Christmas is a beautiful feast in the history of humankind. It is a feast which has become universal. It is universal in the sense that even people of other faiths do celebrate it. But the question that we need to ask is, how do they celebrate it? We are called to reflect on our own way of celebrating Christmas. How do we as Christians celebrate Christmas? What is our motive in celebrating it? This Christmas-novena is the proper time for us to reflect on it.
The term ‘secularization’ of Christmas refers to the notion that the religious elements of Christmas are gradually being removed and the non-religious elements, like Santa Claus, Christmas tree, cards, decorations and so on are given the central focus. It is basically a failure to focus on the birth of Jesus Christ and its relevance in the Christian religion.
If we look at the world around, we can see that these things are true. Advent season which is a season of shaping our life has become a season of shopping. People are busy going around, buying and selling. This is also the season where people clean, paint and decorates their houses. We can ask a question to ourselves here. What are we doing during this advent especially during these days of novena? Are we cleaning, painting and decorating our heart, preparing for the coming of the Lord? Or Are we busy with peripherals?
Another aspect we can see in the world today, is that Christmas which is a ‘Holy day’ has become a holiday. Christmas season has become a time for people to go for picnics and parties. It has become a season of relaxation and enjoyment. We are over-occupied with all these celebrations and forget the Lord who is born to save us. We forget to give importance to our own interior life.
I was reading an article on the internet on this topic. I was shocked to read that there are people who purposely try to secularize Christmas. The article says that there is a campaign in USA to secularize Christmas through the program ‘War on Christmas’. This term was coined by a certain man named Michael Medved in the 19th December, 2001. With this program there is an attempt to abolish the religious essence of Christmas. These people propagate expression like ‘Happy Holidays’, ‘Season’s Greetings’, and use the word ‘Xmas’ instead of Christmas. In some places decorations on public properties are banned.
Looking at this present scenario, what is our reaction to it? Are we doing something to stop this or are we also part to this? It is good to question ourselves during this novena time and reflect on how we can contribute to the meaningful and graceful celebration of Christmas. Let us pray for each other during these days of the Novena and ask God to bless us with the necessary graces as we prepare for his coming.