A Jolly Christmas

Christmas is a time of fun and cheer. We retrieve our neatly-tucked-away decorations and put them on display in and around our houses. We work together as families and communities to beautify our surroundings and to prepare sweets. In doing these things we spend time with one another and hopefully grow in our relationships, thereby developing new bonds and strengthening old ones. The activities of Christmastide like parties, visits and hopefully even the Sacraments, fill us with joy and contribute to making this season joyful and exciting.

Christmas is a time of joy and generosity, but could it be that we are joyful and generous only to our friends and family? Beginning with myself first and then observing others, I found that there exists a certain amount of selfishness during Christmas. Do we not, most of the time, restrict our sharing and joy to our friends, family and those who are good to us? If this is so then we need to heed Jesus’ reproach, “If you love those who love you, what is special about that? Do not even tax collectors do as much? And if you are friendly only to your friends, what is so exceptional about that? Do not even the pagans do as much?” (Mt 5:46-47). This attitude is a subtle buzz kill to the Christmas spirit. If it is not checked and corrected at the earliest, it could be very hard to weed out once its roots are established.

Perhaps, we can learn a lesson or two from the carol, ‘Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer’. Rudolph was ostracized by the other reindeers but Santa chose him to carry his sleigh. Similarly, God chooses the foolish, the weak, the common and unimportant and uses them to shame the wise, strong and powerful (1 Cor. 1:27-29). We ought not to think that just because we are Christians, we are God’s favoured ones. Such thinking could land us in to a soup, like Dives, who failed to see Lazarus outside his gate. We may want to think that we are special and there is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking so. The problem germinates if we make that status exclusive. We end up harming ourselves and others, especially the poor and less fortunate.  


How can we welcome the baby Jesus in our homes and shut the door on the faces of those who are in need? Did Jesus not say, “Whatever you did to these little ones, who are my brothers and sisters, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40)? Welcoming Jesus into our homes, therefore means also welcoming the less fortunate. Here, I think we ought to make an examination of conscience: When was the last time we shared something with the poor? I don’t mean old clothes or leftover food. I mean something fresh, new or straight off our table? Can we make this a truly jolly Christmas by extending our joy and generosity to those who have nothing and no one? If we can do this, I believe our Christmas will take on a new and radical significance. 

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