Christmas: A time for Christ

As we count down to Christmas it is certainly a time of busyness. We are buying those last few presents, wrapping all our gifts, planning the Christmas dinner, shopping for food and trying not to go insane getting these things done. But amid all this hustle and bustle we need to make Christ the center of Christmas.

We live in a secular world that has turned Christmas into a commercial holiday. This is not something new. Our society has been doing this for years. But this year it seems that our society is making a deliberate and concerted effort to ensure that Christmas is not about God, not about Christ, not about faith but about ourself. Our world is trying to make Christmas all about me. A good example of this is the sign placed in the Capitol of the State of Washington. In the Capitol Rotundra is a nativity scene and a Christmas tree. An atheist group petitioned the state to have their 'beliefs' posted as well and were given permission to place a sign next to the nativity. The sign reads as follows: "There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens our hearts and enslaves our minds." When I first read this article and heard this story I was quite upset. However, I saw an interview a few days later on Fox News that not only calmed me down but really made sense about this situation.

Bill Hemmler of Fox News interviewed the Dan Barker, co-president of the group who petitioned for the sign to be placed in the Capitol. But, to balance the interview out, Hemmler also invited Fr. Jonathon Morris, a contributer to Fox News at the Vatican, to respond to Barker. You can read the full interview at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,461824,00.html if you want to read the disrespectful and venomous comments leveled toward Christians by Barker. But it was a comment made at the end of the interview by Fr. Morris that really struck me. When asked whethere we (Christians) have to accept the fact that Barker and his group are entitled to the freedom of speech Fr. Morris replied, "Yes, you know what, I think so." But then he said something that really made me think. He said:
There's 1 billion people who on December 25 are going to celebrate not the winter solstice but the birth of a man named Jesus of Nazareth. It's a sacred tradition. Let me say — to the people who are watching, let's not get all worried about this. The important thing is that we teach our children what this holiday is all about. And that is the real danger, them not knowing, not these silly groups that think the Constitution says, we have freedom from religion when we really have freedom of religion.

I thought, "Wow! THAT is how we, as Christians, should respond to attacks of our faith." We are called always to defend the faith but the most powerful and effective way to defend our faith it to teach it! Teach it to our children! THEY are the future generation. We may not be able to prevent atheists from spreading their message of a Godless world but we CAN ensure that our children - the future of our world - know the truth about God and Christ. Atheists really have no beliefs to pass on to their children. All they have to teach is that there is no God. There is not much to say after that. We, on the other hand, not only teach that there IS a God but we are also called to teach our children about God, about Christ, about Christianity and about our Catholic faith. That is how we defend our faith: by living it and by passing it on to our children. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:42 | link | comments (1) |

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