The false Christmas vs. the true one

Advent 1, Cycle A

We celebrate Christmas year after year, but are we truly celebrating Christmas?

The gospel today challenges us to be awake to the lures of the world that we forget the true meaning of Christmas.  May we distinguish between a true and false Christmas:

a kind of Christmas that corrupts, and let us be alert from all these:
1. A Christless Christmas vs. a Christ-filled Christmas -  goodness may be innate, but if we continue to distance ourselves from Jesus, our goodness will not last.  Without Christ we are nothing.
2. A commercialized Christmas vs. a renewed Christmas - cease to make Christmas a costly one and we shall utilize all efforts to get to know the real source of Christmas.  Have we really known Jesus Christ all these years.  If we have, how come we have less time for him while we have more time for worldly concerns?
3. A comfortable Christmas vs. a sacrificing Christmas - since the original Christmas didn't have any tinge of merry-making, eating, and Karaoke-singing, let us make this resolve that as the day approaches, so too is our commitment to serve the Divine Master, even if it means carrying our crosses for the sake for lifting others specially the poor and embracing a simpler lifestyle.

When Christ comes, may he find us Christ-filled, offering, and enlivened.

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