December 14th. This is the day when that awful sinking feeling sets in. Christmas is only a week and a half away. You thought you had mailed cards to everyone you should have and now somebody who wasn't on your list has sent you one. You go over your gift list again and again, convinced that a person whose name currently eludes you is going to go empty-handed because you didn't buy a present. Or, worse, you've lost the list. And now the dishwasher is issuing ominous noises
Why do we make ourselves crazy with preparations year after year? It's not because we've lost the spirit of Christmas. Quite the contrary. It's because we don't want anyone to miss the joy of this great feast. We want to share the hospitality of our homes and our food and our happiness. However, the effort can be a bit stressful, so every now and then, a "time out" is helpful. Here is part of a very old and yet very relevant Christmas sermon by a wise pastor. Just for a few moments, sit back and read it. It's a lovely reminder of why you and I want everyone's Christmas to be merry
Let us then joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate the festive day on which he who is the great and eternal day came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short day of time.
He has become our justice, our sanctification, our redemption, so that, as it is written: Let him who glories glory in the Lord.
Truth, then, has arisen from the earth: Christ, who said, I am the Truth, was born of the Virgin. And justice looked down from heaven: because believing in this new-born child, man is justified not by himself but by God.
Truth has arisen from the earth: because the Word was made flesh. And justice looked down from heaven: because every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.
Truth has arisen from the earth: flesh from Mary. And justice looked down from heaven: for man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.
Justified by faith, let us be at peace with God: for justice and peace have embraced one another. Through our Lord Jesus Christ: for Truth has arisen from the earth. Through whom we have access to that grace in which we stand, and our boast is in our hope of God's glory. He does not say: "of our glory," but of God's glory: for justice has not come out of us but has looked down from heaven. Therefore he who glories, let him glory, not in himself, but in the Lord.
For this reason, when our Lord was born of the Virgin, the message of the angelic voices was: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to men of good will.
For how could there be peace on earth unless Truth has arisen from the earth, that is, unless Christ were born of our flesh? And he is our peace who made the two into one: that we might be men of good will, sweetly linked by the bond of unity.
Let us then rejoice in this grace, so that our glorying may bear witness to our good conscience by which we glory, not in ourselves, but in the Lord. That is why Scripture says: He is my glory, the one who lifts up my head. For what greater grace could God have made to dawn on us than to make his only Son become the son of man, so that a son of man might in his turn become son of God?
Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and see whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace.
– St. Augustine of Hippo: Sermon 185n