Hanukkah Is Here - Christmas Is Coming!

Hanukkah has arrived, and Christmas is coming. But you knew that, right? 

After last week's refreshing break, we were tempted to opine about how messed up our financial markets have become. After all, we all know by now that valuations in the stock market have exceeded those before the great Crash of 1929. Many of us understand that back then, the overvaluation was known, but excuses were given why it didn't matter. No need to be cautious or - for the few that really understood what was going to happen - sell before the you-know-what hit the fan.

And we all know that despite claims by the Big Orange Guy in the White House that our U.S. economy is the greatest it's ever been, people have and continue to be laid off, and the majority of our fellow citizens - especially our young folks - wallow in a world that seems to present fewer opportunities to prosper, to own a home, to...well, you know the drill: The top tier grows richer as the rest of us grow poorer. Perhaps an exaggeration, but likely not a huge one.

So we set all that aside as this Year of Our Lord (Anno Domini, a/k/a AD) 2025 swiftly draws to a close. Before it does, some of us are already celebrating Hanukkah. And some of us will soon celebrate Christmas. But before we do, we of the Christmas contingent persist in our preparations for the great Christmas Season by observing the Holy Season of Advent. We try to resist the incursions of all the "holiday" noise that most folks seem to enjoy. (Do they really?) Instead of expending all our joy before Christmas arrives and shutting it down when December 25th ends, we try to recall that Christmas begins on the 25th and continues for many days thereafter.

At this point, we'll soon be winding down our financial brain for a Christmas break, with the understanding that the markets and the economy will be there when we return from our usual annual work holiday.

Meanwhile, though, we try to rein in our tendency to hold the reins so that Advent doesn't fly by and take a back seat to all the usual year-end/holiday prep activity. To help us hold those reins we have been posting a little series in our Catholicmenatwork blog since Advent began. And while things Catholic may not naturally resonate with all, we contend that all authentic (note the emphasis) Catholic doctrine and teaching cannot but benefit all of mankind. With that, we offer this excerpt from our recent post in series focused on the virtue of humility.

Humility really is the foundation of spiritual health, of all holiness. It's opposite, pride, is perhaps the greatest fault we creatures of God suffer. And what better virtue to promote as we approach Christmas than humility? A simple glance at the circumstances of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem is all we need to see the wisdom in this.

With that, this excerpt from the spiritual writing of Father Joseph Schryvers will provide a good shot of spiritual adrenaline based on the great saints who followed Jesus in His humility. It provides us with not just a break from the secular world of exaggerated-too-soon-holiday-cheer and replaces it with something to chew on as we approach the real reason for the Christmas Season. 

With the usual "warning" that this is seriously authentic Catholic stuff. So if you're averse to either serious, authentic, or, heaven forbid, Catholic, you may want to stop right here and...well, I suppose get on with the typical superficial, exaggerated to the point of being phony, secular "cheer" that the world will successfully slather on your empty soul, the go for it.

Otherwise, bathe in what will help you prepare yourself for true Christmas joy: 

“The saints, at the sight of their miseries, had strange fears. St. Vincent de Paul was surprised that the Almighty did not destroy the towns through which he passed. St. Alphonsus believed himself the cause of all the persecutions which were leveled against his Congregation. St. Louis Bertrand counted himself the most abominable sinner the earth ever produced. And we, by way of excuse, soothe ourselves by saying: ‘Ah! But these were saints!’ But did the saints exaggerate? Were they objects of pity? Might it not well be that we are stone blind, while they saw with eyes lighted by the Eternal Truth? Unless pride blinds our eyes, we cannot but see that all human beings are infinitely miserable and sinful. We should understand in a practical way that from every point of view as creatures, we depend on God for everything – our essence, our existence, and our conservation, together with all the conditions of our development. We should keep before us our innumerable transgressions, doubled in gravity by their ingratitude and frequent relapse. We should also realize our present actual shortcomings, attachments, cowardice, fickleness, peevishness and vexation.  

“Oh, Jesus! How perverse we are, and how little we suspect it! Have mercy on me, Good Master, for I am afraid of the vice of pride. I want to be of the number of those who are meek and humble of heart. Make my heart like Yours. But our Good Master knows full well the clay of which we are formed, and the foolish pretensions of our fallen nature. He is satisfied and He loves us when He sees us perplexed at the sight of our misery, and, in spite of it, ever full of confidence in His goodness and resolved to acquire humility at any cost, for ‘God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.’ (James 4:6)”