Wednesday Word . . . Christmas Season Thoughts
With the Twelfth Night Party on Monday, the Twelve Days of Christmas officially came to a close. Those who gathered celebrated with good food and a lively gift/theft exchange.
Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, also called The Manifestation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. This is the day when the Church remembers and celebrates the arrival of magi (of an unknown number) from the east who journeyed to Bethlehem and presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
In short, the Twelve Days of Christmas arose because the Western and Eastern Churches (the two Churches based in Rome and Constantinople) celebrated Christmas on December 25 and January 6 respectively, and those days were twelve days apart.
We generally tend to think of the Christmas season as one of joy, gift giving, frivolity, and carols, among other thoughts along those lines. But the Christmas season also gives us the days of Saint Stephen, the first deacon and martyr of the Church who was stoned to death (12/26); Saint John, who was exiled on Patmos (12/27); and the Holy Innocents, remembering the children of Bethlehem that Herod had slaughtered because he wanted to eliminate threats to his rule (12/28). And on Epiphany, when we remember the arrival of the magi and the gifts they brought, we also remember that both the magi and Joseph were warned in a dream to hastily get out of town to escape Herod’s wrath.
Christmas reminds us of the joy of new birth and of God with us. We are also reminded of the horrors and abuses in the world. God is with us in both the good times and the bad times. As we close out the Christmas season, may we have the courage to stand with the innocent, abused, neglected, and downtrodden in the name of the One who came to be with us through all manner of human conditions.
Blessings,
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