Jesus entered the temple area and
proceeded to drive out those who were selling things.
T’is the season for…selling???
That is the question. What are
these so-called “season greetings”
all about? Shopping? Buying? Selling more and more stuff? Let's drive all of these things (and them) out of our life, please!
T'is the season for...? It’s that time of year when we need to ask this question. It’s nothing new. It’s actually been going on for quite some
time now. And it’s a good thing. Before there was Wal-Mart and Black Friday,
there was Thanksgiving. Before Frosty
and Rudolph appeared on the scene, there was the child Jesus and the Nativity
scene. Thanksgiving is a time to give
thanks to God and family, two rare commodities in today’s “Give me, give me” society.
Sacred and Profane. “I,
John heard a voice from heaven speak to me.
Then the voice spoke to me and said, ‘Go, take the scroll that lies open…and
swallow it. It will turn your stomach
sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey’” (Rev 10:8-11).
Thanksgiving is a sweet moment.
Life is precious. Marriage is
beautiful. Christmas is wonderful. These are sweet moments in our lives that
have turned sour over time. Instead of
being special moments for reflecting on God and resting with friends and family, they have turned into all-night
shopping sprees, with workers striking and shoppers waiting anxiously for hours outside
the bitter cold for bargains and steals!
Ho, ho ho, what we will do for a
steal!!! And oh, what we will not do
for the Lord!
These are sacred moments that have turned profane. And we
have only ourselves to blame.
These moments belong to Christianity!
We own them! And over the course
of centuries, we have allowed their purpose and meaning to be stolen - hijacked - by opportunists, politicians
and secularists, and turned into commercials and sales. While they did it, we didn’t put up a
fight. In fact, we joined in…merrily, merrily, merrily, for life is but a
dream.
It’s not even easy for Christ to compete with Christians! It’s not easy at all. It’s
not easy to convince parents that their child’s first communion outfit is not as
important as the Eucharist. It’s not
easy to convince brides and grooms that their vows are more important than
their reception! It’s not easy at
all. Even baptisms have become a very expensive
affair. It seems to me the only
sacrament that has not yet been commercialized (and therefore is not in high
demand) is the Sacrament of Confession. Yes, humility is not very stylish. Remorse is not something you can wear. Gossip Girls sells better than silence and contrition. How can you commercialize that? After all, for a child’s first Holy Communion, you can
publicize it by dressing them up for it. The
same goes for baptism and marriage. But
how many kids do you know wear their “First Reconciliation” outfit? How many parties have you attended to celebrate First Confession? That’s
okay. That's actually very good and I prefer it that way. But no wonder it’s hard to get children and
parents to go to confession. We need to do a market study on it (Just kidding).
What can we do? Simple
things. Nothing complicated. For example, set up a nativity scene outside your
home. Put Christ in the center and Frosty and Rudolph on the side. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if all Christians, one way or another, identified themselves with the season?
Greet people by saying “Merry
Christmas” or “Hope you have a
wonderful Christmas with your family”.
Refuse to waste hours and hours
a day shopping. Buy simple gifts this Christmas. Give holy cards to children. Make room for the marginalized. Let your children and grandchildren remember
how you never commercialized the Holy Days. Don’t ever feel guilty about that. Don’t let a secularist or atheist or
opportunist manipulate you or the season.
Don’t let their religion (shopping and money) become your religion.
Finally, read to your children true and authentic Christmas stories. Watch movies that are rich in virtue,
respectful of family and faith filled with the Christmas spirit. Not the sacrilegious and dehumanizing anti-family,
anti-faith and anti-virtue movies that seem to pop up between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Let’s keep Christ in Christmas and the beauty and sweetness of God and
life from ever becoming spoiled, rotten and sour.
You are so correct Father. Thank you for always speaking out on important issues. I actually designed a card that expresses this sentiment visually because it distresses me so much. Would love to share a copy of it with you.
ReplyDeleteGreat meditation Fr. Alfonse that is really what we need. God bless you always. Thank you father
ReplyDeleteWhile these thoughts should be echoed by all conscientious Christians, they seem to be swallowed by the messages of consumerism from commercials and the media. I've noticed that in the past few years about two days that have received more and more attention, usually at the cost of the actual holidays they foreshadow: Halloween and Black Friday.
ReplyDeletePeople spend vast amounts of money and go to great lengths to decorate for Halloween in a way I never knew as a kid. It confuses me more than offends me, but it still has the effect of completely obscuring All Saints Day afterward. We revel in celebrating darkness more than goodness. Does the act of celebration somehow make that darkness fine and good, or is it a delusional attempt to expiate our own inner darkness without actual repentance? A month later, Black Friday, a name that was only mentioned verbally, never officially written, has now become a more vigorously observed holiday than Christmas. People camp out to shop. The Holy Family sought shelter in the night to rest; moderners seek the open bitterly cold air to shop. They appreciate the little they found, and made the world of it; we indignantly demand more and make ourselves smaller. We instantly convert our joy into stress on Black Friday and that stress remains for the season. Wary shoppers may smile when it's all said and done with, but there's little to satisfy and much to lament.
More than a new toaster or a fancy haunted house motif, I think people desire community, tradition, and spirit with these strange practices. They want "to be part of something bigger" and have some kind of fulfillment. At that point, why can they not go attend mass and join the biggest and most fulfilling thing available to humanity? The longing is certainly there, but it is now parceled into non-holiday observances that become bigger and more repugnant every year.
@ Scott-
DeleteCouldn't agree more!!! Black Friday is now a whole weekend and beginning to creep into Thanksgiving Day! Still, I love a good sale and venture out Friday during the day.
Have the best day!
Thank you father for a great meditation. We plan to spend more on giving than on getting.
ReplyDeleteI did too, since I don't have any kids. I went to Macy's to see if something I liked was on sale. It wasn't. Just another confirmation of marketing ploys to get people to settle for less.
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad you didn't get your item on sale.
DeleteHave the best day
Me three. Since I don't have any kids either, I ventured out to target, but all the things I liked were also, not on sale. But I had a gift card, and went crazy.
Delete@ Katie lol! cute
DeleteI wish I could go to target and spend some green.Too expensive for me
But in my opinion Macy's has great Sales when they have them,especially for my kiddos LOL especially online Sale, like tonight Cyber Sale :)
I try to spend wisely LOL