Thursday 7 March 2019

Solemnity of Christmas Day Year C. By Tobe Eze


Solemnity of Christmas Day Year C.

First Reading
Isaiah 52:7-10
Second Reading
Hebrews 1:1-6
Gospel
John 1:1-18
THEME: WHAT IS CHRISTMAS FOR YOU?
Many people have different ideas of Christmas. Ethnic groups may have different views, ages or epochs may have different views and nature may also have different views. In all these, individually, we have different views. Now, let us ask ourselves what Christmas is for us.
The first reading is taking Christmas as a time of bringing good tidings or good news to the people. Blessed are the feet of those who bring good news to the people of God. What message do you carry during Christmas?
The second reading is talking about the son of God whom God is well pleased with. Through Jesus Christ, we are all adopted children of God. The question now is, is God well pleased with us? Can he proudly call us his children? With what we do during this Christmas season, can God beat his chest and call us his children? Continue Reading..............

In the gospel, John is describing to us the nature of the man who has come to us today. The man born for us today is God from the first verse of the gospel and in the fourteenth verse it took flesh and dwelt among us. We are now living with the word which is God. Now, do we live our lives like those living with God especially in this season of Christmas when we remember his first coming?
Like I initially said, Christmas means many things to many people. The Muslims do not regard Christmas as a worthy celebration, same with the Jehovah Witness church, but whether they recognize it or not, they know that a big celebration is taking place and it affects them also. Christmas is meaningless for them. Parents or the old may take it as a period of excessive spending without gaining much. Children may see it as a period of merriment, when new cloths will be bought for them and other Christmas things. Hustlers may see it as a time to make excessive gain. Robbers may see it as a time to harmer. Drunkards may see it as a time of free drinks. The church sees it as the beginning of our salvation in a human flesh and so on.

Different views of people contribute more to what they do in Christmas season. When a Muslim or a Jehovah Witness sees you preparing for Christmas, the person will take you as a stupid person and if you mistakenly hurt the person in the process, you are gone. That will be their attitude in this season. When parents see it as a time of excessive spending, they will do anything possible to make much money even to the extent of swindling people, likewise hustlers. They may even go extra mile of involving themselves in a ritualistic act. If children see it as a time of new things which they know they cannot afford, they will become obedient to their parents so that stories will not be told. If the church sees it as a salvation history, she will do anything possible to see that they save souls of people of God in this season and we can see the manifestation in the Christmas confession. Again, church brought out four weeks for us to prepare ourselves for it to make sure that our souls are saved. They preach joyful Christmas throughout the four weeks by telling us how to prepare for the Christmas. Love and charity should be our watch word this Christmas to get the full meaning of Christmas. THANKS AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

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