Christmas and vacation

During the Christmas holidays, we tend to get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season that we sometimes forget the essence of Christmas. We even remove Christ from the word Christmas, reducing it to X’mas or substituting it with the name of a product or a shopping center.” Yes, guys, honestly, that’s it… I really don’t enjoy receiving “XMAS GREETINGS”…

Somehow, I am looking forward to a two weeks vacation “between the years” – meaning to say between December 23 and January 7. No teaching. I might spend only a few hours in my agency office.

A rest from some occupation, business and other stressful activities is waiting for me. Strictly speaking, vacation concerns those who are in school or studying in colleges and universities. “Furlough” would be the appropriate term…

Christmas and vacation: Speaking about myself – I want to bring back Christ to the holiday season and indeed wish to share my blessings with the less fortunate. One of the best-known religious poems is “The Hound of Heaven” written by Francis Thompson, who tried to run away from God. He wanted to have a vacation from God. In reality, it is Thompson’s own life. His poem shows clearly the fact in this world that we can have a vacation from physical and mental activities, but never from God.

As I stated before: according to the book of Genesis, after God created the universe in six days, he rested on the seventh day. In other words, he took a vacation. So if God rested after working for some period of time, there is no reason why man, who is finite and limited in his physical strength, should not take a vacation.

Vacation is freedom or release from tension or pressure of work. And, believe me, I learned already from my students that they will enjoy Christmas and vacation. Many of us feel tired and weak. We are stressed, overwhelmed, depressed and worried about the future – the enumeration, in any order whatever, could be incessant.

Relaxation, meditation, and reinvigoration are badly needed for most of us nowadays. Life, affected by the “burnout syndrome” needs to be animated with energy and strengths.

Yes, Christmas has always been equated with all these worldly ways. Sure, there is indeed nothing wrong with this. Let’s don’t only focus on non-stop merrymaking and countless gifts. Let’s take a break, and let’s try to imagine and enjoy the real meaning of Christmas. Merry Christmas again to everyone – also from this corner…

Charity requires toughness

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          WHEN Christ talked about the lost sheep and how the good

shepherd would do everything to find it (cfr. Mt 18,12-14), he must be

telling us that we should be tough in our love and care for one

another, such that even if someone is in grave error, we should do our

best to help and save him rather than leave him to remain lost.

          This is the charity Christ is showing us. It’s the charity

that is meant for us. With God’s grace, let us learn to develop that

charity, cultivating the relevant allied virtues of optimism, patience

and fidelity, so that instead of being turned off or scandalized by

the evils of others, we would even rev up our concern and solicitude

for those in some form of disorder.

          We need to be tough in this life, otherwise we will fail to

follow Christ who is the epitome of how we should be since he is the

pattern of our humanity, the savior of our damaged humanity, the “way,

the truth and the life” for us.

          Christ was tough to carry out his mission of saving us. He

knew from the beginning that he would be betrayed by someone close to

him, that he would suffer and die a most ignominious death, but these

did not deter him from pursuing his mission. His love for us was and

is such that he can take on anything that would come his way.

          Christ already warned us of the kind of suffering to expect

in our life. “They will seize and persecute you,” he said. (Lk 21,12)

“You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and

friends, and they will put some of you to death.” (Lk 21,16)

          All these should not affect our charity. If anything at all,

we should even be more charitable with those who give us trouble.

Thus, St. Paul described such charity when he said that “love bears

all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all

things.” (1 Cor 13,7) Christ already reassured us that as long as

suffer with him, we will also have the victory of his resurrection.

          In other words, we have to learn how to be friends with

everyone regardless of how they are, because only then can we help

them to attain the ultimate goal common to all of us. We also have to

learn how to deal with any situation, no matter how difficult and

ugly, not so much in physical terms as in the spiritual and moral. If

we are truly Christian, we would have his desire “not to condemn the

world but to save.” (cfr. Jn 3,17)

          As one saint said it, we should be willing to go to the very

gates of hell, without entering it, of course, if only to save a soul.

This obviously would require of us to be tough and clear about the

real goal to reach, and yet flexible and adaptable to any person and

to any condition.

          In this regard, we have to learn how to fraternize with

sinners. We have to replicate Christ’s attitude towards sinners, who

actually are all of us—of course, in varying degrees. We have to give

special attention to the lost sheep and to the lost coin. We have to

open all possible avenues to be in touch with all sinners.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com