The buzz about Christmas

I almost forgot my column is due on Wednesday; it’s now Friday and I’m late. By this time the STAR advertisers have taken my space and my editor will be asking, "How long is your column?" Oh, no!

Events keep on popping up as though it wasn’t the Christmas season…

Thanksgiving mass and party for the SEA Games, 11 th ASEAN Summit, budget hearings.

Just this Monday, I joined the book launching of 16 books at my alma mater in celebration of the 400th year of the University of Sto. Tomas. The UST Publishing House, which by the way was consecutively awarded two years in a row in 2003 and 2004 as Publisher of the Year, intends to publish 400 books by 2011. The 16 books launched were The Samals in History and Legend by Dr. Margarita R. Cojuangco; History of the Bisayan People in the Philippine Islands III by Cantius Kobak, OFM and Lucio Gutierrez, OP; When the World Loved the Filipinos by Luis Camara Dery; Lonely Sentinels of the Sea by Manuel Maximo Noche; Bayan at Lipunan by Bienvenido Lumbrera; Mga Ntatanging Anak ng Paete by Cornelio Africano; Angono 8, 9, and 10 by Ligaya Tiamson Rubin; Dalawang Villanueva by Rene Villanueva; Bioethics for Sudents by Angeles Tan Alora; Quantum Fluctuations by AFV Serrano; On the Road with San Lorenzo by Fr. Erno Diaz; Perspectives in Politics: Public and Foreign by Jose David Lapuz, Cavalry Road by Abdon Balde Jr; Mga Talinhaga sa Laylayan by Elizabeth Morales-Nuncio; and Luto, Linis, Laba by Alfred "Krip" Yuson.

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The streets are in a frenzy, so I’m told. I don’t leave the house or the office to join the pandemonium outside.

The spirit of Christmas lives in 168 Divisoria. My friends are raving about it and how wise it is to go there at 7 a.m. on weekdays before a mob of shoppers sets in. I’d still prefer to go to Firma at Greenbelt 3.

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Through the passage of time, it would seem that the real meaning of Christmas has become dimmed by materialism. But being a religious country, at least the spiritual aspect of the event is never buried by our concern for merry-making. Perhaps we’re depressed because of the worldwide restlessness. Our consolation is the promises that come with the Christmas season that carry many of us through the most difficult times.

The promises of Christmas, you ask? Yes. And there are many. The Coming of Christ. The promise that the despondent, the ones broken from grief and the destitute, "…that in His time all things will be beautiful."

While there may be no Christmas celebration in some homes, Advent is a season of hope. Hope that God will not forsake us and He does not.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given," a truth that’s sometimes overshadowed by the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree, the various gift-giving activities and the preparations for noche buena.

The truth of Christmas brings us the promise of love. What better proof of love is there when God sends His only Son in our likeness?

And doesn’t Christmas also give us the promise of possibilities? Jesus Christ was born in a stable. The King of Kings who grew up among the poorest of the poor. In Him, all things are possible.

Let’s celebrate God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises – in the promise of salvation and our freedom from the bondage of sin. We call Him Emmanuel. He who is with us through thick and thin and smog and smoke. Like my son-in-law Noel, the only other Emmanuel I know.

The radiance of Christ’s birth illuminates the darkness with the promise of justice.

The spirit of Christmas is present in the lives of those who have more in the outpouring of their blessings and uplifting the lives of many families they hardly know.