Most everyone looks forward all year long to the long holiday season. Thanksgiving is still a uniquely American holiday that celebrates family, food, football and good friends. And now, thanks to the worldly culture that engulfs us, it is also the start of the Christmas season. Black Friday is an example of what we have become and the front loaded calendar of Christmas parties, movies and music wears us out before Christmas really comes into focus. But then we see our excitement level raise as the special day draws near and before we know it we are celebrating our own traditions for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We wake up on December 26th and head back to the malls and stores again but there still may be holiday parties and gatherings to celebrate. New Year's Eve dawns and we strive to stay up all day and night to ring in midnight before we wrap up New Year's Day. Then January 2nd comes and many of us ask, what now? We feel like everything is over. Not so quick my friend, for nothing could be further from the truth.
People of faith know this so maybe it is a bit easier on us. People who truly celebrate Christmas the way the Church invites us to recognize a couple of realities that escapes the rest of the world. First, Christmas does not start in November. We first must celebrate a season of eager anticipation, joyful watching and reflective preparation. We call this Advent. Surely we must get prepared for Christmas and there is room for flexibility. To skip celebrating Advent and anticipate Christmas as an upcoming season robs us of true spiritual joy. Advent wreaths, singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel are wonderful things to do and then we arrive at Christmas, on the eve of the 24th and we can properly transition for the season. Christmas is not a day, it truly is a season. First of all Christmas is an Octave, meaning the Church instructs us to celebrate everyday, December 25th thru January 1st as if it is Christmas Day. Today, January 1st, is the 8th and final day of the Octave. The Christmas season continues until we celebrate the Epiphany, this year January 4th and always, in a traditional manner, January 6th. When I was a child my family referred to January 6th, King's Day and 12th night, the official start of the Mardi Gras season, as Little Christmas. Liturgically, the Christmas season now extends until the weekend of the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. This year that will be January 11th. And then, Christmas is over. Note: Some traditional Catholics celebrate the season all the way until February 2nd, Candelmas, or the Feast of the Presentation.
So when you wake up tomorrow, even when you might have to return to work, do so in spirit of Christmas. After all, tomorrow is the 9th day of Christmas. And if Christmas has been a blessing for you, if more memories were made, if you experienced Christmas joy, why would you want that to end anyway? What are we to do tomorrow, next week, all year long? First, live in the moment, and remember your Christmas joy always. Knowing you are blessed, use the days of the rest of this Christmas season and the whole year to come to be a blessing. Resolve tonight to be about someone else rather than self. Resolve tonight to live differently, aware of Christ's gifts to you in your life, and be gift to all you encounter by your presence. When you go to work, do so with skill and effort and desire and joy, yes joy in your work. When you return to school do so with enthusiasm and determination and joy, yes joy in your studies. If we are dealt a setback, even if it be serious, rest in the knowledge that God is with us and Jesus walks with us on the journey, even through the difficult and trying times.
In the morning it will be January 2nd, make it a Christmas celebration, and a great day where you make a difference!
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