Merry Christmas

Jesus did not come to dominate the world. He came to save it.Quite a different object; an entirely different operation. And he did not come to separate himself from the world. An entirely different method. You see, my friend, if he had wanted to withdraw from the world, to retire from the world, he had simply not to come into the world. It was as simple as that. In that way he could have withdrawn in advance. There was never to be such a chance again. Such a good opportunity: of remaining at the right hand of the Father. As long as he was seated at the Father's side he was withdrawn from the world, in, a certain sense, in a way you will never be, infinitely more than you will ever be. Had he wanted to withdraw from the world, if that was his object, it would have been perfectly simple; he had simply not to go into it. 

The centuries had not yet opened, the gate of salvation was not open, the great story had not be. And if not to be in the world was his object, then he had merely not to start. That short tour was unnecessary.  But, on the contrary, he did go into the world, into the centuries, to save the world. He even went twice. Or rather he only went once, but doubly, twice in once. The intention being doubly underlined.

First of all, in a first movement, making an infinite movement, an infinite leap as it were, as God he became man, et homo factus est, which you must admit, my friend, is not exactly a way of withdrawing from the world. It was perhaps, on the contrary, a way of entering into it infinitely, in full: to be there, to become part of it by incarnation. In corpus incarnem. Might it be said that no one ever went into the world so fully?

Charles Peguy, Temporal and Eternal.

I didn't mean to be away this long. But it's been a busy year and several things have conspired to keep me away from my blog. Work and family commitments and put constraints on my time but perhaps the biggest issue has been an intractable writers block that has meant that whenever I want to put up a post my capacity to write simply evaporates. It's very frustrating as replying to comments on other's sites comes easily and with little effort. But composition and putting thoughts to keyboard in some kind of orderly manner.....that's been difficult.

I am hoping for better in the New Year as I can feel a nascent urge returning.  I hope it is not a false one.

While I like the whole tradition of Christmas, I generally find the Christmas period a bit off-putting. The focus on gifts and gluttony tends to make the stores and car parks places I want to avoid as the goodwill people are meant to show each other evaporates in the pursuit of the elusive car-parking space or the jostle for gifts.  The consumer culture on show is definitely repellent.  I am not the first to comment on this as year we get sermons from the pulpit about the vapidity of our materialist culture which seems contrary to the spirit of Christmas. And, in sense, it definitely is, but in the last few days another thought has popped into my mind about the Season.

While the crass materialism of Christmas is definitely nauseating, so is a unthinking reactionary spiritualism while tries to diminish the material aspect of the events surrounding the Incarnation. We all know that God became man by this mechanism, but what's also important to remember that when the Three Kings came to honour the Son of God they did so with produce of the earth: Gold, Myrrh and Frankincense. They honored him not only with their thoughts but also with things, earthly things.  Things which in-themselves were good. They honoured him in a material way.

The Incarnation was the physical manifestation of God's goodwill to man.  So in a sense, when we give presents or host our friends and neighbours for a feast we're trying to convert our spiritual good will into a material reality. It isn't all just thoughts and prayers.  So therefore a Christmas without gifts or feasting is a bit a like an incarnation without a baby Jesus. It's sort of defeats the point.

Therefore Christmas should be a bit of a material indulgence; a bit of a splurge. This thought has put a bit of a different perspective on the Christmas season and encouraged me to bear the rude crowds with more patience and goodwill.

But I'll still avoid the car parks.

I want to wish all my readers who are still around a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year.

And Jason, thanks for checking in. Best wishes for the Season!