Christmas is Eucharist
It
was a week after Christmas and two men were talking about the gifts
they received from friends and family. “I had a nice Christmas this
year. I practically got everything that I wished for,” one man gushed.
“How about you?” he asked the other. “Well, I had a few gifts that I
liked but I didn’t really get what I wanted,” he replied. “But it’s OK.
After all, it’s not my birthday that I celebrate during Christmas,” he
added.
Isn’t
it true that we usually measure our Christmas by the gifts we receive?
We need to ask ourselves, “Whose birthday are we celebrating anyway?” It
is not ours. It is the Lord’s, and so our concern should not be what we
received but what we gave away. That should be our gift to the One
whose example gave flesh to the blessed maxim, “It is much blessed to
give than to receive.”
Our
Christmas should also be measured by who we have received. In the birth
narratives, we read that Jesus was born in a stable, where animals feed
and get their nourishment. This is very symbolic. Jesus was born in a
stable to indicate the mission He was to fulfill later on: to become
food for the life of the world. It is also no accident that the
birthplace of Jesus was Bethlehem — Hebrew for House of Bread. The
multiplication of the loaves is not just a display of miraculous power.
It is a presentiment of the Eucharist, where Jesus’ body is continuously
“broken and given up” for the life of the world.
This
is the paradox of Christmas. We have a birthday Celebrant who does not
expect to receive a gift because He was born to give, to be the gift to
be received. So, before we close the Christmas season, I offer to you
several questions to ponder on: How was your last Christmas? Did you
receive the gift of the Christmas paradox? Is your life a Eucharist?Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: Have
you received the gift yet? He is not confined under the Christmas tree.
He is always on the altar of the Eucharist, waiting for you.
Lord, grant me the eyes to see You, the mind to understand You, and the heart to desire You — always and everywhere. Amen.
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