{"id":398,"date":"2012-12-23T00:37:03","date_gmt":"2012-12-23T06:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigbfiles.wordpress.com\/?p=398"},"modified":"2022-08-05T21:13:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T02:13:46","slug":"do-people-really-get-it-about-why-we-celebrate-christmas-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/do-people-really-get-it-about-why-we-celebrate-christmas-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Do People Really \u201cGet It\u201d about Why We Celebrate Christmas?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Do People Really “Get It” about Why We Celebrate Christmas is the Subject of this Big B File.<\/p>\n

\"stlnativity5h9\"<\/a>
Mary & Joseph Looking at the infant child Jesus in the Manger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Recently, my twin sister Melissa suggested that I look into putting together an online Christmas wish list on Best Buy’s website of all the electronics stuff I would like to have for Christmas.\u00a0 The more I mulled over the suggestion, the more I wondered if people really “get it” about Christmas.\u00a0 In other words, I wondered if people really get the whole point of why we even have Christmas in the first place to begin with.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you even know what the whole point of why we celebrate Christmas is?\u00a0 The whole point of why we celebrate Christmas and as the phrase goes “the reason for the season” is this….we are celebrating the birthday of someone very special….Jesus Christ of Nazareth himself.\u00a0\u00a0 The term Christmas itself comes from the Old English term Cristes Maesse<\/i>, meaning Mass of Christmas<\/i> or as the Merriam-Webster says Christ’s Mass.\u00a0 <\/i>Christmas is the very day that Jesus came down from Heaven and humbled himself so much that he was born of the Virgin Mary in a manger as a result of no rooms being available for them in the inns in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 People seem to forget and\/or not take seriously what the importance of Christmas is, while others in the Media, Hollywood, etc. are doing\u00a0 by any means necessary to eradicate from the public square along with the hearts and minds of people what the whole reason for the season is and why we celebrate it in the first place.\u00a0 Remember the original<\/i> Christmas story, as outlined in the Gospel of Luke in the Holy Bible?<\/p>\n

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
\nthat the whole world should be enrolled.
\nThis was the first enrollment,
\nwhen Quirinius was governor of Syria.
\nSo all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
\nAnd Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
\nto Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
\nbecause he was of the house and family of David,
\nto be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
\nWhile they were there,
\nthe time came for her to have her child,
\nand she gave birth to her firstborn son.
\nShe wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
\nbecause there was no room for them in the inn.\nNow there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
\nand keeping the night watch over their flock.
\nThe angel of the Lord appeared to them
\nand the glory of the Lord shone around them,
\nand they were struck with great fear.
\nThe angel said to them,
\n“Do not be afraid;
\nfor behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
\nthat will be for all the people.
\nFor today in the city of David
\na savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
\nAnd this will be a sign for you:
\nyou will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
\nand lying in a manger.”
\nAnd suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
\npraising God and saying:
\n“Glory to God in the highest
\nand on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”When the angels went away from them to heaven,
\nthe shepherds said to one another,
\n“Let us go, then, to Bethlehem
\nto see this thing that has taken place,
\nwhich the Lord has made known to us.”
\nSo they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph,
\nand the infant lying in the manger.\nWhen they saw this,
\nthey made known the message
\nthat had been told them about this child.
\nAll who heard it were amazed
\nby what had been told them by the shepherds.
\nAnd Mary kept all these things,
\nreflecting on them in her heart.
\nThen the shepherds returned,
\nglorifying and praising God
\nfor all they had heard and seen,
\njust as it had been told to them.\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Luke 2:1-21 (The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now, what you just read is the true and accurate account of the first Christmas that ever occurred.\u00a0 The above reading illustrates for us perfectly the whole point of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.\u00a0 In that reading, St. Luke is telling us why Christmas is much more than exchanging gifts, cards, going to parties, among others….much more than all of that.\u00a0 Here is what I said in the Big B Files from December 24, 2009 entitled “The Meaning of Christmas and a Very Personal Story<\/a>“. . .<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “I think back to past years to how we would complain about the food, the Christmas tree, not getting presents (or about the present if we got one), or some other issue… the Big B Files cannot believe that there is a Christmas party or Christmas dinner with family anywhere to where this has not occurred. What about in your family?<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What we went through last Christmas day… my sister and I… made me realize how Paley and in significant the complaints about the food prizes etc. really is and how blessed and privileged we really are to have the food, presents, being with family and more when there are people in this world and in this country who will not have the privilege of any of that on the very day that we celebrate the birthday of a king.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe when we go to church, and the attendant at family celebrations, we should humble ourselves just like Jesus did in that lonely manger on Christmas night by simply being blessed and be grateful for what we have and by keeping in mind those people among us who literally have to struggle to get what little they have and\/or just to make it another in our communities, in this nation, and in this world.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For me, my Christmas begins early with the Mass at Midnight for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas).\u00a0 Going to Midnight Mass is a personal requirement for me and means a lot to me because of the Significance of the hour and that he was born at night, as well as the pure joy of the particular mass along with other reasons that I just simply cannot put into words here and you have to experience yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Pope Benedict XVI said on December 9, 2012, the Feast of St Juan Diego, “In the consumer society, in which we seek joy in things, John the Baptist teaches us to live in an essential way, so Christmas is experienced not only as an outward party outside, but as the feast of the Son of God who came to bring peace, life and true joy to people.”\u00a0 Christmas is the time to reflect on the reason for the season and what is should mean in our hearts and minds of all of us . . . and I do mean ALL of us.\u00a0 And as I had said before in a previous Big B Files, “To put it in modern terms . . . Jesus was born in a little manger in Bethlehem, which is which is a biblical times version of the horse stall. Now the Big B Files is not saying that people are giving birth in the horse stall or saying anything negative about horses or horse stalls, but I wanted to give you an idea of God will place that Jesus was born in over 2000 years ago today. I don’t know about you, but the analogy that I just told you is one of best examples of humble beginnings…if not of humility in general.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 . . . From the Big B Files…may you and yours have a happy and blessed Christmas and happy birthday Jesus. And that is the Big B Files. Click on the comments link below and let me know what you think . . . . I’m Bryan Hewing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do People Really “Get It” about Why We Celebrate Christmas is the Subject of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,19,26,21,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-christmas","category-cultural-issues","category-holidays"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxluL-6q","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3377,"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions\/3377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigbmultimedia.com\/bigbfiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}