It's only been a couple weeks since we celebrated Halloween, and we still have a week to go before Thanksgiving, but by all other measures of secular society, we're on a fast train to the Christmas season. KOST 103.5 FM has already begun their non-stop barrage of Christmas music, and all the retailers are gearing up for "black Friday," Which for many of these stores starts on Thanksgiving Thursday. The frenzy of the Holidays is upon us, complete with the first house I saw last night on Clark Ave with their Christmas lights already up. While I enjoy the holiday season just as much as anyone else, I still can't get past the fact that our secularized celebration of the season has it all wrong.
Allow me to explain... For us Catholics, we're nowhere near the Christmas season yet. For the moment, we're still celebrating Ordinary Time. We've put All Saints Day and All Souls Day behind us, and as Church in the United States we're preparing for Thanksgiving, a uniquely American holiday that a number of other countries also celebrate (though on different days of the year). Many parishes have special Thanksgiving day Masses to help us remember to thank God for the gifts he gives us, and to gather food and goods for those less fortunate than us. A great way to end our Liturgical Year, don't you think?
Our Church year ends this year with the celebration of Christ the King on November 26th... a holiday instituted to remind us that above our duty to country is our duty to God... that we have only one king, and that king is Christ.
From there we enter the season of Advent... counting the Sundays before Christmas. The color for Advent is purple, like with Lent, representing the penitent nature of the season. Our Catholic preparation for Christmas isn't outlandish parties or expensive trips to the the shopping centers, it's a season of calm reflection where we ask ourselves if we're ready for the coming of Christ. That is, his second coming. And how fitting that we clothe this in the remembrance of his first coming. And remember, for us Catholics, the Second Coming is a joyous occasion! This is not a day we should fear, but a day of celebration! Even so, it's important for us at the beginning of the new Liturgical year, to take stock of our lives and our relationship with God, and examine how we can do better... so that we are spiritually prepared for when Christ does come again.
After Advent then comes Christmas! Joy to the world, the Lord has come! But Christmas isn't just one day... it's an entire season unto itself. While the secular world is ready to pack-up the decorations, our Catholic culture tells us that the party is just getting started! On the traditional Roman calendar the Christmas season lasted 12 day (thus the 12 days of Christmas song), from the first day of Christmas through to the Epiphany, traditionally celebrated on January 6th. Today with the revised calendar for the United States (and some other countries) we celebrate the Epiphany on the Second Sunday after Christmas. THAT, for us, IS the Christmas season! Long after the secular world has packed up the decorations, we're still celebrating! Or at least, we should be...
With the growing secularization of our modern society, I believe it's important for us Catholics to get back to our roots with regard to the Christmas holidays. Don't get me wrong... I love Christmas, and I love that our secular world has grasped on to some of the important aspects of the holiday and the season. But we Catholics need to be able to differentiate between what is Catholic, and what is secular. This goes way beyond putting a perspective on the legend of Santa Clause in relation to the birth of our Lord. This needs to include our understanding of the season and the importance of Advent as a season that precedes the celebration. While the secular world is pushing us toward a frenzy of decorating and shopping, we Catholics need to slow down and reclaim the season and the meaning of Advent.
It wasn't all that long ago that Catholics would be putting up their Christmas trees on Christmas Eve. In my best friend's Italian household this went along with an evening long feast of food and family and friends climaxed by Midnight Mass. What a wonderful tradition! Growing up I didn't know a single Catholic household where the Christmas tree wasn't part of our New Year's Eve celebration. Today the secular world has us pushing these trees to the curb on December 26th. When I go by those houses I just can't help but feel, "they just don't get it." They don't understand that the celebration is just beginning!
There is a certain natural rhythm to the Liturgical seasons, not unlike the seasons of nature which they reflect. By reclaiming Advent as a season of preparation, we get to slow down and remember what's important. Family, friends, God, and loving our neighbor. Our decorations don't have to go up all at once, nor do they need to come down all at once. Me and my family like to ease our way toward Christmas. It starts with the Advent wreath, and over the next 4 weeks our home slowly transforms with holiday decorations. Not rushed, but as we have time. As the days get ever shorter as we get closer to the Winter Solstice, we build our winter nest. We've reserved the 3nd Sunday of Advent for getting our tree... Gaudete Sunday, a moment of joy. It means Christmas is close.
When Christmas does finally come, we generally celebrate with a Vigil Mass or the Mass at Midnight. That leaves Christmas day itself for family, first at home, then out to visit the relatives later. Then back to our sweet pine-smelling nest that night. The following day, it's whatever we want. No rush to clean up. No push to get all the decorations down. Plenty of time for that after New Years. In recent years we've taken to spending the second day of Christmas at opening day for Santa Anita race track and their to-die-for hand carved roast beef sandwiches (I do like a good horse race!). The days between Christmas and New Years is spent catching up with friends we hadn't seen at other holiday parties, or hitting those after Christmas sales with our collection of gift cards. It's a good thing we have a nice collection of Christmas music on CD because the radio station has already packed it in. Heaven forbid I would want to hear a Christmas song during the actual Christmas season!
My point here, brothers and sisters, is don't get caught up in all the secular hype of the season. Yes, you should still go to the parties, the celebrations, the parades and all that makes secular Christmas fun. But keep it in perspective. Reclaim Advent. Don't be rushing out to the mall on Thanksgiving. Don't buy into the hype of black Friday. Ease yourself into the holiday season. Experience the moments. And then when Christmas does come, don't be so anxious to pack it all away too quickly. Embrace the celebration. Stretch it out, savor it, and make it last. Make sure you can still smell the tree on New Year's eve and through to Epiphany. This is how we Catholics celebrate!
Allow me to explain... For us Catholics, we're nowhere near the Christmas season yet. For the moment, we're still celebrating Ordinary Time. We've put All Saints Day and All Souls Day behind us, and as Church in the United States we're preparing for Thanksgiving, a uniquely American holiday that a number of other countries also celebrate (though on different days of the year). Many parishes have special Thanksgiving day Masses to help us remember to thank God for the gifts he gives us, and to gather food and goods for those less fortunate than us. A great way to end our Liturgical Year, don't you think?
Our Church year ends this year with the celebration of Christ the King on November 26th... a holiday instituted to remind us that above our duty to country is our duty to God... that we have only one king, and that king is Christ.
From there we enter the season of Advent... counting the Sundays before Christmas. The color for Advent is purple, like with Lent, representing the penitent nature of the season. Our Catholic preparation for Christmas isn't outlandish parties or expensive trips to the the shopping centers, it's a season of calm reflection where we ask ourselves if we're ready for the coming of Christ. That is, his second coming. And how fitting that we clothe this in the remembrance of his first coming. And remember, for us Catholics, the Second Coming is a joyous occasion! This is not a day we should fear, but a day of celebration! Even so, it's important for us at the beginning of the new Liturgical year, to take stock of our lives and our relationship with God, and examine how we can do better... so that we are spiritually prepared for when Christ does come again.
After Advent then comes Christmas! Joy to the world, the Lord has come! But Christmas isn't just one day... it's an entire season unto itself. While the secular world is ready to pack-up the decorations, our Catholic culture tells us that the party is just getting started! On the traditional Roman calendar the Christmas season lasted 12 day (thus the 12 days of Christmas song), from the first day of Christmas through to the Epiphany, traditionally celebrated on January 6th. Today with the revised calendar for the United States (and some other countries) we celebrate the Epiphany on the Second Sunday after Christmas. THAT, for us, IS the Christmas season! Long after the secular world has packed up the decorations, we're still celebrating! Or at least, we should be...
With the growing secularization of our modern society, I believe it's important for us Catholics to get back to our roots with regard to the Christmas holidays. Don't get me wrong... I love Christmas, and I love that our secular world has grasped on to some of the important aspects of the holiday and the season. But we Catholics need to be able to differentiate between what is Catholic, and what is secular. This goes way beyond putting a perspective on the legend of Santa Clause in relation to the birth of our Lord. This needs to include our understanding of the season and the importance of Advent as a season that precedes the celebration. While the secular world is pushing us toward a frenzy of decorating and shopping, we Catholics need to slow down and reclaim the season and the meaning of Advent.
It wasn't all that long ago that Catholics would be putting up their Christmas trees on Christmas Eve. In my best friend's Italian household this went along with an evening long feast of food and family and friends climaxed by Midnight Mass. What a wonderful tradition! Growing up I didn't know a single Catholic household where the Christmas tree wasn't part of our New Year's Eve celebration. Today the secular world has us pushing these trees to the curb on December 26th. When I go by those houses I just can't help but feel, "they just don't get it." They don't understand that the celebration is just beginning!
There is a certain natural rhythm to the Liturgical seasons, not unlike the seasons of nature which they reflect. By reclaiming Advent as a season of preparation, we get to slow down and remember what's important. Family, friends, God, and loving our neighbor. Our decorations don't have to go up all at once, nor do they need to come down all at once. Me and my family like to ease our way toward Christmas. It starts with the Advent wreath, and over the next 4 weeks our home slowly transforms with holiday decorations. Not rushed, but as we have time. As the days get ever shorter as we get closer to the Winter Solstice, we build our winter nest. We've reserved the 3nd Sunday of Advent for getting our tree... Gaudete Sunday, a moment of joy. It means Christmas is close.
When Christmas does finally come, we generally celebrate with a Vigil Mass or the Mass at Midnight. That leaves Christmas day itself for family, first at home, then out to visit the relatives later. Then back to our sweet pine-smelling nest that night. The following day, it's whatever we want. No rush to clean up. No push to get all the decorations down. Plenty of time for that after New Years. In recent years we've taken to spending the second day of Christmas at opening day for Santa Anita race track and their to-die-for hand carved roast beef sandwiches (I do like a good horse race!). The days between Christmas and New Years is spent catching up with friends we hadn't seen at other holiday parties, or hitting those after Christmas sales with our collection of gift cards. It's a good thing we have a nice collection of Christmas music on CD because the radio station has already packed it in. Heaven forbid I would want to hear a Christmas song during the actual Christmas season!
My point here, brothers and sisters, is don't get caught up in all the secular hype of the season. Yes, you should still go to the parties, the celebrations, the parades and all that makes secular Christmas fun. But keep it in perspective. Reclaim Advent. Don't be rushing out to the mall on Thanksgiving. Don't buy into the hype of black Friday. Ease yourself into the holiday season. Experience the moments. And then when Christmas does come, don't be so anxious to pack it all away too quickly. Embrace the celebration. Stretch it out, savor it, and make it last. Make sure you can still smell the tree on New Year's eve and through to Epiphany. This is how we Catholics celebrate!
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