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catholicnewsherald.com | December 7, 2012 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD
Kevin Bezner
Sister Margie Lavonis
Remember Jesus? Christmas is His birthday, not ours
I
am not a Scrooge, but all the activity during this time of year depresses me. People are running around frantically buying things they often do not need or cannot afford. Stores ply Christmas carols even before the Halloween decorations are taken down, and lots of people put up their Christmas trees before the turkey is cooked on Thanksgiving. The malls are crowded and some people will actually get up at four in the morning to stand in long lines for Christmas specials. And you probably can give other examples. I want to tell them whose birthday it really is and why we celebrate. Now, don’t get me wrong – I am not against Christmas or gift-giving. Gifts are important expressions of appreciation and love. However, trying to outdo one another or giving gifts only because someone else is giving them to us seems ridiculous. In most of the Western Hemisphere we have the tendency to think that more is better. Our culture is very materialistic. Our wants have become our needs. Many want the best and the latest of everything. Children often hound their parents and Santa for the most popular toys. I know parents who agonize because they can’t afford these items and will go into debt just to give their children what “everybody else” is getting. Sometimes I wonder who this “everybody” is. We often can lose sight that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Christians should remember and remind others about why we celebrate. It is Christ’s birthday, not ours. Hopefully our gifts are expressions of God’s love and the fact that Jesus is the greatest gift of all. You might wonder what you could possibly do to turn the tide. Every year I ask myself the same thing. The following are a few suggestions that might help us all. Examine your gift giving. Think of those who are on your Christmas list and why you give them gifts. Maybe you do it because you feel obliged or have always done so. Hopefully, your giving
is out of love and that more is not better than less. Reinforce with your family, especially your children and grandchildren, that the joy of Christmas does not depend on how many or what gifts we receive or give. Suggest to your children that gifts don’t always have to be things. They can give the special gift of service, like giving a card with a promise to shovel the person’s driveway and sidewalks this winter or offer a couple with little children some days of free babysitting. Let them use their imaginations. Emphasize that their time can also be a precious gift. Gifts also can be made. Giving baked Christmas goodies or homemade candy is appreciated by all. It is very special
Advent, a time for fasting J
ohn Climacus sums up the value of fasting in one sentence: “Begrudge the stomach and your heart will be humbled; please the stomach and your mind will turn proud.” These words appear in his chapter on gluttony in his great spiritual classic, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent.” That he links fasting with humility and gluttony with pride is not to be overlooked. Both Evagrius of Pontus (345-399) and St. Gregory the Great (540-604) list gluttony as the first of the vices Christians must attack as they move toward union with God. Both place pride as the last of the vices one must conquer. Evagrius, considered the originator of the list of vices, places pride as his eighth and final vice. St. Gregory received the list of vices from Evagrius’ disciple John Cassian, who greatly influenced St. Benedict, and transformed it into what we know today as the seven deadly sins.
Fast, the Advent Fast began on Nov. 15 and lasts through Dec. 24. Some call the Nativity Fast the St. Phillip’s Fast, because it begins the day after the feast of St. Phillip the Apostle on the Eastern Catholic liturgical calendar. Although fasting is voluntary, during this time people are encouraged to abstain from meat. They are also encouraged to do acts of penance such as prayer and charitable works. In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is a fast-free day. Christmas Eve is a strict fast. On this day, people abstain from meat and have only one full meal and a snack. It is customary for some also to abstain from dairy products on this day. The other three seasonal fasts in the Eastern Catholic Church are those for Lent, similar to that in the Roman Catholic Church; the fast of the Holy Apostles, from the first Sunday after Pentecost until June 28; and the Dormition Fast, a fast from Aug. 1 to 14 in honor of the Blessed Mother’s Assumption. Parishioners also are encouraged to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, as well as on special days. Fundamentally, fasting helps us to empty ourselves so that our hearts can be purified. Writing of avarice – what today we call greed – St. Augustine once said, “Do you not realize that hoarding yourself in this way you are covering your heart with mud? How then will you see him whom you desire?” In fasting we uncover our hearts of mud, we purify ourselves and open ourselves up to Christ. Keeping this in mind, Advent is the perfect time to fast because it allows us to more fully appreciate the Incarnation of Our Lord. In essence, it allows us to prepare for the coming of the Lord just as we prepare for the reception of grace. Preparation for grace, Olivier Clément writes in “The Roots of Christian Mysticism,” is “making ourselves attentive to the possibility of a meeting.” Fasting in Advent keeps our minds focused on meeting Christ at His birth, not on the glitzy trappings of the holiday season that blur the distinction between Advent and Christmas. This Advent try fasting, and open yourself up to the Lord. No effort, Climacus reminds us, will be too small. “Fight as hard as you can against the stomach and let your vigilance hold it in. Make the effort, however little, and the Lord will quickly come to your help.”
‘Few of us think of Advent as a season of penitential preparation. Most of us instead get caught up in the joy of the Christmas season, when we should instead be waiting expectantly – preparing for the birth of Our Lord.’ Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald
when someone takes the time to make something delicious to give to you. Send Christmas cards to people who live far away and won’t see during the holidays. Share the gift of your time by letting friends know what has happened in your life. It seems a waste of paper and postage to just sign your name. Also, remember that the Church’s Christmas season goes far beyond Dec. 25, so cards don’t have to make it to recipients by Christmas day. Changing our materialistic way of celebrating Christmas will not happen overnight, but each of us can do our part to keep into focus remember whose birthday we celebrate. It also will help us to more appreciate the meaning of Advent and relieve a lot of stress so we can truly enjoy this beautiful season of preparation for the birth of Jesus, not primarily Santa. Sister Margie Lavonis is professed with the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Notre Dame, Ind. Learn more about the sisters at www.cscsisters.org.
Gluttony, Climacus writes, is “the prince of the passions,” but “pride takes up residence wherever we have lapsed….” The devil’s invention, Climacus notes, pride leads to the denial of God. But the true journey to God leads to humility, and the journey to humility begins with self-denial. One of the best ways to build up a practice of self-denial is through regular penance and fasting, a practice long recognized by the Church. Everyone seems to fast in some way for Lent. Many of us continue to fast in some measure throughout the year by giving up meat on Fridays, a practice that fell out of widespread practice following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Few of us, however, think of Advent as a season of penitential preparation. Most of us instead get caught up in the joy of the Christmas season, when we should instead be waiting expectantly – preparing for the birth of Our Lord. One of the great traditions of the Eastern Catholic Church is the Advent Fast, one of four seasonal fasts. Also called the Nativity
Kevin Bezner is a member of St. Basil the Great Ukrainian Catholic Mission in Charlotte. The mission has several Adventrelated celebrations planned this month. Learn more at www. stbasil.weebly.com.