings and fro-ings have been anything but Christian-like. The president has been impeached by the Congress, a rather stinging present that has driven him to proclaim rebukes and insults galore rather than good tidings. Moreover, with the 2020 presidential elections due next November, civility among, and between, the political leaders and their supporters is not guaranteed.
If we look at the mid-East, we see turmoil. There are tensions between Eastern and Western trading giants China and the USA.
Russia is playing the political chess board like a grand master, North Korea is playing nuclear chairs with the world, Brexit is about to make a grand climax, and climate change is not fake news.
Right wing nationalist sentiment is growing world-wide, including in Kingston 21 to the north. The last time nationalist sentiments were this rampant globally, world wars broke out. The world’s population is living on the edge.
Notwithstanding the global tinderbox situation, it seems like we are determined not to be outdone locally. Crime is still a run-away problem: guns are flowing into the island in frightening numbers and criminals are ever extending their reach and committing more acts of seemingly random violence such that you have to be very careful where you venture and who you hang out with in public.
Skullduggery will never die. It thrives in men who, unfortunately, are intrigued by reward through underhandedness regardless of their circumstances. To eliminate skullduggery, we must first eliminate those who practise it, but that discussion is for another time and article.
Christmas – when Christ came into the world to commence the journey to eventual death at the hands of man so as to save man – should be an occasion to celebrate life, to give so as to enliven others who don’t have, and to sow the seeds of civility that epitomised Christ’s life and teachings. Let us not forget that without Him, man would have been condemned long ago by our own actions.
Christmas should be like that rainy day we save for, not for ourselves, but for others. It may be too late to adopt this mantra for 2019, but I have pledged myself to this going forward.