By DONALD DeMARCO
There are Revolutions, and there are Transformations. A Revolution, in the dictionary’s first meaning of the word, makes a full circle and always returns to where it began. And that is why such Revolutions always fail to improve things. But even those Revolutions that seek radical change oftentimes follow a similar circular pattern, according to the French proverb, Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. (The more things change, the more they stay the same.)
A Transformation, on the other hand, such as what Christianity represents, brings life closer to God and carries with it a universal blessing. Christmas, the birth of Christianity, presents us with a Transformation for the good, the true, and the beautiful. It is “progressive” in the best sense of the word.
In his “Theology of the Body,” St. John Paul II writes about three revolutionary figures that he refers to as The Masters of Suspicion: Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche. The revolutionary ideas of this triumvirate created a great deal of noise and commotion in the modern world, but they failed to benefit humanity.
John Paul associated them, respectively, with the three sins that John the Evangelist describes in his First Letter (2:15-17): the “lust of the flesh,” the “lust of the eyes,” and the “pride of life.” Freud wanted to free the sexual instinct from conventional restrictions. He represents lust. Marx encouraged the proletariat to revolt so that they could gain the material possessions that they coveted. He stands for avarice. Nietzsche welcomed the cultivation of an ego too powerful to be kept in check by an oppressive god. He symbolizes pride. The Deadly Sins of lust, envy, and pride have never advanced the cause of humanity.
Christmas represents a Transformation of incomparable power and magnitude. It transforms lust into chastity, avarice into generosity, and pride into humility. The thinking of Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche has been thoroughly discredited. They have had their day.
No one ever honors Freud by memorializing, each year, his birth in Vienna. Christmas chastely honors a babe born in swaddling clothes who is placed in a manger. No one ever commemorates the eve of Marx’s birth by hanging stockings by the fireplace anticipating a generosity that he never exhibited. Christmas welcomes the generosity that pours from people’s hearts in the form of gifts of all kinds. No one ever remembers Nietzsche’s philosophy each year by singing songs of praise to himself. Christmas offers the humble image of children singing carols while standing in the snow and braving winter’s cold. Christmas is about peace and love. But it is also about chastity, generosity, and humility.
The Transforming power of Christmas is beautifully and convincingly displayed in film. Consider the following: It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, The Holly and the Ivy, The Magic Christmas Tree, ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Gift of the Magi, Christmas Story, Holiday Inn, Nutcracker Fantasy, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, An Old Fashioned Christmas, White Christmas, and A Christmas Carol.
A story is immediately transformed and illuminated whenever Christmas is depicted on the screen. It invariably expresses something otherworldly, yet more satisfying and salutary than what the world itself can confer. It brings a joy to the screen and a sense of hope, however brief, to the viewers.
The unique transforming power of Christmas will continue to radiate its grace until the end of time. There is nothing else to which it can be compared. Secular “holidays” are really not “holy days” at all, but poor imitations of what a holy day truly represents.
Therefore, Christmas reminds us of what is holy. And holiness is that undefiled purity that we need to experience as often as we can so that we do not conform too unreservedly to an unholy world. Christmas reminds us of who we are and the nature of our destiny. A holy Christmas is also a merry one since it is not possible to be holy without being happy.
+ + +
(Donald DeMarco is a senior fellow of Human Life International. He is professor emeritus at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Conn., and a regular columnist for St. Austin Review. Some of his recent writings may be found at Human Life International’s Truth & Charity Forum.)
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress