Advent, Christmas, and “the most busiest time of the year!”
By Robert Fontana
Here’s a paraphrase of a familiar Christmas song:
“It’s the most busiest time of the year, with the kids and mom yelling and everyone telling you get off your rear! It’s the most busiest time of the year!”
Can’t you hear Andy Williams or Amy Grant singing it? These days from Thanksgiving to Christmas, the secular holiday season, are such a busy and fun time. It’s a struggle for us Fontanas to focus on Advent and the coming of the Christ Child at Christmas when the world around us is immersed in the lights, decorations, parties, and music of the winter holiday season.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser captures the dilemma that many Christians confront during the holiday season: Rolheiser, in his book The Holy Longing, writes something like this: most of us want the holiness and generosity of Mother Teresa when it comes to opening our hearts to the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus. At the same time, we also want the fun, romantic intimacy, warm ambiance, amazing gifts, delicious desserts, and the multitude of wines, cocktails and beers portrayed in a Hollywood Christmas movie! In the end, according to Rolheiser, what we usually get is an unhappy mixture of both options and end up on Christmas night…well…exhausted.
I do not have a great piece of wisdom to offer you (and me) in resolving this dilemma because it cannot really be resolved. It can be, shall we say, tamed or moderated by a little bit of forethought, wisdom, and courage.
In my youth, I did not approach this issue with wisdom. I had good intentions, but those good intentions only created anxiety, stress, and more work for Lori.
“Lori, let’s make our Christmas gifts for the family gift exchange!”
Great idea, right? Great way to have an “alternative Christmas,” which was all the rage during our college and post college years. However, I DID NOT (AND STILL DO NOT) KNOW HOW TO MAKE ANYTHING WITH MY HANDS! Lori ended up doing all the work and often the projects were not completed until after midnight on Christmas Eve. Good intentions without wisdom make a bad combination. A few dollars spent on some thoughtful and modest gifts would have saved us lots of Christmas misery.
Of course, at Christmas time, when we consider how the Gospel was first proclaimed to the poor shepherds in the field, we are drawn to reach out to people around us who are materially and spiritually poor. Pope Francis would have us include “nature” in our list of the poor that must be served:
“The earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.”
― Pope Francis, Care for our Common Home (Laudate Si)
The Incarnation of Jesus is not simply about Jesus saving human beings and getting us to heaven. Jesus came to wake us up to our duties on earth to love one another, and that duty extends to caring for the planet which is our only home. We share earth with all other living creatures. We need a healthy planet in order to live healthy lives. The creatures of the earth, from the great birds of prey to the tiniest insects and all growing things can live happily without us humans, but we humans cannot live happy lives without the creatures of the earth and vegetative life. Saving them during this time of climate crisis is how we value and preserve our own lives.
During the first year of the pandemic, when we couldn’t really gather inside for family parties, we put up a Christmas tree in our front yard and decorated it with food for the birds and, invariably, the squirrels. It was so much fun putting it together and so much fun watching our animal and bird friends enjoy it.
The holiday season is the “most busiest time of the year.” It doesn’t have to be exhausting! Sit down with your loved ones and talk through how you want to observe Advent in preparation for Christmas, while enjoying the secular aspects of the season as well. Have a family meeting in which all get to state their hopes and expectations for the holidays. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you and your family to wisdom in how you hold together the tension between the secular winter holiday and the Christian season of Advent and Christmas. Set some simple goals following the guidance of the folk singer Donavan as he sang in his song, “Stone by Stone,” written for the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon:
If you want to live life free, take your time go slowly. Do few things but do them well, simple joys are holy.
Wishing you Advent peace and blessings!
