Merry Christmas! When people talk about Christmas today we think of lights, trees, presents, stockings, and jolly old Saint Nick. And yeah it’s Jesus “birthday” too. Now I’m not knocking todays Christmas traditions. As soon as it starts getting cold outside you can’t tell the difference between me and Clark Griswold.
Three things to keep in mind while we wrap up our Christmas season. December 25th is technically day one of the twelve days of Christmas leading into Epiphany on the 13th day (January 6th), followed by St. John the Baptist’s name day on the 14th day (January 7th), and St. Karterios’ name day on the 15th day (January 8th). If you don’t know already December 25th isn’t actually Jesus’ birthday. December 21st is the winter solstice (the first of the four shortest days of the year) and an old Roman holiday to their god Saturn. Roman Emperor Constantine (as in St. Constantine the Great, who made Christianity legal throughout the Roman Empire) declared December 25th as the day to celebrate the birth of Christ to replace this pagan holiday. The reasoning behind picking the 25th instead of the 21st is because on December 25th is the first day that the days start to get longer. According to John chapter 1, Jesus is the Light of the World. St. Constantine chose this to be symbolic for Christ’s birth.
Continue to the next comment for part two and three apparently my comment was too long lol
The second is that Jesus’ existence did not start at His birth nor at the Annunciation. He is apart of the Holy Trinity and has always been and will be in existence.
The third thing to keep in mind is about St. Nicholas. The man we all refer to as Santa Clause did not actually wear a red and white snow suit and fly in a slay with reindeer that weirdly gallop as they fly. He was a third century Greek bishop that lived in Myra. He became an orphan at a young age with a very large inheritance. After joining the clergy and becoming a bishop he devoted his life to giving away his inheritance to the poor. St. Nicholas of Myra did not give his money out in public as he did not want to boast about his hood work or make the family’s feel ashamed. He would break into the houses of the poor late at night (sometime down a chimney) and place the money in their socks (stockings) as they were hung up to dry (on a mantle).
I pray that everyone has a wonderful end to their Christmas season and that God’s peace fill us all as this is the most wonderful (and stressful) time of the year!
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