January 2004
Dear Brother Knights,
Welcome to the New Year. I hope the holidays found you
well and you were fortunate enough to find the joy of family and friends
like we did. I would like to share a couple of lessons that I learned
over the holiday season. At least I hope that I learned them, instead
of having to realize again next year what I have come to understand this
year.
First of all, we have mounted within the Knights of Columbus a movement
to “Keep Christ in Christmas”. For us here in the greater
Edmonton area we benefit from the efforts of the Edmonton Chapter of the
Knights of Columbus, which encompasses basically many of the Edmonton
councils, as well as some of those in the outlying areas such as ourselves.
These efforts include an annual collection of things to get this message
across. There are a number of billboards purchased that have an ad regarding
the Keep Christ in Christmas campaign. Then there are a number of ads
purchased on CFRN to display the same. Finally there is the Bright Nights
display that we have in Hawrelak park.
But what has been really on my nerves is obviously something that I didn’t
quite understand fully at first. The word “Xmas”. I had fully
intended to write a full blown attack on the use, or misuse of this word
and it’s seeming replacement of Christ’s name in the very
celebration title of his birth. I felt that this word was an obvious secular
effort to create a more universally tolerant and politically correct word
to describe this celebration.
I was in the process of loading up both barrels when I quickly discovered
through about five minutes research that this word that I was preparing
to assault, is in fact approximately 500 years old. I had to dig a little
and reconfirm what I was reading, but low and behold, the X in Xmas actually
stands for Christ. Here is an excerpt of what I read from various online
sources.
The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ," later shortened to "Christ-Mass." The even shorter form "Xmas" - first used in Europe in the 1500s - is derived from the Greek alphabet, in which X is the first letter of Christ's name: Xristos, therefore "X-Mass."
Well I’ll be! When I was allowing myself to be upset
by something that was not in fact the equivalent of its face value, I
could have been enjoying the holiday instead of preparing to go around
telling people how they were in fact winning little victories in the name
of the evil one every time that they used the word that denied Christ
His rightful place. Huh.. Live and learn I guess.
However, I will add this note on that. In a day and age where it is ever
more important to be diligent and true to God in body and soul through
our everyday lives in order to not let complacency become our downfall
while the soldiers of Satan run rampant and more protected than ever by
our own rights and laws, it surely seems to me that if I can make this
mistaken assumption about the use, origin and intention of the word Xmas,
then rest assured that there are far more lazy people than I who see it
that exact way as well, and it is the intent I think that makes the word
blasphemous. It is just like Satan to use some of our own things against
us.
I can tell you that even knowing what I do now about the word, I still
feel awful about it’s logistics and how it is becoming more abundant
in it’s use than Christmas. Even if I were to address a Christmas
card now with that word as a component, I would still feel that it would
be insulting to our Lord, due to my own feelings about it. He would know
that even though I have reservations about it, that I had used it anyway
and that in my heart I would know the intent would definitely not to be
to glorify Him. Therefore a sin in my books.
I do not wish to say to you all that those of you who have used, and are
still using that word are sinning. I am merely saying that if I were to
use it, I think that this would be a sin of mine. I would strongly urge
you however, to use the Christmas spelling, if for no other reason than
to make it more important to you and those around you who would otherwise
use the alternative without thinking about it.
The second thing that I have learned is not so straight forward. Shortly
before Christmas, Nancy and I were trying to sort out where we would be
on which days, and when we would open this present or that one during
the schedule. This was not an easy process and I will say that I became
super frustrated during it. At one point we were discussing how nice it
would have been to just simply stay home and open all the gifts right
there on Christmas morning like they do on TV. I found this to be very
tempting and pursued it. That didn’t turn out to be a solution to
our problem, because what we have become a part of now is a vicious cycle
that sends us out to have the children open their gifts where the givers
can all witness the joy that they have shared. I can understand that,
but it really makes things a little tougher to restructure around Jesus
without sacrificing someone else’s expectations and happiness. This
has been the way it has been for as long as I can remember, but it was
only this year that it occurred to us that we could leave all the presents
unopened until New Years day, or even February sometime. This year we
discovered that we are our worst enemies when it comes to keeping Christ
in Christmas.
When we talk about the “C and E Catholics” (those who fulfill
their commitment as Catholics twice a year at Christmas and Easter) I
fear that I can be compared to them in this manner. It is quite apparent
that at these times of year, I effectively drop everything that has made
me Catholic until that point, and focus on holiday survival. What can
that mean? I don’t know, but I do know that on my list of goals
I now have tacked this revelation under the “Be a Good Husband,
Father, Brother, Son and Friend” category. I will need to reevaluate
the things that I want to work towards in this respect and assess the
things that distract me from that goal.
So what do you do in this predicament? Well, I think you do something
that I am actually getting worse at; you hit your knees and pray. That
has never really failed me in the past. In truth it is me that fails it
whenever I need it. I suspect that if I do the legwork, that I will have
my answer, and that it won’t be what I expect at all. I’ll
let you know how it goes…next year.
We are blessed to have the Icon for the Marion hour of Prayer with us
this week. As I write this I still have no clue as to what it is or what
plans can be made for a mass with it. If you haven’t heard otherwise,
then keep your eyes peeled and we will try to announce it for you somehow.
We can take a little pride in a job well done by all those involved in
the researching, purchasing, installation and practical use of the new
sound system and video setup in the church last month. I have high hopes
for its practical applications and high capacity use within our Catholic
community. I would like to pass on the thanks to you all for the role
we played in it from all the happy parishioners, the people who weren’t
turned away at the Christmas masses, the groups who look forward to utilizing
the sound and video in the basement for their programs, and our priest,
Father Len, who has put in more work than most on this project, but still
thanks us for helping out like we did.
Also a big thanks to those of you who were able to attend the Christmas
hamper delivery in Edmonton this year. My family and I were unable to
attend this year, but I have heard that they ran out of hampers, and thus
the need for drivers, early this year. That means that it was well attended.
Another thank you to the men (and woman) who came out to help dress the
big tree with lights this year. I know that it may seem like there is
not much balance to the lighting from the top to the bottom of it, but
after tall wobbly ladders, long heavy poles waving about, old strings
coming down, new strings going up and fritzy bulbs, that tree is a thing
of beauty. A work of art you might say.
Well again, welcome to the new year and lets try to remember the lessons that God has taught us all in the past year. Let’s prepare for another great year to be Catholic in Leduc, Alberta, Canada.
Vivat Jesus
Chris