C
hristmas in our culture today is commonly
associated with the giving and receiving of gifts.
I’m sure we can all think of some particular gift
we received one year which stands out from all the rest,
while many others slip out of our memories. My best
Christmas gift last year however was not something I
received from family or friends, nor was it something I
gave them. It wasn’t even so much a physical thing, and
it took place in an aged care facility.
1.SONGS OF HOPE
Good King Wenceslas looked out,
on the feast of Stephen...
It was the day after Christmas (the feast of St. Stephen)
and my family, our cousins and another home-
schooling family made our way to a Catholic nursing
home, to sing carols to the residents. We hadn’t picked
that particular place at random, or because it was close
by (the trip there was more than an hour) but because
less than six months before our beloved Nana had
passed away there in the care of the Sisters of Nazareth.
The last time I had been there was just after she had
died, and of course, returning brought back many
painful memories of her last days on earth.
The Sisters welcomed us with big smiles, happy to see
us all back. We were then led to the first group we were
to sing to. After singing a few carols we moved on to the
next place. We performed for three different groups of
residents in total.
It was while we were singing before one of these groups
that I received the greatest gift of that Christmas.
As I looked over the audience of elderly men and
women, many who may not have been visited by family
or friends for a long time, and saw them singing along
and smiling, some of the clouds of sadness I had been
feeling due to my Nana’s death seemed to disappear
and I felt a deep sense of joy. Joy that I was fortunate
enough to be singing these songs of hope and love to
these people, many who may well have been feeling
lonely for neglect, or depressed by their deteriorating
condition. And from the smiles on their faces I hoped
that they we experiencing the same gift of joy that I
felt. In the place where I had once been crying tears of
sorrow, I was now smiling and singing songs of joy.
2. WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS
We wish you a merry Christmas,
and a Happy New Year...
This joy is something that all men and women, boys
and girls, should feel when they think about the story
of Christmas and what it means for us. Unfortunately,
as I’m sure we all know, Christmas has become
increasingly commercialised to the point where its
true and original meaning is hardly ever mentioned
or acknowledged in society. People are even told not
to wish others a “Merry Christmas”, but a “Happy
Holidays” in case they take offence. If you’re anything
like me, it’s easy to get swept up in the business of the
“Holiday Season” and to be so preoccupied with trying
to decide what gifts to buy everyone that you barely
have a chance to pause and truly consider the great
gift that Christmas is to all of us. In fact, the Christmas
Season has become for many people a very busy and
stressful time, instead of a time of peace.
In an article from December 26, 1925, G. K. Chesterton
wrote that; “
people are losing the power to enjoy
Christmas through identifying it with enjoyment. When
once they lose sight of the old suggestion that it is all
about something, they naturally fall into blank pauses
of wondering what it is all about. To be told to rejoice
on Christmas Day is reasonable and intelligible, if you
understand the name, or even look at the word. To be told
to rejoice on the twenty-fifth of December is like being told
to rejoice at quarter-past eleven on Thursday week. You
cannot suddenly be frivolous unless you believe there is a
serious reason for being frivolous.”
Perhaps one reason for all this forgetfulness is the fact
that the figure of the Christ Child in the manger has
become too familiar, too familiar in that it may now
seem to us to be rather ordinary, just another of the
figures in the Christmas scene which come out every
December.
In his book
The Everlasting Man
, Chesterton says that if
something has become commonplace or ordinary due
to being too familiar, we may benefit to try and look at
it from a different perspective. What if we were to look
at this scene with new eyes and see it as if for the first
time? What does the figure of the baby in the manger
really mean?
A CHESTERTONIAN PERSPECTIVE
ON THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
27
BAYLEY BULLETIN, DEC 2016-FEB 2017
