Merry Christmas...or else

There are those among us who believe that, at this time of year, everyone should say and/or be willing to hear, “Merry Christmas.” It’s as if there’s something wrong in not celebrating this distinctly Christian holiday, even you happen to be Jewish, or Moslem, or Hindu, or something else, or “none of the above.”

In the hands of some, “Merry Christmas” is not just a greeting, but a challenge, even a threat. “What, you don’t celebrate Christmas? Well, shame on you. You must not be a real American.”

Retailers who instruct their employees to greet customers with “Happy Holidays” or the like are absolutely doing the right thing. If I were greeted at checkout in the local grocery store with “Happy Hanukah” I’d probably think it was a joke, unless I were terribly offended. Public schools that do not allow Christian celebrations of the holidays are right as well; frankly, I don’t want my tax dollars being used to promote my religious tradition by someone who may understand it in a way that I believe is wrong.

So, if you meet me on the street and we are strangers and you want to share some sense of the joy of the season with me, just wish me “Happy Holidays.” I will know you wish the best for me, however I take “the best” to be, and that will be enough. I trust Jesus would approve your respect for me as a fellow human being, and I will strive to show the same to you.

Several years ago we received a Christmas card that carried a poem by Pedro Arrupe, SJ. It was produced by the Sisters of Joseph of Baden, Pennsylvania. I offer it to you, in the  broadest, most inclusive sense of what Christmas means.

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, that is,
than falling in love
in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.

It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you will do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read,
who you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in Love,
Stay in Love,
and it will decide
EVERYTHING.

Happy Holidays to you, my gentle readers.