I have a friend who is a devout Christian but says she does not celebrate Christmas or Easter. She claims they are pagan celebrations and nowhere in the Bible does it say to celebrate Christ’s birth, death and resurrection. Could you shed some light on this for me?
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, and Easter is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. These are the mysteries of our salvation, the greatest things that have ever happened or ever will on earth. How can we not celebrate these things? If we cannot celebrate Christ’s birth, when God became one of us, and Christ’s Resurrection, when Jesus conquered death and opened the way for our salvation, than what can we celebrate?
Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son who took his inheritance, left his father, squandered his inheritance, and then in desperate need came back to his father to admit his sin. What was the father’s response? Jesus said, “But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” (Lk 15:32) We must celebrate and rejoice! Death to life—what else are we celebrating at Christmas and Easter?
What about this whole pagan thing? A pagan of ancient times was a person who worshiped many gods. Today, the word “pagan” is used to describe those who have little or no religion and delight in sensual pleasures and material goods (Webster’s dictionary). Yes, the pagans of old had a feast around the winter solstice, the feast of the birthday of the unconquered sun, to celebrate that the light of sun was growing again, conquering the darkness. No wonder Christians (in the very first centuries) saw this to be true of Jesus above all, so they “baptized” the feast, and re-made it into a Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth.
And, you know what? Pagans knew how to party! Sure, they sometimes celebrated the wrong things (many gods) or did immoral things during their celebrations (people probably still do that today), but to celebrate in the proper way is not wrong. In fact, it is wrong not to celebrate the things that are important, that are true and good and beautiful. And Christmas and Easter are that! Jesus wasn’t born among us and didn’t give His life for us and conquer death by His Resurrection so that we could be glum about it. St. Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” (Php 4:4)
I would like all of us Christians to truly celebrate this Christmas, to experience joy at Christ’s birth, and to share that joy by coming together with family and friends and enjoying the gifts God has given us like eggnog, cheese-logs, and chocolate-covered cherries. Yet, most importantly we should celebrate with Mass. Every Mass is a sort of Christmas; Jesus comes to us! The word “Christmas” comes from “Christ’s Mass” and “Holiday” comes from “Holy Day”. So let us celebrate this Holy Day with joy and not forget what we are truly celebrating: Jesus, the unconquered Son, who has come to bring light to our darkness! May you all have a Merry Christmas!
-Fr. Greg
If you would like submit a question, please write it out and place it in the “Ask a Priest” box in the vestibule or email me at frgreg@kc.rr.com.
