The Queen: Editorial: Christmas… Dream of the Ages
Fr. James McMillan, SMM
Christmas… Dream of the Ages
G ILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON, the English writer, used to insist that people who reject Christianity do so, . . .
. . . not because they know it to be false, but because they think it’s too good to be true.
And certainly, the idea that God would become one of us, live a life much like ours, and then freely choose to die for us, is one that does stretch the imagination a great deal more than the wildest fantasies of Ray Bradbury or J.R.R. Tolkein.
There have indeed been instances in the history of Religion where people did dream of their gods and goddesses becoming human and living among us. But nobody took this seriously. Everyone knew that these were myths. It is only Christianity that takes a dream like this and maintains that it is reality. But it is a reality that we accept, not on any human testimony, but only on the Word of an infinitely loving and trustworthy God.
It is this coming of the Son-of-God-made-man among us that we celebrate during the Christmas season. Even those who don’t even believe in God join us in this celebration, possibly because of nostalgic remembrances of childhood, and possibly also because, down deep in their hearts, they wish that they too could believe in this dream of the ages.
T HE KEY TO THE ACCEPTANCE of Christmas is faith: faith in God revealing this splendid mystery of His love for His human creatures.
But faith, as we know, is a virtue that must be carefully nurtured so that it may grow and deepen and mature. We cannot just let it lie there, expecting that it will grow all by itself.
Faith is a Virtue . . .
For it is an unfortunate fact of human existence that we all tend to become accustomed to the good things of life, that we rarely appreciate them as we should. It is possible to take one’s faith for granted, just as we can take anything else for granted: the air we breathe, the food we eat, the health that we possess. We seldom enough thank God for our sight, for our hearing, for the fact that we can walk without limping. We are always tempted to let “custom stale our infinite variety.”
Editorial
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Christmas, then, should be a beginning for us, just as it was a beginning for Christ Himself. It should be the beginning of a renewed faith in God, of renewed trust in His love and goodness, of renewed dedication on the part of all of us to the task of our Redemption and the Redemption of the entire world.
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Christmas is an excellent occasion to revive and revivify the faith that God has given us. It is a time to meditate on the goodness and love of God Who became one of us. It is not the greatest or the most profound of the mysteries of Christianity, but it is by far the one that is the most appealing, the one that seems to hold the most attraction for us.
. . . That Must Be Carefully Nurtured
Take time during this busy season to think of the events surrounding the birth of Christ in the stable of Bethlehem. Look back to the story of the Angel Gabriel who . . . was sent by God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, where a virgin dwelt, betrothed to a man of David’s lineage; his name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name was Mary.” Consider the answer she gave to the angel when he asked her to become the Mother of the Redeemer: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word.”
G IVE SOME THOUGHT TO THE hardship she and her husband had to undergo to prepare for His coming, the long trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the anguish of not being able to find a decent place for His birth. Meditate on the enormous faith in God that must have been theirs in order to accept this child as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer of the world.
Pray in Union with Our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph
And, above all, take some extra time to pray. Pray in union with our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. Ask for their help in understanding the generosity of God toward the human race, His love for each one of us as manifested by His coming as a new-born child. The ancient writers of the Church point out that He came as a child in order to win our love, for who can resist loving an infant?
Christmas, then, should be a beginning for us, just as it was a beginning for Christ Himself. It should be the beginning of a renewed faith in God, of renewed trust in His love and goodness, of renewed dedication on the part of all of us to the task of our Redemption and the Redemption of the entire world.
