Reflection on Christmas
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen. I have received a request to write about Christmas, the celebration of Christ’s Nativity by a friend, regarding objections to it and its meaning for our life. The 2 objections to Christmas is the association with Sol Invicti and the problem of Christmas trees, that they are pagan in origin.
This association
between Christian practice and paganism is just absurd. It is mere propaganda of
disparaging Christianity and particularly the Catholic Faith. First, just
because there are similarities does not mean that they are causally linked,
this is the fallacy or logical error of correlation not causation. Furthermore,
the timing of December 25 is based on 2 things, the Tradition of the Annunciation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary and also the time of Zechariah’s time as a priest in
the Temple. Both sources point to December 25 being Christ’s birthday. Then,
the dies natalis sol invicti came at least 200 hundred years after the
Christian Faith, those Christians who were persecuted for refusing to
participate in pagan practices and died for their Faith, are now accused of
being pagan? How absurd!
The evergreen
Christmas tree is used because it is a symbol of hope and resurrection and life
within the winter season. This fits the meaning of Christ’s arrival into the
world. Then there’s the fact that Church can and will baptize various pagan
practices into herself if it can be reinterpreted according to the Faith. There
is nothing wrong with this. The Second Vatican Council teaches that the Church
recognizes that simply because all other religions do not possess the fullness
of the Truth, they possess no truth at all. There are some bits of wisdom
within other religions and faiths, but only Christ and His Body is the fulfillment
of Wisdom.
Now, what does the
Nativity of Christ mean for our life? It means one thing, hope. For the birth
of Christ is the entry of God into history and the beginning of His work to
redeem us and allow us to be saved from our sins. Thus Christmas must be
interpreted according to the entire Faith. Christ was indeed born around 2000
years ago, but it is by the Incarnation, His birth, that leads to His Passion,
Resurrection, and Ascension which saves us who accept Him. It is like the subtitle
of the first Star Wars movie, “A New Hope”. Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
be, world without end, amen.
The sources I read.
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/refuting-the-pagan-roots-of-christmas-claim
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