By Larissa D’Souza –
It’s the most wonderful time of year, don’t you think? The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family wrapped up in each other. Christmas waves a magic wand over this world and behold everything is more beautiful. It is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is the feeling of love, generosity and goodness. It is an inner joy of light and peace.
My brothers and sisters, true love is a reflection of the Saviour’s Love. In December of each year we call it the Christmas spirit. You can see it, hear it and feel it. Christmas makes me happy no matter what time of the year it comes. Christmas is like a bridge. We need bridges as the river of time flows past.
Today’s Christmas should mean creating happy hours for tomorrow and reliving those of yesterday. Christmas is like candy; it slowly melts in your mouth, sweetening every taste bud, making you wish it could last forever.
Remember this December, that love weighs more than gold. Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. When you give a gift at Christmas and see the smile of the people you love reflect on their faces that’s magical. Christmas is a symbol of union and joy. It’s about forgetting self and finding time for others.
The spirit of Christmas is a sweet, internal peace that testifies of the power of kindness and charity. Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone. Christmas is forever not for just one day, for loving, sharing and giving, are not to put away, like bells, lights and tinsel, in some box upon the shelf. The good you do for others is good you do yourself.
The magic of Christmas is not in the presents but in his presence.
During this festive season the best Christmas gift you can give to your enemy is forgiveness, to an opponent is tolerance, to a friend your heart, to a customer a service, to all charity, to every child a good example and to yourself respect. Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see and that’s the Christmas feeling.
It’s like a magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.
This festive season take a lesson from God in gift giving: His gift didn’t show us how powerful He was, how rich He was, or what good taste He had. His gift simply showed us that He loved us more than anything else in the world, and that He was willing to do whatever it took to make our lives wonderful.
The best gifts of Christmas are not material things buts gifts of listening, showing, kindness, remembering, visiting, forgiving and giving time. Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we are here for Christ beside ourselves. Giving, not getting brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered and God obeyed.
The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things. To catch the real meaning of the Spirit of Christmas we need to only drop the last syllable and it becomes the Spirit of Christ.
This year for Christmas let us in our lives give to our Lord and Saviour the gift of gratitude by living in his teachings and following Christ footsteps. This season is so much more than just a holiday, partying and giving away gifts. It has to be filled with true miracles and meaning of this beautiful time.
Larissa D’souza is currently studying at Davar’s, but has been a working professional as a Project Coordinator in Sports; and in Travel, Tourism and Banking. Reading books, watching football, listening to music and writing in her spare time are things that Larissa loves to do. She has never missed saying her Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day.