Christmas, for those experiencing loss(es) in their lives, can be a very difficult time to endure. I see this in the lives of those going through separation and divorce and those grieving the death of a loved one. The loneliness can feel oppressive. For others, the busyness and demands of the season can also be burdensome. In these instances, there is a temptation to mouth the words Scrooge mutters in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. Scrooge says that the next person greeting him with Merry Christmas should be boiled in his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. This sentiment of Scrooge may ring familiar to those undergoing stress this Christmastide.
However, I would suggest that instead of harboring the “humbug” of Scrooge, witty in its own cynical way, we, instead, put into practice the words we hear from the prophet Isaiah in the first reading on Christmas Day. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, “Your God is King!”
It is easy to overlook the darkness in the lives of the Jewish people at the first Christmas. They were an oppressed people whose country was occupied by a foreign power. Mary and Joseph were coerced to make the arduous journey to Bethlehem at the whim of the Roman Emperor who ordered a census of his territories. The Jewish people were in need of hearing “good news.” The angels fulfilled this need with the Good News of Jesus’ birth. When Jesus matured, he shared the Good News of God’s love and compassion to the castoffs and desperate of Judea. Upon Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, the Apostles and their successors continued to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the world.
For those of us who find ourselves in darkness, may we put away the boiling pudding and stakes of holly, and open our hearts to the peace and joy of the Angels’ Christmas message. For those of us who are God’s messengers this Christmas, may we gently share by our presence the Good News of God’s love and compassion to those overburdened by loss. How beautiful, indeed, are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of God’s love to all.
