Fast forward 2,014 years and look at what gifts are given and to whom they are given. Jesus is no longer here in the flesh so there is no need to shop for Him, but His Church is here, those who need to be saved are here, the orphans are here, the elderly, sick and lonely are here and what have I done this Christmas season? Embarrassed to say, very little. Why so little? I have my excuses. First, I am not a saint by any stretch of the imagination and far from perfect; I prefer more and more the life of a semi-recluse; I do not find material things to be an effective and lasting substitute for respect and love; and I dislike shopping, much more now than in the past.
In my opinion, today's Christmas gifting is not about giving of oneself to the Savior but about merchandising, shopping, materialism, consumerism, aggregate spending, economic indicators, feasting, drinking, partying, and most of all, receiving. The day after, one common question is what did you get for Christmas? And probably nobody expects or wants a note saying "in lieu of a Christmas gift, I have donated on your behalf funds to aid the Syrian refugees."
Generally people do not want to think of the refugees and orphans of war; they much rather complain about the gift they received, whine about the gift they wanted but did not get, talk about exchanging, returning and refunding and gripe about the traffic and the shopping crowds.
Nor do they want to think about Jesus. What about telling others how wonderful the Christmas Mass was, as if that was part of their Christmas Day, as if giving to Christ a bit of time to honor His birth is too much to ask for on their day off? Would they even have a holiday without Jesus being Who He is and without Him being born?
So Christmas is now a secular holiday, a day of expectation of gifts, not just any bunch of gifts, but a mix of the right gifts.
In my opinion, today's Christmas gifting is not about giving of oneself to the Savior but about merchandising, shopping, materialism, consumerism, aggregate spending, economic indicators, feasting, drinking, partying, and most of all, receiving. The day after, one common question is what did you get for Christmas? And probably nobody expects or wants a note saying "in lieu of a Christmas gift, I have donated on your behalf funds to aid the Syrian refugees."
Generally people do not want to think of the refugees and orphans of war; they much rather complain about the gift they received, whine about the gift they wanted but did not get, talk about exchanging, returning and refunding and gripe about the traffic and the shopping crowds.
Nor do they want to think about Jesus. What about telling others how wonderful the Christmas Mass was, as if that was part of their Christmas Day, as if giving to Christ a bit of time to honor His birth is too much to ask for on their day off? Would they even have a holiday without Jesus being Who He is and without Him being born?
So Christmas is now a secular holiday, a day of expectation of gifts, not just any bunch of gifts, but a mix of the right gifts.
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