The Magic of Christmas

During the days of the great Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, when the Jews were under the threat of many persecutions, the rabbi went to a particular place in the forest to meditate.  Once there he lit a bonfire, recited a particular prayer and the miracle that his people was saved from the imminent tragedy happened.

Later when he passed down to his disciple the task of interceding for the people, the latter went to the same secret place in the forest and once there he addressed God in this terms: “I no longer know how to light the fire, but I can still recite the prayer,” and again, the miracle happened.

The years passed until one day when a tragedy was about to again strike the people and it was up to Rabbi Moshe-Leib of Sasov to perform the deliverance ritual, he said to himself: “I do not know how to light the fire nor do I remember the words of the prayer, but I can still find the secret place, I guess this will have to be enough for the miracle to take place," and so it was, on heading to the secret place in the forest, the miracle of deliverance of the people took place.

After many more years had passed, it was Rabbi Israel of Rizhyn’s turn to perform the deliverance ritual from the tragedies. Seated in his armchair, holding his head in his hands, he spoke to God in this way: “I know that I’m unable to light the fire, I do not know the prayer, and I cannot even find the secret place where my predecessors used to go. The only thing I can do is to tell the story,” this he did and the miracle also happened.

Christmas traditions
The traditions which have been associated with Christmas make this holiday the richest of all the holidays symbolically and also the most popular of the western culture. Each of these traditions by itself does not encompass the full meaning of Christmas but does help to explain a part of it.

Christmas is Santa Claus, a respectable old man who does not hide his age nor tries to appear younger, and who breaks into kindness by giving presents to children, patting them on the heads and placing them on his laps. The red of his suit has nothing to do with that brown soda pop, as they say spitefully, but rather with the red vestment of a bishop. Historically, Santa Claus is associated with the bishop Saint Nicholas hence the word Santa Claus; mythically, he represents God the Father who gives us his Son as a gift. Christmas is the time when the Pope gives his Urbi et Orbe address and blessing to the entire world.

Christmas is the countless blinking lights that decorate and illuminate our cities and towns. Christmas is the streets and windows of all the shops decorated for the occasion that invites the customers to come in and buy gifts. Christmas is the nativity scene, the life-sized ones in our plazas and the smaller ones in our homes which evoke the true story of Christmas. Christmas is the Christmas tree, conical evergreen trees that point to Heaven, illuminated, embellished and found in strategic locations in our cities and towns, and also in our homes.

Christmas is the cold that leads to the lighting of a fireplace which exudes physical and human warmth. Christmas is the dark night that gathers all men by the light of a candle. Christmas is the house with windows glowing of warm amber light and smoke in the chimney, which contrasts with the dark landscape of white and freezing snow.

Christmas is the well-wishing cards received by the dozens, that are displayed, and which are now becoming scarce. Christmas is the family reunion, united in love and harmony for the Christmas night. Christmas is the Christmas dinner: potatoes cooked with codfish and cabbages, drizzled with raw olive oil, the stewed Christmas octopus served with potatoes and kale, the roasted turkey with savory stuffing at the center of the table, the English pudding, and all the traditional desserts according to countries and regions.

Christmas is the stockings hung by the fireplace, the joy of the parents who give gifts and the wide-eyed children frantically opening them. Christmas is the large bonfire in the churchyard keeping the parishioners warm prior to the Midnight Mass. Christmas is the song of the angels of “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of goodwill” accompanied with bells.

Christmas is the Christmas songs, the “Silent Night”, the English “Christmas carols”, the Spanish “villancicos” and the Portuguese “Janeiras”. Christmas is to kiss the Baby Jesus; Christmas is the longing of the Christmases of the past that will never return; Christmas is the sadness, for not being able to be cheerful, when we are alone or far from those we love… Christmas is all of this and so much more…

 “Jesus is the reason for the season”
There are many in our society who spend this season without any reference to the real meaning of Christmas, and this has led some Christians to stand up and shout, in defense against what Christmas has become, that “JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!”.

It is true that nowadays only some people know the story of the visitation of Angel Gabriel to Mary, the incarnation of the Creator to a creature and the Divine Word who became a man, God is one of us, God-with-us, who came to teach us within our human nature how we ought to live this God-given life. Few know that the Child God, called Jesus, was born in a stable in Bethlehem and was born of Mary and placed in a manger which served as his cradle; and that the angels sang “Glory to God” and the poorest of that region, the shepherds, could not contain their joy at his arrival.

Paraphrasing the tale told above, the magic of Christmas happens every year at the appointed time despite the lack of knowledge of the true story. As if it was embedded in our genes, Christmas with its magic and spirit is triggered every year when winter comes.

Its arrival has the same effect as the fairy dust in the fairy tales; it modifies the thoughts, the feelings and the actions of everyone. At Christmas time, to do good seems the most natural, and everyone has more will power and motivation to avoid doing evil. In the big cities, crimes go down. There are truces in wars, and men stop for a moment being wolves with their peers.

“Queen for a day”
Christmas is the dream and the paradise of a future world that is fairer, more peaceful and more fraternal. The reality of the present day is far from this dream, but it seems that on Christmas Day this dream does seem to come true.

It may be just like the notion of “the queen for the day”, but it is enough for us not to forget that our goal is in fact that every day should be like Christmas Day, as it is portrayed by a certain Christmas store in Quebec City, Canada, that is purposely open every day of the year.

Christmas is not and will never be what it used to be, but whatever it may become, its magic and spirit will never be lost and so we will always have Christmas, even if it is only once a year, because we cannot do without it.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

Prophet Isaiah – a Christian “avant la lettre”

Moses and Elijah appearing beside Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration represent the Law and the Prophets, a makeshift way of referring to the books of the Old Testament. For the Jewish people, Moses, the legislator from Mount Sinai, symbolizes the Law, to whom 5 books of the Pentateuch are attributed. Similarly, Elijah, who decimated the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, symbolizes the prophets since the Hebrews regarded him as the greatest of all prophets. So great was Elijah that he did not experience death like the rest of the mortals but while alive was taken up into heaven and is expected to return as the precursor of the Messiah to announce his coming.

Different from the Jewish perspective, the Christian point of view, which understands the Old Testament as a preparation of the New, regards Isaiah as the greatest of all prophets. Unlike Elijah who was tendentiously nationalistic and somewhat xenophobic, Isaiah is universal and is accepting of all peoples and races. Every year during Advent, he delights us with his idyllic vision of an open and inclusive society where peace and harmony reign among all peoples despite their differences:

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:6) In this renewed world where the swords are changed into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2:4) Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel but of the world because it is there that the Lord of the Universe will prepare for the peoples a feast of rich food and of well-matured wines. (Isaiah 25:6)

In fact, Christ in his speech to inaugurate his public life quotes this very same prophet to say that the Word of God prophesied through his mouth as a promise is fulfilled today in Jesus himself, the Incarnate Word. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed … (Isaiah 61:1-2, Luke 4:16-22).

It is Isaiah who 300 years before Christ came speaks to us of the circumstances of the birth of Jesus, showing us in his vision the mystery of the incarnation of God; a virgin shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14), which means God-with-us.

It is also Isaiah who anticipates for us the Passion of the Lord in his song of the Servant of Yahweh and gives us the meaning of the atonement of the passion and death of the Lord: Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases… He was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities… He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter… (Isaiah 53:4-7)

Isaiah does in the Old Testament what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews does in the New. As such, the author of the Letter shows that the New Testament, the New Covenant, is not radically different nor opposed to the Old, but rather it is its natural extension and above all, it is the realization of the promises written there. In this way, Isaiah with his universalism personifies and advocates, already in the Old Testament, a novel idea -- that the Kingdom of God which Christ came to bring is for everyone, that is, salvation is for all and not just for Israel. Above all, he foretold already in his time, in an ultra-nationalistic milieu which has always characterized Israel as the chosen people, that salvation is for all without the distinction of nation, people or language.

These two characters are like a pivot that joins the two testaments. Isaiah, on one hand, extends from the Old Testament to the New connecting the testaments from back to the front and on the other hand, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, connects them from the front to the back, viewing the Old as the pre-history of the New.

Like a tree that in order to grow upwards by stretching out its branches, needs to simultaneously grow downwards by deepening its roots into the ground, so the author of the Letter from the New Testament goes into the Old Testament to find there the promises that he saw accomplished in the New, that is, the “unfinished business” that are now consummated, the seed that was sown which now has given fruit, and how the whole history of salvation is directed to the coming of Christ.

Like an old man who plants a tree from which he will not live long enough to taste of its fruit, so is the Prophet Isaiah’s utopian dream of a world to come in which there is no “chosen people” because God the Creator of all is also the Father of all. The utopian vision of a world where we see a common roof, a town that all call home, a table as round as the world where wolves and lambs partake of the same meal, a world that has no use for weapons, where tools of destruction are transformed into tools of construction.

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews is the ambassador or the envoy of the New Testament in the Old since he tries to conceptualize and explain the New using the very same theological concepts of the Old. In going back and finding the roots of the New in the Old he represents the New in the Old.

Similarly, Prophet Isaiah is also the ambassador or the envoy of the New in the Old as he, despite living in the time of the Old Testament, surprisingly upholds views that are more in tune with the New Testament. In projecting himself into the future, out of a xenophobic setting, Isaiah is a true representative of the New Testament’s universality of salvation in the Old Testament. Therefore, we can call Isaiah a Christian “avant la letter”, and the author of the Letter a Jew converted to Christianity.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC