No "Bah Humbug" Here

I have been inspired by the BLOG of my friend, Secundo Pia Columbanus D'Silva, at Mystic Alchemy. He states in his most recent post that he wants to "be in the festive spirit of things." And so taking a cue from him I want to speak about a neat book I came across: Advent and Christmas with the Saints, by Anthony F. Chiffolo (Liguori Publications).

One of my favorite saints is not nearly as well known as St. Francis of Assisi nor St. Teresa of Avila, but he is still a very important saint in the Church. Saint Alphonsus Liguori is a "Doctor of the Church" because of his writings on moral theology. At his time in history the world was fighting the heresy of Jansenism. That was a belief that only a very few people can ever get to heaven because it is such a difficult feat. This heresy greatly over-emphasizes sin, and flies totally against the belief in a God who loves us unconditionally.

Saint Alphonsus' position was that because of God's tremendous love for us, any benefit of doubt must always be judged in favor of the penitent. For example, if someone was not sure whether or not they had transgressed one of God's laws, the Jansenists would have claimed that they most likely did commit a sin and should confess it. But Alphonsus said "no." Sin is a deliberate act and if a person isn't sure, then they certainly did not commit a deliberate act of sin.

Well, Saint Alphonsus is quoted in Advent and Christmas with the Saints. Here is what he says:

"It is a custom with many Christians to anticipate the arrival of Christmas . . . by fitting up in their homes a crib to represent the birth of Jesus Christ; but there are few who think of preparing their hearts, so that the infant Jesus may be born in them . . ."

We've been enduring so much controversy over the use of the phrase "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas." And for years I have personally been confounded by the way the holiness of Christmas has been supplanted with comercialism. By December 26 we will not hear a single Christmas carol on the radio because everyone will be sick of hearing them since before Thanksgiving.

We can rant and rave about those things, but even for those who insist on using "Christmas" instead of "Holidays," do we really prepare our hearts for the sacredness of this event? Is our life different because God chose to become human and share in our plight, so that we now share forever in divine life?