William Saunders - Celebrating a Merry Catholic Christmas: A Guide to the Customs and Feast Days of Advent and Christmas

A Guide to the Customs and
Feast Days of Advent and Christmas

Fr. William Saunders

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina

Copyright 2018 Rev. William P. Saunders

All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts used in critical review, no part of this work may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

All excerpts from papal homilies, messages, and encyclicals Copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana. All rights reserved.

New Testament Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Old Testament Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Cover and interior design by Caroline K. Green

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018909509

ISBN: 978-1-5051-1257-3

Published in the United States by

TAN Books

PO Box 410487

Charlotte, NC 28241

www.TANBooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

To
Bishop
William G. Curlin
(19272017),
friend and
mentor, who
loved Christmas

Contents

I love Christmas. I have always loved Christmas. Since my ordination on May 12, 1984, I have looked forward to helping decorate the Church for Christmas and planning for the various religious festivities. As a pastor, I have always taken on the responsibility of setting up the manger scene and supervising the decorating in the church, which, for me, is not work but a spiritual exercise.

In an increasingly secularized society, I am saddened by the decline of the spiritual dimension of this beautiful celebration of our Lords birth, even in Catholic families. Christmas seems to have become an economic period: Some stores are decorated in September and October. The business reports focus on Black Friday sales the day after Thanksgiving as an economic indicator of the future. Our homes are inundated with holiday catalogues offering their various wares. Then after Christmas, the business reports either rejoice or lament over the holiday spending period, and too many people suffer from overspending hangovers. Some academics have stopped using the traditional dating of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini, in the years of the Lord) and have adopted BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era); ironically, if asked, What designates the BCE from the CE, one would have to say the birth of Jesus Christhow foolish!

For some people, the focus is on the parties, the decorations, and the gifts. Greeting cards of mice dressed in Santa Claus suits, nature scenes, or even family pictures are sent without any mention of Christmas. Then the day after Christmas, empty boxes and stripped Christmas trees are placed by the curb ready for the trash truck.

And worst of all, the politically correct and secular ideology has pressured people to say Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings or anything other than Merry Christmas. Some government leaders even refuse to say, Merry Christmas, and some refer to holiday trees and holiday parties. Some localities even ban a nativity scene for being offensive.

In the pages to follow, I discuss some of the highlights of the Christmas season. I try to show how many of our traditions offer the Catholic family rich opportunities to prepare for the coming of Jesus. In her wisdom, the Church helps us with our spiritual preparation by giving us the liturgical season of Advent. I discuss the beauty of Advent in general, and I look at a few of the great saints the Church honors during Advent. I also discuss the O Antiphons, beautiful prayers traditionally prayed by the Church in the eight days (or Octave) leading up to the Nativity of our Lord.

The joys of a Catholic Christmas do not end with the birth of our Lord, of course. We have all heard of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and I talk a bit about the true meaning of the carol. As youll see, however, I also talk about the Catholic Christmas seasona period from the Nativity of the Christ Child up to the Baptism of our Lord. Well see that our joy expresses gratitude to the Holy Family: Mary, Joseph, and of course our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So the time has come to restore Christ to his rightful place of honor in our Christmas celebration and to make it a celebration not of presents but of his presence. I hope this book will help the reader to appreciate the beauty of Christmas and to recognize the great gift we have received and celebrateour Lord Jesus Christ. The time has come for every Catholic and every Catholic family to celebrate a Merry Catholic Christmas!

F or Catholics, the liturgical season of Advent motivates us to focus on the spiritual preparation for Christmas and the coming of our Lord. (Advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning coming.) The Catechism of the Catholic Church