Christmas is Christ

It is the time, the season of Christmas, a time for great joy and happiness as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We must, however, never forget that while the birth of the Word made flesh was and is truly a miracle, it was not his birth that saved us but his death and resurrection that brought us salvation. On this day, His day, we celebrate God’s greatest gift to all of us, the gift of His only Son.

Christmas Angel Poem

Christmas Angel Poem

Christmas begins with Christ, Christmas is for Christ, Christmas is about Christ, Christmas is Christ. Christmas is not a holiday; Christmas is a Holy Day because it is His Day.

While many may fervently wish to make it a day for buying and selling, hurrying and scurrying, football games and turkey, tinsel and lights on a tree, music and presents, Santa Claus, and reindeer, let us not forget that it was God who gave us life, God who gave the world His Son, and God in His infinite and abundant love who gave us Christmas.

There are those who wish to take Christ out of Christmas, to make it something that it is not, to turn it into something it was never intended to be. They seek to demystify the mystery, make unholy the holy, and to secularize the sacred. To them, I say “Good Luck” because without ‘Christ’ we are left with only ‘mas’ which in Spanish means ‘more’ which really says it all, doesn’t it? Perhaps Forest Gump said it best when he said “Stupid is as stupid does.”

Christmas cannot be purchased at Macy’s, or Best Buy, nor can it be bought online at Amazon.com, or anywhere else for that matter. To paraphrase a familiar commercial: Christmas is priceless. There is simply no way to place a price tag on Christ and yet, for some reason, many people keep trying with all their might to do just that. They spend all of their time and money searching for the perfect gift or asking for that one thing that will make them most happy when all they have to do is open their hearts and receive the greatest gift of all, the saving grace and love of Jesus Christ. Christ, who has everything because He is the creator of all things, gives us everything that we will ever need. He gives us all His love for the price of our love in return.

Christmas is our gift from God and it is the most precious gift of all. He deserves our most heartfelt thanks and praise for the ultimate gift of His precious Son.

May each and every one of you enjoy the blessings and peace that comes from Almighty God this Christmas. Have a blessed Christmas.

About the author: Deacon Chuck

Deacon Chuck was ordained into the permanent diaconate on September 17, 2011, in the ministry of service to the Diocese of Reno and assigned to St. Albert the Great Catholic Community. He currently serves as the parish bulletin editor and website administrator. Deacon Chuck continues to serve the parish of Saint Albert the Great Catholic Community of the Diocese of Reno, Nevada. He is the Director of Adult Faith Formation and Homebound Ministries for the parish, conducts frequent adult faith formation workshops, and is a regular homilist. He currently serves as the bulletin editor for the parish bulletin. He writes a weekly column intended to encompass a broad landscape of thoughts and ideas on matters of theology, faith, morals, teachings of the magisterium and the Catholic Church; they are meant to illuminate, illustrate, and catechize the readers and now number more than 230 articles. His latest endeavor is "Colloqui: A journal for restless minds", a weekly journal of about 8 pages similar in content to bulletin reflections. All his reflections, homilies, commentaries, and Colloqui are posted and can be found on his website: http://deaconscorner.org. Comments are always welcome and appreciated. He is the author of two books: "The Voices of God: hearing God in the silence" which offers the reader insights into how to hear God’s voice through all of the noise that surrounds us; and "Echoes of Love: Effervescent Memories" which through a combination of prose and verse provides the reader with a wonderful journey on the way to discovering forever love. He regularly speaks to groups of all ages and size and would welcome the opportunity to speak to your group.

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