It's Not Over: Christmas Season

The Christmas season is NOT over.

The Holy Family, Nave Window
St. Benedict's, Amherst NY

It is very tempting to let the secular world determine when Christmas starts and ends.  But that is not the Catholic understanding.  For us the liturgical season of Christmas BEGINS on Christmas Eve and ENDS with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

We must be careful not to let the world of commerce usurp our sense of sacred time.  Businesses use our holy days to make money, and while it is certainly admirable for people to earn an honest living, we must not let consumerism determine Christmas.  For too many Christians, that is exactly what happens.

Please keep your Creche scene on display throughout the liturgical season of Christmas. Click HERE for details about Christmas and the Creche scene. Understandably, our trees may need to come down earlier, but don't let that determine the end of Christmas! Become aware of how the Church's celebration and the secular world's celebration of Christmas differ.  Keep Christ in Christmas for His entire season of grace.

Nave Window
St. Benedict's, Amherst NY

Here is how the Christmas Season unfolds for believers:
Christmas celebrates the mystery of the Incarnation - God became man or to put it in biblical terms: "The Word became flesh."  Jesus is truly God and truly man.

Dec. 26 - we recall the first person to die for the Christian Faith - the deacon and first martyr, Saint Stephen.  This day reminds us of the seriousness of our Faith. This is also true of the feast of the Holy Innocents on the 28th of December.

The Feast of the Holy Family reminds us how important the family is.  Jesus was truly like all of us.  Jesus, Mary and Joseph are highlighted as a group.



click image for details

January 1st we observe the most ancient feast day of Mary - Mary, Mother of God (Theotokos). This reminds us of Mary's unique, mysterious and wonderful role in salvation history.

Epiphany is celebrated to remind us that Jesus is Christ for ALL people.  The magi represent all people, all nations, recognizing Jesus as Lord and Messiah.

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There is an ancient hymn used by the Church in the Office of Readings (Matins).  It is particularly appropriate for Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord:



Te Deum - Ancient Hymn

God, we praise you; Lord, we proclaim you!

You, the Father, the eternal –

all the earth venerates you.

All the angels, all the heavens, every power –

The cherubim, the seraphim –

unceasingly, they cry:

“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts:

heaven and earth are full of the majesty of your glory!”

The glorious choir of Apostles –

The noble ranks of prophets –

The shining army of martyrs –

all praise you.

Throughout the world your holy Church proclaims you.

– Father of immeasurable majesty,

– True Son, only-begotten, worthy of worship,

– Holy Spirit, our Advocate.

You, Christ:

– You are the king of glory.

– You are the Father’s eternal Son.

– You, to free mankind, did not disdain a Virgin’s womb.

– You defeated the sharp spear of Death, and opened the kingdom of heaven
    to those who believe in you.

– You sit at God’s right hand, in the glory of the Father.

– You will come, so we believe, as our Judge.

And so we ask of you:
give help to your servants, whom you set free at the price of your precious blood.

Number them among your chosen ones in eternal glory.

MUSIC NOTES FOR CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY

       In one of his best-known sermons, Howard Thurman wrote: “When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart.” The message of justice which we heard proclaimed in the scripture and psalms of Advent continues into the liturgies of Christmas in Psalms 96, 97 and 98: “The Lord has made salvation known, his justice revealed to all.” The same theme is taken up in Psalm 72 for Epiphany: “He shall rescue the poor when they cry out, and the afflicted when they have no one to help them. He shall have pity on the lowly and the poor.”

       From Mary’s point of view, the entire story was “the mystery hidden for many ages” which we heard about on the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Romans 16:25). The puzzle emerged piece by piece in her life and her son’s, beginning with Gabriel’s appearance, the visit to Elizabeth, the journey to Bethlehem and the events surround-ing Jesus’ birth. Then the prophecies of Simeon and Anna, the hurried escape into Egypt and eventual return to Nazareth, family life as “the child grew in size and strength, filled with wisdom,” the visit to the temple in Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve, and the wedding feast at Cana. 

      The gospel passage for January 1 tells us that Mary “treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Of this passage, Elizabeth O’Connor writes, in The Eighth Day of Creation: “Every child’s life gives forth hints and signs of the way he is to go. The parent that knows how to meditate stores these hints and signs away and ponders over them.  We are to treasure the intimations of the future that the life of every child gives to us so that, instead of unconsciously putting blocks in his way, we help him to fulfill his destiny. This is not an easy way to follow. Instead of telling our children what they should do and become, we must be humble before their wisdom, believing that in them and not in us is the secret that they need to discover.” As church, it is our mission to “listen for the signs and hints in other lives in the very same way that we listen to them in our own,” as we explore the mystery of our own baptism during the Epiphany season.