On December 25th we
celebrated the Nativity. We are often told that Christmas is about Children.
The truth is that it’s about one child: the Christ Child, God-made-man, who came
to earth to redeem us from sin. And no sin is too big to be forgiven, for no
sin can be bigger than God who is infinite (without end –and how can you get
beyond that which has no end?) So no one should ever be afraid of facing God.
If Christmas is about anything it is about God coming into the world to seek
out and save that which was lost: mankind, so we should never be afraid to run
to Him for mercy. We should, however, have a fear of sin -and a healthy rebuke
of ourselves, for the danger lies not in God but in us: we get complacent
because we judge ourselves against the worst in society, and since we don’t
murder, don’t rob with violence, don’t cheat on our spouse and don’t abuse our
kids; and since we do give time to
supporting others in need, donating to charity and coming to Holy Mass we feel
good about ourselves. But none of this stops us falling into sins of omission: the
neglect of our prayer life; the neglect of developing our understanding of The
Faith; the neglect of public witness; nor does it prevent us falling into sins
of commission such as gossip, duplicity, impurity and drunkenness. So while we
should never fear God because His mercy is infinite, we should -we must-
fear sin, since sin separates us from God. It can kill our relationship
with the God who loves us -not from His side, but from ours by choosing to sin.
So never fear God, but do fear sin. Do
you fear sin, or do you dismiss it easily?
On December 26th we
celebrated St. Stephen, the proto Martyr. Like Stephen, we have to die. We may
not have to die a physical death as did those beheaded by ISIS, but we do have
to die to selfishness and self-directive autonomy. We do have to die to the
vices that put distance between ourselves and God, and between us and our
neighbour. It isn’t easy to die to self; we are so used to getting our own way
in so many things. But to die to self is an essential part of the Christian
Life; “THY will be done” (not mine). Can we get up fifteen minutes earlier to
ensure we begin our day with God? Can we switch off the TV or computer to do
good and fulfil our responsibilities in life? Can we call it a night when out
with friends and they take a wrong turn in alcohol consumption or conversation?
Can we say no to passing pleasures for
happiness in Heaven?
On December 28th we
celebrated the Holy Innocents. It would be easy to relate this to the slaughter
of unborn children that has overtaken society since the 1967 Abortion act in
the UK and Roe Versus Wade in 1973. The correlation would be sound, but
incomplete. For the innocence of children is being slaughtered every day in
classrooms and in the media, and with this goes great damage to their spiritual
life. Schools are pushing a sex-education curriculum that rejects the Gospel of
Christ (yet left unchallenged or worse, even supported by the majority of
Bishops); classrooms in our colleges push moral relativism as a non-judgmental
stance to our young adults; the media affirms cohabitation, contraception, homosexual
activity and promiscuity of men and women as normal, and often presents the
killing of the unborn child and the sick as wise and compassionate. Can you see the errors in the sexualisation
of our children by school and college curricula? Can you switch off the TV when
it focuses on violence and immoral lifestyles?
The messages of Christmas are
not romantic if we see beyond the emotionalism of the season, but how many of
us do? I’m afraid the majority of our Bishops and presbyters do not, cannot or will
not. No wonder our people today reject solid teaching in the homilies of the
tradition-loyal priest, and reject liturgies which focus on God and propitiation
for sin rather than bright and breezy liturgy focused on affirming the people
who should still be working out their salvation “in fear and trembling”
(Phil.2v12).
