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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Christmas is a homecoming

Christmas is a homecoming

Published Dec 26, 2020 11:22 pm
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Two days ago, we celebrated Christmas. If preparing for it was tiring, the post-Christmas days are even more exhausting – cleaning the mess after the visitors have left, looking for ways to settle the unpaid bills, calming frayed nerves due to lack of sleep, and facing the sad prospect of going back to work. Many countries report an increased incidence of suicides during the Yuletide season. Psychologists give mixed opinions regarding these morbid statistics, but many of them say suicidal tendencies are fueled by a heightened sense of frustration during Christmas. We expect too much and get too little from it. I have learned to avoid such frustrations by NOT thinking of the Yuletide season the way Christmas carols, advertisers, malls, and the media portray it – a time to be perfectly happy! If we think of Christmas that way, we are setting ourselves up for a great disappointment. I see Christmas as a homecoming, especially for many of us who, like the prodigal son, have lost our way, wandering into destructive lifestyles and vices, desperately seeking truth in phony creeds and beliefs, and indulging in cheap pleasures that we mistake for a happy life. Christmas is finding our way back to Jesus who is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). If we come to think of it, on that first Christmas, Jesus took the initiative to make the homecoming possible, and He did this by becoming homeless. Since there was no room for Joseph and the pregnant Mary in Bethlehem, they had to settle for a crummy stable that reeked of animal dung and dirt. Instead of being born in a magnificent palace, Jesus chose a lowly manger so He would be completely approachable, accessible, and available. As G.K. Chesterton beautifully describes the first Christmas:

“A Child in a foul stable, Where the beasts feed and foam; Only where God was homeless Are you and I at home."

One of the maladies of our time is homelessness. Many people don’t feel that they belong. And since they feel that they have nowhere to go, they are also afflicted with hopelessness. They become convinced that things will never change, that they are condemned to repeat the stupidities of the past, that every day is just a repetition of a yesterday; and that every tomorrow is an uglier version of today. Christmas belies all that. Christmas is God’s way of reminding us that human beings can change, and what is impossible for man is possible for God. The joy of Christmas derives not from shopping, drinking, and eating orgies that make us forget our problems. We experience real joy when our mind and heart are at peace, when our relationship with God is in order. Repentance, as a homecoming to Jesus, signals a change of mind, behavior, and outlook. It entails not only a turning back, but also a movement forward, impelled by our experience of forgiveness and restoration. I hope that last Christmas you experienced a homecoming by allowing yourself to be welcome back by Jesus, not only to a home, but to a communion where grace, mercy, and second chances abound.

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Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa O.P.
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