I was in a mall for some things I needed. A very familiar song was wafting in the air and caught my attention: “People making list, buying special gifts, taking time to be kind to one and all…” I suddenly missed Michael Jackson. Also, something inside of me was awakened. I began worrying about goodies and stuff to buy as Christmas presents for my family and friends! Then all of a sudden I was made aware of the many attractive gift packages already displayed in every nook and cranny of the mall. I checked them out and they were beckoning me… enticing me… whispering to me… “Buy me.” When I mustered all the remaining courage to resist, a beautiful saleslady approached me. I was afraid she might whisper too. Luckily this time my remaining wits got me off the hook. I managed to quickly compliment her. “Miss, it’s a beautiful hat you’re wearing, huh.” It was Santa’s red hat.
I remember a missionary friend stationed in China. Once he told me how surprised he was to discover one store in the midst of a communist and Buddhist society selling Christmas decorations and stuff. He entered the store. Curiously he looked for a “Belen.” There was none. He approached the store owner and asked for it. “What’s a Belen?” the store owner asked (of course in mandarin). “It’s a manger where Jesus Christ is born.” “Sorry, we don’t have it. Why don’t you buy this stuff instead; I think this is the reason behind Christmas celebration, isn’t it?” The store owner was pointing at the image of Santa Claus and the cute reindeer pulling his sleigh.
This is the problem when we cut short the season of advent. We are bound to fail to heed the voice in the desert shouting: “Prepare the way of the Lord.” We lose sight of the Lord Jesus Christ and all he stands for. We unwittingly welcome Santa Claus and his reindeer instead.
Hence, preparations for Christmas become a matter of putting up external decorations, installing intricate series of lights that beguile us enough to forget the shooting up of our electric bills afterwards. Moreover, preparing for Christmas means shopping! So we demand bonuses as our right, only to spend those in buying things we falsely believe to bring home the spirit of Christmas.
If we don’t take Advent seriously, we uncritically fall into the trap set by the commercial traders who are all too happy to turn this great feast into a materialistic perversion.
I find resonance in the words of the Columban Missionary, Fr. Shay Cullen, in one of his articles: “Many people wrongly measure themselves by what they own, possess and control rather than measuring themselves by their commitment and action in doing good for others. Christmas has become the worship of prancing reindeer and an obese man with a beard rather than the heroic self-sacrificing Jesus of Nazareth and all he stands for.”
We need to recapture the true meaning of Christmas, lest we all condone its degeneration into another of those consumerist festivals. Would you be happy to revise Christmas and call it “consumeristmas” instead?
We see then the import of Advent. The season calls for authentic preparation: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Lk 3:4-6).
These are words of the prophet Isaiah which the gospel of today links with John the Baptist’s proclamation of a baptism of repentance. The prophets and John were incessant in their reminder of the need to prepare for the Lord’s coming. They called for repentance.
Hence, preparation during advent, for the people of this generation, is not so much about possession of new things or participation in the consumerist festival. Precisely, it is turning our back to this materialistic propensity. This is the meaning of repentance. It is turning towards Jesus and embracing his values. This is how we prepare the way of the Lord.
Again, in the words of Fr. Shay Cullen:
“Jesus brought into the world a whole new way of viewing the purpose and meaning of human life. It is a challenge for us to choose to serve others, to forget self and worldly ambition, throw aside the perverting desire for wealth, power, riches and to live with simplicity, compassion and care for those in dire need and not do it for a reward in this life or the next. Jesus called for the world to turn from oppressing and exploiting the poor and the weak and to do good, oppose evil ambitions, war, violence and the violation of people's rights.”
Such is what Christmas truly stands for.
So this second Sunday of Advent we may do well to prepare the way of the Lord by examining our uncritical attitude towards the consumerism that’s scandalously undermining the true meaning of Christmas. Well, in simple and direct terms, this means less shopping and buying unnecessary things; but more time for interior readiness to embrace the Lord and serve Him in one another especially in the poor of today.
How have you celebrated Christmas before? Was it Christ-centered or Santa Claus-inspired? Which festival would you want to participate in? Christmas? Or Consumeristmas?
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