Christmas lessons
Santa Claus with all his paraphernalia, Christmas tree with the star hanging on top of the houses and carol singing with prayerful preparations will all converge together today, infusing the air with Christmas spirit.
Christmas is certainly one festival which is most widely celebrated around the world, even in countries which do not either have a predominantly Christian culture or substantial Christian population. Celebrations certainly ought to be there but unfortunately, the whole meaning and purpose of Christmas is sometimes lost behind pompous decorations, partying and exchange of Christmas gifts.
Christmas is not just the birthday of another great soul who became famous as Jesus and to whose name was later added “Christ” (the anointed). But Jesus, with his divine origin, was the expression of God’s unspeakable love for humanity. Saint John tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Here lies the whole meaning behind the mystery of the birth of Baby Jesus on that holy night, that night divine!
It is worth recalling what Dr James Allan wrote about Jesus in 1926: “He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman… He worked in a carpenter shop until He was 30… He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family… He didn’t go to college. He never travelled more than 200 miles from the place He was born. He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He was only 33 when public opinion turned against Him… He was turned over to His enemies... nailed to a cross between two thieves. When He was dying, His executioners gambled for His clothing, the only property He had on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave... Nineteen centuries (twenty) have come and gone… All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on earth as much as that one solitary life.”
I believe the reason the enormous impact that Jesus made and the sway He continues to hold on humanity is that He was the embodiment of God’s love. In the simplest of terms through His words and actions He illustrated what God’s forgiving love was by touching lepers with his bare hands, healing people, freeing the oppressed, letting the adulterous woman go free and by many other such caring gestures. He left the example of His life with us that if we too reflect God’s love through our lives that Jesus concretely demonstrated at Christmas, we would be able to impact humanity not just at Christmas but at all times.
Father Dominic Emmanuel, is the director of communication of the Delhi Catholic Church.
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