The real essence of Christmas

The Christmas scenes in Bethlehem long time ago present us the anxiety and hardship befalling Joseph and Mary as they were looking for a place to settle for the night after an arduous travel. Adding to the fact that Mary was in full-term. Their knocks at the inns fell on deaf ears.

Today, our attention to technology, the increase of trade and commerce, and secularized yuletide gatherings rob us of our sense of recollection pertaining to the true meaning of Christmas, unconsciously rejecting the loving embrace of Jesus Christ who became one like us. The spiritual aspect of celebrating Christmas has lost its essence. Many are expecting of gifts to be given to them such that they have equated Christ with gift-giving. But that should not be the case. During this time of merriment, we are supposed to mind the real essence of Christmas which is reflected in the quiet scene in a manger in Bethlehem, where baby Jesus was being attended and received with great care by St. Joseph and our Blessed Mother.

We should inculcate into the minds of the children of today and the next generations to come that the essence of Christmas is that Christ was born to save mankind.