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Rosemary Bogdan urges families not to rush to wrap up Christmas, detailing the four feast days we celebrate this week.


If your house is like ours there are probably still bits of wrapping paper around, along with a stray coffee mug, a dessert plate here or there on a coffee table, a sticky spot on the floor, unnoticed crumbs on the tablecloth, and a brand-new stain. Yes, the grand celebration is over, the presents opened, the meal prepared and enjoyed.

But this is not the end of celebrating Christmas, however much the world might proclaim it. The Church celebrates Christmas from the Vigil Mass on December 24th until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which will be January 9 this year. When I was a girl, many years ago, my mother insisted that Christmas continues until the Wise Men arrive. The Church does too, but the Church extends it even further, until the Baptism of the Lord.

The Magi figures from the Nativity scene traveled all along the windowsill of the family room moving a little bit each day. We knew that it is still Christmas at least until they arrive, those truth-seeking men from far off. They were Gentiles yet using the knowledge they had, and no doubt inspiration from the Holy Spirit, they followed the star with the goal of finding the newborn King and giving Him homage. They were the first and as the adage says, “Wise men still seek Him.” Indeed.

 

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So let’s not rush to wrap up Christmas. (Pardon the pun.) The celebration goes on. Let’s play more Christmas music. Let’s still send the cards, even if late. (Everyone understands and is probably relieved that you, like them, are far from perfect. We’re all just doing our best.)

If you didn’t get around to making cookies, why not make them now? You could put together a plate and take it to a neighbor who maybe lives alone. How about starting a contest to see who in the family can be first to complete a thank-you note for each gift received. (This is a lost art, perhaps the subject of a future article.)

 

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In the meantime, this week is full of Feast Days! First, the Feast of Saint Stephen on December 26! From the Magnificat readings for the day,

Stephen’s martyrdom is the prototype of what it will mean to live as a Christian in the first four centuries of the Church, and even unto our own day, when martyrdoms still occur.

 

This could be a thoughtful conversation to have with older children.

The next day, December 27, we celebrate the Feast of Saint John, the youngest Apostle, the one whom Jesus loved, and the one to whom He entrusted the care of His beloved mother. As Francis Fernandez has written in his wonderful series, In Conversation with God,

We must all ask Saint John to teach us to recognize Christ’s face in the middle of all the realities which surround us, because he is very near to us and he alone is able to give meaning to all the things that we do.

 

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Then December 28 brings us the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the memory of those blessed little ones who died because Herod could not bear the thought that he might be replaced. How Mary and Joseph must have grieved, knowing that while their own baby was escaping, so many others would die. Perhaps they recalled the words of the prophet Jeremiah:

In Ramah is heard the sound of sobbing, bitter weeping! Rachel mourns for her children, she refuses to be consoled for her children—they are no more! (Jeremiah 31:15)

As the Holy Family fled to Egypt maybe they could even hear the sounds.

 

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December 30 is the Feast of the Holy Family itself, the fourth Feast following the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. This is a week of celebrations! Again, Francis Fernandez from In Conversation with God,

The family is the simplest and most basic form of society. It is the main school of all the social virtues. It is the seedbed of social life. For it is in the family that we learn to practice obedience, a concern for others, a sense of responsibility, understanding and mutual help, a loving coordination of essentially different characters. This becomes a reality, particularly in large families, which have always been praised by the Church.

May our families become like the Holy Family, schools of all the virtues the Lord wants for us.             

 

Click to tweet:
This is not the end of celebrating Christmas, however much the world might proclaim it. #catholicmom

 

The celebration continues! The Magi are still following the star! It is still Christmas! Christ is born, Emmanuel, God-With-Us!

Oh Lord, please help us to stay focused on You and the wonder of your Incarnation. May the grace of the Nativity stay with us, filling our families and our homes with your boundless love.

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Copyright 2022 Rosemary Bogdan
Images: (top, bottom) copyright 2022 Rosemary Bogdan, all rights reserved; Jean Baptiste de Champaigne, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Peter Paul Rubens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Julius Frank (1826-1908), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons