Since the beginning of Christianity Easter has been the most important holiday of the church. You wouldn't think that, based on the popular love of Christmas. So, why is that the way it goes?
Because on the surface Easter is a death and Christmas is a birth. It is easier to celebrate the birth of a child. To feel compassion for the poor family seeking shelter. To feel joy at the arrival of the savior. But Easter is the greatest birth of all. The Savior, first born from the dead (Wow, Catholics have the best titles for stuff).
Easter is the rebirth of all life, reborn into our new lives of grace.
But it begins on Christmas. It begins again tonight. The two holidays (Happy Holidays is really Happy Holy Days...ironic given the recent problems), are linked with the strongest bond possible.
My advice for the season is: Be that link, be that bond.
As the year progresses, listen to the readings. Grow, as the Christ child does, with the readings. As we move through Jesus' life through the Chruch year, grow with Him.
As the wise men come in January, as he changes water into wine, calls his disciples, Cures the blind, raises the young child, multiplies the loaves and fishes, raises Lazarus, suffers in the garden, is sentenced to death, meets His mother as He carries the cross, dies and rises again.
Begin the year as a child each Christmas, and grow with the cycle of readings. And next year, start over again. Christmas will mean more, Easter will mean more. The whole year will grow with you as you anticipate salvation.
Be a living bond between the two greatest events in human history. The way to do that: walk in the the footsteps of Christ. It would seem arrogant to do so, but he invites us to do just that. That invitation is the first Christmas gift, and the greatest one of all.
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