We need to beware of the Grinch who will steal our Christmas this year. I know that Advent is upon us now and perhaps we have not gotten ready or thought of what we should do for Advent, but we can make a plan right now, today, for how we are going to really celebrate and receive the joy this Christmas as we have never celebrated it before.
We have to ask ourselves the question why are we doing all this – our faith and going to Church, being Catholic, getting ready for another Christmas? What is going to be different this year over other years? This may have come as a shock to us but the reason Catholicism was brought into our lives was to free us, to save us and to lead to a life of joy. I know, it is shocking. You could hardly guess that that is true here, that people have been freed, saved and are full of joy.
Last Sunday, Jesus said to Pilate, “If my kingdom was of this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over.” I tell you, this Advent and Christmas seasons, we need to fight to keep Christmas from being handed over. Automatically we think we must fight against the commercialism of Christmas, but I am not merely suggesting that because the Grinch is more subtle than that. He will rob our joy, our purpose. So we must ask why are we going through this season?
We need to make a list of the things that are stealing our joy. A joyless Christian is a contradiction.
As we go down the list, we need to ask why are we allowing this. What, God, can I change so that this Christmas I will welcome you, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, my Saviour? I will not let the Grinch win this Christmas.
We need to do it in simple ways, and get back to what we are doing.
One way we can do this is to renew our Sacraments. Let‘s say you are a priest. Well, a priest’s vocation is to give his life to the Church. His joy is there. Most of the time, his joy will be totally taken away when he no longer does that, when he treats it like a job and not as a way to give himself. So all you priests out there you should renew your dedication to give yourself to the Church.
What if you are married? In this time period you could rediscover why you got marriage. Your vocation is to serve your spouse as you would Jesus. Look at ways that your joy has been robbed. Ask for the grace to fight once again for that joy and welcome in the new life. Fight for joy in your relationship. Ask Jesus if you can’t find anything. Do spontaneous acts of kindness and love. Don’t tell or wait for your spouse to rise to this, you do it.
What if you were baptized or confirmed? Ask: what would make me joyful in my faith? What do I need right now? What is holding me back?
We need to get back, to fight for Christmas, to fight so that the Kingdom of Jesus is not stolen from our lives. We need to find Jesus again in the oddest places. We need to serve the poor, invite those people who have no place to go to our family meals. To buy less and invest more into our Christmas. We need to let Jesus into our lives.
Can you think of a moment in your life where you lost your joy? Or when it was taken from you? The time where sarcasm and cynicism took over? When we no longer thought of the world as a good place? When we started to see some bad things and let them flavour our lives? This is part of the fight we will experience this Christmas. To recapture our joy we have to ask for the grace to look with wonder on people and the world. We need to stop controlling joy, and stop saying, “Lord, it can only come in this way.” We need to start expecting, like a little child, for it to come out of all places. When Bad came it was okay when we were children because we knew joy would come again. Let us battle the thief of joy, the Grinch, who is trying to steal our Christmas. Let us let joy and grace come in like it never has. Let us fill our lives, recount our blessings, do good things because we can, not because we could get paid back. Let us pour out joy to those around us and trust that it will not wear out. Let us battle against being too grown up, too cynical, too jaded. Let us love and receive love as we have never before. This is how we get ready for Christmas.