What Christmas is not about?
Today's consumer-driven world and extremely commercialized times do equate Christmas with all the glitters and noises of materialism and consumerism. The quality of Christmas celebrations is often measured on the basis of budgets and expenses to the tune of millions of pesos. Parties and gift-giving are stressing too much on prizes and financial values, and gifts are assessed on the basis of their market prices. Malls and giant stores are making a killing out of sales and marketing gimmicks that lure people to spend left and right, up and down, to shop until they drop, overspending during the season, and paying dearly after.
Nobody seems to focus on the inside. Everyone is concentrated on the external symbols of wealth, of financial success, of power and influence, of luxury and opulence. There is too much pressure to spend and to give gifts, to show off and to display manifestations of extravagance and ostentations. Parties almost everyday; even multiple parties in a day. There is simply too much eating, too much drinking,music that does not have meanings, dancing that have no relevance, too much efforts without social value. The people are lost, and confused. They have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.
Nobody is looking at the essence of the season, I mean really seriously contemplating and reflecting on it. Even the Church is too focused on ceremonies and rituals, neglecting to stress the substance of the meaning. There is too much discussions on the symbols and the medium. There is not enough focus on the message of Christmas, like the message of hope, the message of compassion, the message of forgiveness, the message of charity and caring for the less fortunate. The rich, the famous and the influential are busy with the peripherals. the young are top fixated on gadgets and hedonism. the adults are too preoccupied with amassing wealth and power.
Christmas is not about money, neither gifts nor parties. Christmas is not about bonuses and celebrations, neither shopping nor jubilations. Christmas is hope even in the most hopeless situations, mercy even against those who caused you pains, forgiveness, yes, forgiveness even for those who continue to harm you, and peace even in the midst of terrorisms and murders. We are never truly Christians if we anchor our joys on material things. We are never true Catholics if we continue to focus on our own selfish desires. We have never grown if we rely on what we see, what we hold and what we feel. We can only be worthy of Christmas if we stress on the Christ, rather than on the masses of too many worthless distractions.
And Christmas is not about ourselves. It is about the others that we neglected to care.
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