Hello, brothers. 2017 just started! I wish all of you that this new year be full of God's blessings,
love, peace and faith. Lets us trust always God in all moments and situations! May we have the graces to deal with everything this new year will bring.
In this video I'm going to utter my mere opinion... What I'm going to say in this video has no basis in any Church document or doctrine.
What I'm going to address is the enormity of the nativity scenes, those big ones people normally do in their homes.
After that I'll talk about the right date to dismount them (and all other Christmas related decorations).
So, I just want to share here my mere opinion, my perspective in order to help you see what is really important in Christmas season.
Is an enormous nativity scene that important?
In these past days I've seen news reports and interviews (I follow people on Youtube who post that kind of content)
conducted in the Azores, specifically in Terceira island [my homeland]. It's now normal to see this kind of journalism on Christmas season. We see people with biiiig nativity scenes at home.
They explain how they did them, what materials they used, etc. All of this surfaces on Youtube, on TV, all over the internet.
I've seen a video about an old lady from Terceira (I don't know where she lives exactly) that decorated her Christmas tree with photos of Cristiano Ronaldo [i.e., famous soccer player].
Instead of hanging proper decorations on the tree, photos of Cristiano Ronaldo where all over it. And the "nativity scene" under the tree was a pair of soccer sneakers, a soccer ball, a Santa's head/bust and 2 shepherds figurines.
I mean, the height of absurdity we have arrived!
This is almost sacrilegious!
The Christmas decorations, the Christmas tree balls, the Christmas tree itself, etc, has it's symbolism, it's meaning.
Everything has a "hidden message", everything is proper for Christmas season. Next Christmas I'll do a video about all the symbols of Christmas.
So, an old lady decorated her Christmas tree with photos of Cristiano Ronaldo and her nativity scene was a pair of soccer sneakers, a soccer ball, a Santa's head/bust and 2 shepherds figurines...
My dad used to say this old saying: "Gente tola e toiros, paredes altas!" ["When comes to stupid people and bulls, build high walls around yourself!"].
The worst part of this issue is the fact other people supports this stupidity, finds this cute or funny! With this attitude, motivation is given to that old lady to continue to do what she did.
How did we get to this point?!
Everything now is funny, cute... everything is tolerated, you can't say nothing to no one, everything is left roll its course down the road.
This is the spirit that is present in the world and, unfortunately, in the Church. This attitude is creeping inside Christianity, inside the average Catholic person, even those who go to daily Mass.
What kind of "good spirit" is this?!
Moving forward...! What I'm here to talk is about the enormous nativity scenes...
In my opinion, huge nativity scenes should be eradicated because the main focus is deviated. The main focus should be in Jesus, the God-babe laid in the manger surrounded by Joseph and Mary.
That's fundamental! When someone enters a home that has a huge nativity scene, what usually happens? The visitor focus more on other details apart from what is fundamental (our Lord's birth representation).
They will pay attention to other things... "Aww, this here is so cute! That is so cute!"...
What is fundamental is left aside. And there's another thing: there's a trend in Terceira now of incorporating in the nativity scene representations of the island's traditions.
My friends, I'm Terceira's #1 fan! I'm currently living in Canada due to some life circumstances but I assure you I'm Terceira's #1 fan.
But why I should include Terceira things in such a beautiful and symbolic display? Why should I incorporate a pig slaughter, a philarmonic group, a bullfight, etc?
Doesn't Terceira have enough of that kind of fame and propaganda? Why include that kind of stuff in a nativity scene, during such a special time where we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ?
Why do that?
Of course people will direct their focus to these things [in the nativity scene]. I want to encourage people to make a smaller nativity scene in their houses.
An ideal, sufficient and really good one is, like I mentioned before, one that displays Jesus laid down on a manger, Mary and Joseph on His side. You can also add some animals, the Wise Men, some shepherds, an angel, a star...
And that's it! In my opinion, a good nativity scene has less than 1 square meter of area. If the size is above that, no good.
The bigger the nativity scene, the more we have to fill it with other stuff and figurines.
We should make what is fundamental the center of attention. Some hearing this may say "It's been a long time tradition of mine building big nativity scenes. If I do a small one next Christmas, what people will say?"
By saying this, my brother, you're revealing your amount of pride. All you want, really, is glory! You want your praise from the others, your moment of fame! You want people to come to your house and hear them say
"Wow! Amazing! Once again, you did such a great job, you're so talented!".
You don't want to lose that, isn't it? You're so prideful that you don't want all glory to be given to the Child Jesus. You want the praise owed to the Lord to yourself. You want people to come to your house
and tell you how many things were beautifully accomplished by you, how much effort you have put into things. You want the glory, the fame!
"It's my tradition, the whole town knows, everyone wants to come and see, etc".
Put aside your pride and your thirst for human glory. Make things properly so that human glory is rightly directed to. That glory is to be given to Jesus.
Build a smaller nativity scene in order for people to focus on what matters... not only people, but your family, yourself included! We need to focus on what is fundamental.
We have to acquire the message that the Nativity transmits. There's this childish perspective, like "So beautiful how Jesus came. He was laid in a manger. So cute! So humbling!"
We stay just on this superficial level. Even many clergymen stays on this level. On Christmas Mass, that's all you hear... "So beautiful, so humbling..."
And you hear nothing concretely how this event touches our daily lives. Christmas Masses are usually packed with people... It is at Christmas' eve and day that the majority of the baptized come together for the Eucharist celebration.
This happens usually on Christmas and Easter... There's people who never goes to Mass throughout the year but shows up on Christmas and Easter.
And you hear no priest on those occasions saying something like "Brothers, Jesus came to earth to save us from Hell!"
You don't hear a speech/homily about alerting people that to be a true Catholic Christian isn't just coming to Mass on Christmas and Easter. This should be addressed!
The clergy needs to address that and us laity too. The truth must be proclaimed! We need to convert these hearts, we need to encourage these people to go to Sunday Mass, to live the faith to the fullness!
You can see the lack of zeal, the fear of proclaiming what is sinful. You don't hear saying missing Mass is a sin anymore. You don't hear saying a Catholic needs to come to Mass every week.
Jesus didn't come to the world for superficial reasons! He come to save us from Hell! He build a church upon Peter [cf. Mt 16:18] so that we can be incorporated in it, to receive the Sacraments, to have all the means of salvation,
to hear and know the Truth. We need to learn what is true so that we know how to deal to whatever the world presents to us,
to evangelize others, to bring others to God and to live our lives in a pleasant way to God so that we can live with Him forever.
This is what truly matters. We can do so many things, achieve 1001 successes, accomplish 1001 projects... but if we go to Hell at the end, everything we accomplished was a failure! Everything!
This is why Jesus came. He came to save us from that reality, He came to reveal the truth about God so we can live accordingly.
In my opinion, a nativity scene should be small and have what is important in the center of attention. In the previous video, you saw how Christmas has a connection with the Eucharist.
But there's more we can link to Christmas. Hell is one of them. As you heard me, Jesus came to save us from Hell. Therefore, this connection is substantial.
We should not just remain in the superficial level of Christmas. The Nativity of Our Lord "speaks" to us. It's one of God's mysteries. This event reveals His great Love towards mankind.
And what is our answer? Meditate on that.
We need to deepen ourselves on this great historical event for our sake and the sake of others and their lives.
Now, lets talk about the right date to dismount Christmas stuff. The widely spread idea that the right date is on the Epiphany (January 6) is wrong because to be concise we have to resort to the Church's liturgical calendar.
Christmas season begins December 25 and goes on until the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. That's how long Christmas season is in reality.
From December 25 until the feast of the Lord's Baptism, the priests wears white garments.
So, at the Epiphany we hear the message [at Mass] due to that feast and we live it for a week or so until the feast of Our Lord's Baptism. That marks the end of Christmas season.
Therefore, all Christmas themed things can be put away on this day. This is the correct date for storing Christmas stuff.
Well, brothers and sisters, I don't want this video to be too long. All I want to say is for you to focus on the Nativity (we are still in Christmas season), focus on what is really important.
It's a good time to visit family and friends. Go with discernment, go with God's grace. Don't overeat or drink excessively.
That's not pleasing to God. Gluttony and drunkenness are sins. We have our human dignity. When you engage in these acts, your dignity is taken away from you.
Being sober and fully conscious is to "be with God". Alienation is bad. One day I'll do a video about that, about intoxication (alcohol, marijuana, other drugs, etc).
The reasoning for why its consumption is sinful will be brought to light. OK, then... See you next week, God willing.
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