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Not just one day
Celebrating the season of Christmas
By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
January 3, 2008
By the time Dec. 25 rolls around, it often feels like the Christmas season — which seems to begin in November — is just about over. But by the Church’s calendar, it’s only just begun.
The season of Christmas runs from the Feast of the Nativity until the Baptism of the Lord, nearly three weeks later. It also includes some major feast days that help explore the mystery of the Incarnation.
“I think part of why Christmas has a season is that it helps us to realize that it’s not just a day, that the mystery is so big that to just try to fit it into one day would be impossible,” said Sr. Ginger Downey, OLVM, interim director of the diocesan Office of Worship.
“It also shows that it’s important,” she added. “We spent four weeks building up to it, and it would be a little off-balance if we tried to fit it into one day.”
In some ways, the season can be seen as allowing for a closer look at Christ’s birth and childhood.
With feasts like the Holy Family, celebrated the Sunday after Christmas, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on Jan. 1, the Epiphany, this year on Jan. 6, and the Baptism of the Lord one week later, Sr. Ginger described the period as celebrating “Jesus’ whole growing up in three weeks.”
At the same time, the placement of other feast days may reorient Christmas in a surprising way. For example, the three days following Christmas celebrate feasts that have long been fixed in the Church’s calendar: St. Stephen on Dec. 26, followed by St. John the Evangelist and then the Holy Innocents — those babies murdered by Herod in his attempt to kill Christ — on Dec. 28.
The apostle who wrote the Book of Revelation, sandwiched by the Church’s first martyr on one end and scores of murdered children on the other, doesn’t seem to fit in with the Nativity.
But Catholics should recognize that it does, said Larry Fraher, an instructor at the Kino Institute.
“We get used to the sweet, little baby Jesus in the manger,” Fraher said. “Certainly, that’s part of the cultural milieu, but what we forget is that Christmas only really makes sense as far as our salvation is concerned in the context of the paschal mystery.”
In fact, he added, by the mere fact that Catholics celebrate Christmas through the Mass means that they are celebrating the birth of Christ in the context of His passion, death and resurrection.
Sr. Ginger agreed.
“We’ve made it into ‘Happy Birthday, Jesus,’” she said. “It’s really not about that. It’s about the Incarnation. Stephen took that belief in his faith to the ultimate point of being martyred. In truth, our living out the faith may lead to martyrdom.”
She hoped that more and more Catholics would view Advent and Christmas as two distinct seasons, each with its own traditions and rituals, otherwise, the “Advent wreath is always in the shadow of the Christmas tree.”
Instead, she suggested celebrating las posadas — a Hispanic tradition lasting nine days that portrays Mary and Joseph seeking shelter in Bethlehem — and the “O” Antiphons.
These antiphons, sung during Vespers from Dec. 17-23, are the source material for the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
Then, Sr. Ginger said, it won’t feel strange to leave the Christmas tree up until the Baptism of the Lord or to continue listening to Christmas music, because Advent will have been spent preparing for the season.
Fraher said that while Lent acts as a 40-day retreat for the Church — during which time her members prepare to enter into the paschal mystery — Advent forces Catholics to ask, “What am I living in expectation of?”
Likewise, the season of Christmas poses another question to Catholics, but it’s one they have a good model for in Mary.
“This is going to sound weird coming from a man, but the theme that really has hit me this Christmas season is, ‘How am I giving birth to Christ in the world today?’” Fraher said. “Christmas leads us to really focus on how we are incarnating Christ.”
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