A BLESSED CHRISTMAS

FELIZ NATAL

FELIZ NAVIDAD

Today, of course, is Christmas and we look upon it as that special time of year. We remember this time of happiness, of being nice to each other, of the family coming together of Santa coming and so many things. The whole celebration focuses around one incident which is the Birth of Jesus Christ.

But we also need to reflect on something more deeply. What if it never happened. I am not saying it is a myth like the atheists say which it is not. I am saying something else. What if Jesus never came. Maybe Mary said no, or the angel Gabriel never arrived. Would we be in the same situation?

That is a powerful question to reflect upon and when we do that we can really understand the meaning of Christmas, because sometimes we understand the meaning of something by its absence.

So where would be if Jesus never came. I wonder if we would be anywhere at all, or if we would be surrounded by the barbarism we are seeing coming out of some sectors of the world. In fact, what you see coming out of certain terrorist groups in the Middle East, you can see are similar to other groups who were just as vicious three thousand years ago in the same place.

However, that same barbarism was practiced throughout the world, even in the americas. Many people will say for example that Christianity destroyed the cultures of the Incas, Maya and the Aztecs, but all three practiced a vicious form of barbarism as did many tribes in what is now North America. Christianity had its issues, but it put a stop this this tribal barbarism.

Look at the great suffering endured by French Jesuit Missionaries Isaac Jogues, Rene Guptil and Jon Brebreuf in Ossernenon which is today called Auriesville and borders the Erie Canal outside of Albany.

What would Europe look like today. How about China if it was not visited by St. Francis Xavier evangelizing the Portuguese empire including India where may Catholics practice their faith and trace their spiritual roots back to this great Jesuit saint.

Many in South America teach that the future of Christianity comes from there, for it is quite strong in what we would call that continent and what they call the southern part of this continent.

If you study the scriptures you see that God intervenes in times when great spiritual imbalance happens. Clearly, Jesus’ arrival is such a great spiritual imbalance. Indeed, at this time, Judah, the remainder of David’s Kingdom has only 70 years left.

I have spoken that the Romans eliminated the Jewish state forty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Already,Judah was occupied by that foreign power and its future was precarious at best. Had the birth of Christ not happened it is an interesting question of what would be the fate of Jews. I am sure they still would have continued as they have from that time, but they do not proseltyze so they would become a religion unto themselves maybe like the zoastrians or even the Buddhist or Hindus of today. But they would not have changed the Roman Empire. There would not have been a holy Roman empire. The paganism of the European cultures which conquered the Roman Empire would be going strong and as such our world would be radically different. Ireland, that great bastion of Catholicism was lost in deep paganism prior to the arrival of the Bishop Patrick. Remember the motivating force of coming to America was evangelization and commerce. The commerce would happen, but how different would it be without the faith.

In South America the forces of commerce enslaved the natives, but it was priests such as Bartolomeo de las Casas who called for an end to these disturbing practices calling such actions as gravely sinful. They even created what are called the black legends as a way to undermine anyone in the church who supported these practices. Had they not existed it is clear that the world would look different.

Those cultures in the twentieth century that embraced atheism and rejected Christ became the bloodiest of history including the National Socialism of Germany, the Communism of the Soviet Union and of Mao’s China, to say nothing of the places influenced by Che Guevara and the communist revolution in this hemisphere. The first country to receive the Soviets in the Americas was Mexico which began a vicious destruction and bloody persecution of the Church.

The current violence promoted by Al Queda, ISIS and others is actually a form of paganism that promotes human sacrifice for their God as did the ancient pagans in the world. Remember, although God stopped human sacrifice in the Judeo Christian cultures from the time of Abraham, it was the Romans that had to stop it in paganism.

Even the issue of abolition of slavery here was part of a movement of Christianity mostly from the North. Further, people call the man Martin Luther King, Jr. but his real name was Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr who was a baptist preacher who also taught about Jesus.

Look at however the new concerning changes that are happening in our world and those changes that are most drastic begin by rejecting the birth of Christ, rejecting God and embracing a worldview that as Fulton Sheen once said, even the ancient pagans such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle would have rejected.

The final realization is that Christ came that we could be saved. What is he saving us from? It is sin that overtime leads to a decay of the culture and society, as well as body and soul back to the barbarism we see on the news. If you do not believe me, remember the middle eastern cultures are far older than any others in Europe and the Americas. It is sin that leads cultures to become houses divided and fall into destruction. He came to show us there is not only another way, but a way that leads to eternal life for those that embrace his truth. He came to show us life eternal as the prologue of John says and teaches us to believe in that which is far beyond our ability to perceive. This brings us a hope that no culture can foster like Christ.

So we celebrate today the beginning of our salvation and the end of a barbarism that exists in some non-Christian environments not far from where Christ himself came and began a radical change of this world like no one could have imagined. He more importantly gave us a hope beyond what we could have imagined as well: eternal life with the Father. 

Fr. Robert J Carr

Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find on Youtube.  You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr and on Google plus as+FrRobertCarr. Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook