Originally published at crisis magazine
The day before Christmas is special.
No matter our age, we always get excited for the celebration of Christmas day. There is something about it that brings us back to our childhood. It brings us back to when our lives were much simpler. The only thing that mattered was being with family and celebrating the reality of Christmas.
Family unites the Christmas experience in a universal manner. The majority of people have plans to be with their family or extended family in some way. The first Christmas was really no different. The Holy Family of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus shared the truth of the Incarnation and we are invited to share in that reality each year.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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Taking time to consider what it would have been like to be in Bethlehem on that holy night can radically influence our vision for the celebration of Christmas. We are not simply invited to recall that this was a nice event in history that we can remember with delight. We are not merely asked to be joyful because a baby was born 2,000 years ago.
Pope St. Paul VI once
