First Things First
Grinch in a Law Book
Photo By: Flickr/Benson Kua
Imagine skipping the entire Christmas season for one year. Now imagine it for 22 years! Starting in 1659, that was show long the celebration of Christmas was against the law in Massachusetts.
The stability of the entire economy of all Western nations is tied irrevocably to Christmas sales - which begin shortly after the "back-to-school" sales! The movie, TV, music, and entertainment industries depend on the celebration of Christmas for a staggering amount of their annual income. Postal rates would soar if Christ' birthday ceased to be celebrated. Our Western society would shrivel hopelessly if that Massachusetts law were ever reenacted. And yet the sacrilege of a Christ-less Christmas that is so widely celebrated today is a parody of the real thing.
"Put Christ back in Christmas," says the Christian bumper sticker. But to do this, we must put Christ back in our very lives, without hypocrisy: "They claim to know God but by their actions they deny him" (Ti 1:16).
Do we deny Jesus often by our actions - or by our lack of them?This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net
Recommended Stories
About the Author
The Rev. John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., ordained as a Catholic priest in 1952, is a member of the Claretian Missionaries, and is founder and director of the Claretian Teaching Ministry. Listed in Who’s Who in Religion in America, he has served as parish priest, seminary professor and rector, college professor, lecturer, magazine writer, newspaper columnist, editor, retreat master, hospital chaplain, prison chaplain, campus chaplain, Cursillo director and director of suicide prevention programs in Texas and California.
He earned degrees in philosophy from Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles and from Notre Dame University, with postgraduate work at the University of Southern California and the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, in ascetical and mystical theology.
Find his many books and audio/visual recordings at www.Catholicbooks.net
