To all of my dearest friends, I would like to extend to you the warmest and happiest Christmas.
I have seen myself through another Christmas holiday. Each year I have some reflections about this particular holiday because it is of significance for me, and for you, and for our culture at large. Perhaps Fr. Scalia (son of Antonin) said it best in his midnight mass homily this year: that the Christmas holy day is a chance for us to be converted and become as little children just as Christ became a little child. Each year is a battle against the cynicism and jadedness of age, every year is a fight to keep fresh the joy in this season. How does one win the fight?
For now, let me say that the fight becomes easier when you fight together alongside your family. The fight is easier when your mind is clear and you are open to Christ–you must let him in (do not be like the inn without any room). It is no coincidence that there are so many admonishments in the Gospels surrounding Christmas to “fear not.” We must be courageous in this fight and fear nothing–never retreat, always advance. Beauty must also be present in your celebrations; beautiful liturgy, beautiful sacramentals, beautiful decorations, beautiful Christmas trees and cards, beautiful food and dining in order to help in the fight to return to that childhood joy and wonderment about Christmas. I have also discovered that this season also requires a good amount of sleep, but not too much. We must also be ready in the nightwatches, as the shepherds were ready in the fields of Bethlehem. I believe that the fight is won in the nightwatches, the hours of sleep, the fight is won; whether you are awake or asleep, that is the time the fight is won. On the eve of Christmas: in the night the fight is won.
So, happy Christmas, and don’t forget to celebrate it for at least twelve days, and then you may celebrate my birthday, which is the arrival of the ancient eastern philosophers to the stable at Bethlehem and their epiphany that Christ is the one true God.
With you now and in hope,
Peter Bloch
Bastien Lepage - L'annonciation aux Bergers - 1875 oil on canvas
