I don’t know if you have noticed or not, but one of the catch-phrases for Christmas this year has been “Tis the Season”. I’m not sure if someone on Madison Ave. thought this one up, or what. But it was not from Scripture or from the Church. “Tis the Season” leaves things pretty open-ended. It can be the season for many different things and for many different reasons. It can be the season for snow. It can be the season for fruitcake. It can be the season for setting her heart on fire with diamonds. It can be the season for a new Lexus with a big bow on the roof. It can be the season for giving to the United Christmas fund or to the Salvation Army, or to our own HELP Committee. “Tis the Season” can mean thousands of different things to thousands of different people. For some, “Tis the Season” means an excuse to drink too much or eat too much. For others, “Tis the Season” is an opportunity to over-spend and to buy into materialism unlike any other time of the year. For still others, “Tis the Season” brings a time of sadness and depression, as perhaps they think of blessings and loved ones lost. With all of this going on around, what are we supposed to do as Catholic Christian? I mean, this is OUR Feast. It is our Lord Jesus’ Birthday. What is our response supposed to be, to our world, and our culture, many of which have no comprehension of what Christmas really is all about?

Well, first of all, we’ve got to remember and keep clear the fact the Season in “Tis the Season” is Jesus’ Birthday. Jesus is the reason for the Season. That’s not just a bumpersticker from Abbey Press. Christmas and Christianity are a way of life. We’re not talking about one 24-hour period from midnight on December 25 th until 11:59 PM that same day. Christmas is meant to remain a part of our lives every day! Isn’t that what is so crazy about atheists and agnostics celebrating Christmas? How many pagans will open Christmas presents today? How many non-believers will sit down to huge, delicious meals today? How many atheists don’t have any problem at all taking time off at work for the “Season”? Why don’t these people get their own holiday? You can’t just go through the motions. Christmas is about the heart. It’s about faith. It’s about having Jesus’ peace inside of you. And it is seriously time that we as Christians took back Christmas. To let Madison Ave , or the Media, or even the government tell us what Christmas is and what it isn’t, is wrong. This is our Holiday . This is our Feast. We celebrate that God came down from Heaven out of love for us, for me and for you. If we can’t get that straight, then we have no business opening up presents today. Our God is real. This is the True Christmas story. He is active. And He is moving and working right now in our lives.

For Christians then, this Feast brings peace. Each year as we celebrate His Birthday, each year as we look forward more and more to His return, we are filled with the deepest, the richest, the strongest kind of peace that is known to mankind. This is God’s gift to us at Christmas. That peace is at the heart of what Christmas is really all about, because it is at the heart of what Jesus was all about. That peace raises us above worrying about did we get the right gift, or do we have enough wine, or did we send so-and-so a Christmas card. Christ’s peace penetrates our very being. And if we allow it to, it changes us. And once you really experience that peace, there is no substitute. The world offers us nothing like this.

My Brothers and Sisters, this is Christmas. Let us not “spend” this day. Let us not just “observe” Christmas. But let us “keep” Christmas as people of Faith. Let us keep it in our hearts so that we may “keep” its hope with us always. This is a beautiful Feast Day with lots of loveliness and rich, ancient traditions. But it is an even more beautiful way of life that gives us peace beyond our wildest imaginations. Let us enjoy this Christmas!

From all of us here at St. Maria Goretti: Fr. Dale and myself, and our entire Parish and school staffs, Merry Christmas to each of you and your entire families!

May God bless us on this feast and help us to have real Faith every day! Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN!!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!