"Christ is the reason for the season," the sign in front of the church proclaimed. It's a message that we hear quite often in religious circles... and amongst parents who never want to see a mall again. Many Christians bemoan the commercialization of Christmas -- but is it really all that bad?

The Feast of Pente-what?

The Catholic Church recognizes a number of feast days, or Holy days. These are days that are celebrated to memorialize the sacred mysteries and events of Christian history. Feast days commemorate the Virgin Mary, the apostles, saints and martyrs among other things.

A feast is not just about honoring people and events though. Feasts should help us to remember the importance of the person or event and thus inspire our own spiritual lives. Jesus is born in our hearts at Christmas. We nail him to the cross on Good Friday, yet we rise from the tomb of sin with him at Easter. On Pentecost we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, ten days after Jesus' Ascension into heaven.

Pentecost is usually considered second only to Easter in importance to the Church -- yet how many Catholics know what it is? And of those, how many know when it is? How is it that the second most important day on the Church calendar is virtually unknown by Catholics?

Unintentional Advertising

People remember Christmas because of Santa Claus, and Easter because of that bunny who clucks like a chicken and lays chocolate eggs.

Okay, maybe that's a bit oversimplified, but the bottom line is that the secular holiday bolsters the awareness of the religious feast day. Whether we want to admit it or not, it is the very commercialism we devout Christians scorn that ensures the message of Jesus' birth is remembered by all.

Christian parents feel obligated to make sure their children understand the true meaning of Christmas. Non-practicing Christians or agnostics often feel the need to temper the accesses of commercialism by telling their children the story of Jesus' birth. Even people of other faiths who do not celebrate Christmas will most likely be called upon to explain the "history" of the holiday to their children.

Thanks to the gross over-commercialization of Christmas, it's almost impossible for anyone to hide from it!

Achieving Balance

Is such commercialization the most desired situation? Of course not. In a perfect world, people would remember feast days and holy days without weeks worth of secular reminders. Unfortunately, it's not a perfect world. And perhaps the hoopla around Christmas keeps the holy day from going the way of Pentecost -- an important but often neglected day.

And maybe -- just maybe -- the true meaning of Christmas is preached more loudly because of the secular media hype. Maybe it forces us to stand up and shout the message so that it can be heard above the marketing din. And maybe we're reaching a balance without even knowing it.

Anything's possible, you know -- because Jesus is the reason for the season!

Life Applications:

How old were you when you learned the true meaning of Christmas? Who told you?
What do you do to remind people of the reason for the season?
When is Pentecost? What does it commemorate?

Copyright 2003 by Brandon Jubar
All rights reserved.

Posted by bjubar on 12/23 at 11:05 PM
Christmas • (0) Comments • Permalink

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