By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY
Despite all the changes and upheavals the modern world is going through, Christmas still retains its ability to lift our spirits to a higher realm. Perhaps this is due to childhood memories of happy Christmases, of going to midnight Mass, of Christmas cribs and crèches, of Nativity plays, carol singing, presents given and received, or of family reunions.
Or perhaps at a deeper level it is a realization of the incredible implications of the Incarnation, that God should actually have become man, and not just man, but a tiny baby in order to become our Savior.
Whatever the reason, Christmas definitely seems to bring out the best in people, even non-religious people, who seem more prepared to give generously of their time and money in helping good causes at this time of the year. They may not have heard of Pope St. Leo the Great, but the opening words of his famous Christmas sermon show how the joy of the festive season really applies to everyone:
“Our Savior, dearly-beloved, was born today: let us be glad. For there is no proper place for sadness, when we keep the birthday of the Life which destroys the fear of mortality and brings to us the joy of promised eternity. No one is kept from sharing in this happiness. There is for all one common measure of joy, because as our Lord the destroyer of sin and death finds none free from charge, so is He come to free us all. Let the saint exult in that he draws near to victory. Let the sinner be glad in that he is invited to pardon. Let the gentile take courage in that he is called to life.”
As this is written, we are in the season of Advent, waiting for the beauty and joy of Christmas with expectation; but Advent is also a time of preparation which has a penitential character although not to the same extent as Lent.
This penitential aspect, though, is relaxed on one occasion, for the third Sunday in Advent, which is known as Gaudete Sunday from the Latin for “Rejoice,” as in the Entrance Antiphon for that day, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.” It is as if we have a glimpse of the beauty and wonder of Christmas morning during the often cold and dark days of Advent, as an encouragement for us to persevere.
On December 8 we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, which is likewise another sign of the dawn of redemption on Christmas Day. And just two days later, on December 10, the Feast of the Translation of the Holy House of Loreto was formerly widely celebrated. This commemorated the miraculous transportation of the House in Nazareth to Loreto in Italy in the thirteenth century.
It was here that the Angel Gabriel had announced to the Blessed Virgin that had been chosen to be the Mother of God, and so it was the place where the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity in the womb of Mary took place.
Another traditional feast was the celebration of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin, which formerly took place on December 18 in Spain. It was originally a feast in celebration of the Annunciation and held eight days before Christmas as a way of preparing for the birth of Christ, but over time it developed into a consideration of the wonderful state of expectation of Our Lady during the days leading up to Christmas day. Another name for this feast was “Our Lady of the O,” a reference to the great “O antiphons” which were chanted during these days, and which are as follows:
“O Sapientia, O Adonai, O Radix Jesse, O Clavis David, O Oriens, O Rex Gentium, O Emmanuel. These titles can be rendered in English as, “O Wisdom, O Lord, O Root of Jesse, O Key of David, O Dayspring, O King of the Nations, O God with us.”
In the liturgy for Advent, we find the theme of preparation not only for the birth of Christ at Bethlehem, but also for His Second Coming at the end of time and the universal judgment — and this is something about which we cannot be complacent because “no one knows the day or the hour” (Matt. 24:36). Jesus came the first time in poverty and weakness, but at the end of the world, He will come with great power and glory.
Advent then is a time of preparation, a time of grace, during which we are meant to be preparing for Christ to come into our hearts during Christmastide as our Savior. We can do this by withdrawing somewhat from worldly activities and perhaps doing some suitable spiritual reading.
Christmastide itself, and particularly Christmas Day, has many wonderful, even awe-inspiring aspects to it — its joyfulness and the sense of fulfillment that finally the tiny baby lying in the manger has come to redeem mankind. And we can also ponder the roles of the Christ Child’s most holy Mother, Mary, and St. Joseph, as well as the appearance of the angels to the shepherds, and the coming of the Wise Men from the East.
A Day Of Joy And Gladness
Christmas was probably not celebrated extensively during the first three centuries of the Church’s existence, and only gradually did believers begin to keep the feast of Christmas more widely in the fourth century, when the date of December 25 was determined as the actual day of Christ’s birth. The primary focus in the early years was on the Epiphany as the Manifestation of Christ to the World; and this feast has been celebrated on January 6 from a very early date.
If we go forward over a thousand years, we see a flourishing of Catholic Christmas traditions in late medieval Europe, but after the Reformation the Puritans in England frowned on Christmas as a time of celebration, and this attitude lingered on in America.
With successive waves of immigration from Europe, though, Catholic Christmas customs were imported to the New World, and by the nineteenth century these traditions were more firmly established in people’s minds. And now in a religious sense at least, Christmas is celebrated as a day of joy and gladness, a day of happiness, a time of celebration and feasting.
Many Christmas customs, though, date back to pagan times, to customs which the Church took up, and, so to speak, “baptized” in the slow process of the Christianization of society. The old name of Yuletide, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon meaning “the time of the Feast,” and it was a practice in ancient Rome to give presents on New Year’s Day, while holly and mistletoe and evergreen wreaths originated with the pagan Druids.
We can certainly enjoy other old customs such as Christmas trees, or ones which became more popular in Victorian times, such as the sending of Christmas cards. And a great deal of innocent pleasure is derived by young children as they wait in expectation for Santa Claus, or Father Christmas, to arrive with their presents.
But these things, while good, are secondary, and our task in Advent is to focus on the wondrous religious truths about Christmas. This great feast is fast approaching, so let us use Advent well as a time of due preparation so that we can fully enter into reliving the marvelous events which took place at Bethlehem two thousand years ago.
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