Christmas: A Celebration on the Intersection of Timelessness into Time

Once again, Christmas is at our doorsteps with its aura and setting. Who doesn’t appreciate it? For children, Christmas seems to be more about receiving gifts and enjoying something other than the usual. Adults may recall their favorite Christmas memories. The sacred liturgy in the church and the bright lights around may help the grown-ups recall the memories of Christmas past. Christmas, no doubt, is the greatest universal feast; it’s celebrated worldwide not only by Christians, but others as well, irrespective of religion or faith. The grandeur of Christmas may apparently rest on the season itself, when a major part of the earth is enveloped in snow—adding splendor to the landscape and brightness to our surroundings.

The Christmas season settles into different cultures during this time—food, clothing, parties, decorations, dancing, and anything else one may appreciate in our satellite communities. Perhaps, to some, faith has nothing to do with it; everything is secularized today. Yet the faithful attending church services will notice the crib, the Christmas trees, and the decorations around the altar proclaiming the birth of the Messiah. These images tell us the stories of time and of timelessness. Without a doubt, this is central to Christianity and our faith and practices.

We celebrate God becoming man—playing with his mom and dad, crying out for food, learning to walk with his mom and dad, and of course, Mary in turn touching, holding, hugging, and consoling the babe when crying. These are some of the familiar visuals before us, and they help us understand and accept certain things better. How wonderful it is to imagine such a life! This explanation even the children may like, and even the simplest of the simple may grasp it. The story of Jesus is much more! One must meditate on it, grasp it, and pray over it in order to comprehend its total significance to mankind and to our life personally.

Is Christmas the intersection of eternity into time? Look at what the twentieth-century Nobel Laureate T. S. Eliot has to say when looking at the crib: “The Word without a word, the Word within / The world and for the world.”* This is the most apt expression I have ever heard on Christmas. One without hesitation can say, “This is God’s working; this is God’s Love for mankind.” The crib, of course, is a miniature world—the camels, horses, shepherds, the Magi from the East, and the celestial beings, the angels. All of this encapsulated in an atmosphere of prayer. Certainly, human aspirations crisscross into the Divine Mind. The result is Christmas. Truly, we agree with what theologians would say: “God with us in human flesh.”

Anyone who visits the church cannot ignore the dominant symbols associated with Christmas: the Advent Wreath, Christmas trees, stars, and the Holy Family. What else? Each of these symbols suggests the story of hope and the arrival of the Messiah-King: “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light” (See Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:12). Perhaps Saint Francis of Assisi, when making the first crib in 1223, never considered the possible evolution and progress of his idea and how it would still thrive today around the world as we see it.

If I am asked, “How were your Christmas celebrations when you were a boy?” I would be excited to share stories of caroling groups visiting different houses, singing and sharing the peace and joy of Christmas. Then, walking to the parish church two miles for midnight Mass with parents and relatives. Such experiences can never destroy our faith but only enhance our acceptance of something unseen. You too will have many memories to share when recalling your earliest Christmas experiences as a child. If Christmas is not there—will there be Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, or Pentecost? One can wonder and respond, “Gloria is our song of joy.”

Going to midnight service, the sonorous music from the choir flows through our ears: “Silent night, holy night, / All is calm, all is bright.” Those words penetrate and soothe our minds and hearts, and then take us to the celestial singing of the angels’ Gloria to the newly born Babe in the manger.

History changed, time divided—before him and after him. The people who hoped to see him and the people who walk in his footprints today are united in him, the One who came to save the world. This is the proclamation of Christmas. As we celebrate the last few days in 2024, may the Babe of Bethlehem bless us all with a spirit-filled and God-filled life. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2025!

The Poems of T.S. Eliot, Vol. I, Faber & Faber, p. 94.