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Religious: Our Christmas traditions
Joseph Lee L'Heureux
for South Peace News
Merry Christmas and may your celebrations of our Lord Jesus Christ’s birth bring you joy, contentment, love and peace throughout the coming year!
Thanks to the tradition of celebrating this coming feast day, Jesus’ birth, God among men, Christianity has remained with us and spread through most of the world. However, to many Christians it has become a hollow ritual or tradition, which in some cases has created us more grief than joy and happiness.
There are many traditions, some family, some cultural. Every nation has developed its own celebrations with different foods and rituals. So has the Church and these are tied in with each culture, but alas much seems to get lost from generation to generation as we blend cultures in mixed marriages.
A short, heavenly conversation to emphasize the point:
“Mommy! Mommy! Look, they’re getting ready to celebrate My birthday again! Look at all the gifts they’re bringing home to put under the tree.”
“Yes, Jesus, they are very generous to each other and their children at this time of year, but most forget the meaning of this celebration, the poor around them and across the world.”
“They will come to visit and celebrate with Me on My birthday, won’t they?”
“Yes, Jesus, a small group of them will, but most have forgotten the real reason for the season of festivities, and many have never known what today really means, that God made a great sacrifice and placed Himself on Earth in You, and in all men as a gift.”
“So the tradition has become just a holiday and ritual rather than a thanksgiving sacrifice?”
“Yes, Jesus, and for the next three months, many will grumble and work on Sunday to pay off the credit cards when they could still be celebrating the sacrifice with You.”
“How sad!”
“Yes, Jesus, that is sad! They have forgotten or never knew that You were a triple gift - a trinity of gifts! God, your Father in Heaven loving us all! You, Jesus, loving us enough on Earth to make the all redemptive sacrifice and the Holy Spirit deposited in each individual of mankind to unite and coach us all home.”
“So what went wrong, mother?”
“Well, Jesus, let’s try to simplify it all. Let’s use your Father’s heavenly model, the trinity. The earthly Church has to also have a three-fold structure, to be one with the Father; they must also agree as You, your Father and the Holy Spirit agree, to be One as your Father intended.
“The earthly Trinity is comprised of:
1. “In the beginning we needed tradition to carry on the faith from generation to generation, for few people could read. This kept the deposit of faith.”
2. “We needed the Scriptures to record your Father’s instruction and the history of the Church, but many traditions were not written down in the Scriptures.”
3. “Next we needed the magistarium, the authority of the Church to protect what is revealed to mankind through you, Jesus the Christ or Saviour, and all three must agree, to keep the deposit of faith strong.” (Matthew 16:18)
“That stills does not tell us what went wrong, mother!”
“This is true, my Son, this is why your Father keeps sending me to Earth to tell the people to pray, pray, pray! Through prayer people understand their resentments, wounds and anger, which help’s them to forgive, which relieves resentments, which in turn reveals forgiveness and mercy, the beauty of life. This, in turn, helps us all to accept all authorities in our lives, the government and magistarium, which is the Church. Then this opens up the Scriptures which reveals you, Jesus, that they might understands the reasons for the traditions.”
“So you see, Jesus, if they just practice tradition they miss out on the nourishment, beauty and reasoning of Scripture, which helps them to accept the magistarium. If they just accept the magistarium without Scripture study, ‘man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’.(Matthew 4:4) They have no understanding of life or life in You. If they accept only Scripture, they miss out on the beauty and understanding of tradition and magistarium and have no authority or power over weaknesses in their life. One needs all three: tradition, scripture and magistarium to have the fullness of faith.
“So you see, Son, there are all sorts of traditions but there is a tradition within a magistarium that leads to the truth which is the understanding of the Scriptures and knowing Christ.”
“Prayer and praying the Scriptures is also a tradition: Eucharist and Confession, Scripture and tradition, celebrating all the Sacraments are tradition, praying the rosary and asking for your Mother’s intercession is also a tradition. When your Mother intercedes for them she also engages all the Saints in heaven to pray for them, which is in the Apostles Creed and tradition but not in the Scriptures.” (John 6, 1 Corinthians 10:16-18-11: 23-26 and James 5:16)
“Without this celebration and tradition we soon forget the real meaning of you Jesus and your accomplishments on behalf of the whole world. (John 3:16) So we thank everyone for the celebration of Christmas.”
“Let’s wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Jesus.”
Merry Christmas, everyone, and a Happy New Year!
God bless!
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