For many, Christmas has become the winter holiday of this modern society. In fact, our consumer society uses every imaginable resource and mechanism during these days to encourage people to buy, spend and enjoy. It seems as if only those with money and the means to buy can celebrate these holidays.
God is the best gift that can be offered to humankind. Our mistake is thinking that we do not need Him. Believing that a little more comfort, a little more money, health, luck and security are enough.
Celebrating Christmas is not about sparking fleeting euphoria with a few glasses of champagne, bur about nurturing our inner joy and our trust in the closeness of a God who is present in our daily lives.
Gift exchanges, Christmas bonuses, extra pay, raffles, special lottery prizes... Everything has been conveniently used by consumer society to encourage us to buy and consume.
We are collectively creating a self-serving and egotistical society, and we are forgetting what true gift is. We risk turning everything into compliance, self-interest, and selfish calculation.
Just as the The Three Kings brought their gifts to the child born in Bethlehem, believers also express their gratitude to God by giving gifts to children, the poor, the needy, or loved ones. However, the greatest gift for mankind is Jesus Christ.
God´s solidarity with humanity is the deepest foundation we can conceive for solidarity and fraternity among human beings. A believer cannot celebrate these holidays with satisfaction, nor eat or dine in peace, forgetting all those men and women for whom Christmas will not be a cause for celebration but something that will remind them even more starkly of their old age, their powerlessness, and their anxieties.
Christmas should be a time for reflection and commitment to creating among us a different way of understanding political struggle and the common effort for a better society. Above political objectives, party interests, or strategic considerations, the other is always our brother or sister, even when presented as an adversary.
It is impossible to celebrate Christmas without sincerely seeking peace. New Year`s Day is celebrated as World Peace Day. However, even during these Christmas holidays, new attacks, violence, deaths, and torture will continue to emerge, reminding us each morning that there is no peace in the world.
Text by José Antonio Pagola
