Reflection by Fr. Chris

Every year during the Christmas season, the important question arises among the Masses, is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Now this is one of my favorite films, and the reason why I never take my shoes off at parties. Yet, is it a Christmas movie? Some will argue that it is a Christmas movie because it takes place on Christmas Eve at Nakatomi’s Christmas party; there are appearances of decorations and Christmas music on the soundtrack. However, it is not a Christmas movie. Once on Twitter, a philosophy professor tackled this important question by stating that the substance of the movie is not based on Christmas; it is simply an action movie which happens to take place on Christmas, and is thus an action movie not a Christmas movie. I agree with this logic, because if we simply state that movies that take place on Christmas are Christmas movies, than we find ourselves on a slippery slope, wherein we call Lethal Weapon a Christmas movie because the final fight happens to be on Christmas (do I watch too many action movies?)

Here lies the point, what makes Christmas, Christmas? Dr. Suess added to the debate on this question in his classic work, How the Grinch Stole Christmas when at the end of the story, the Grinch declares, “"It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags! And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" During this season it is nice to send our Christmas cards, to send and receive gifts, to eat Christmas cookies, to decorate our trees and houses, yet you can take all of these elements of Christmas away and Christmas would still be celebrated because it is during this season that we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

This is a joyful season because this is the time that we celebrate God’s love for us. When God gave humanity the ultimate gift--He entered into our time so that we would know that we are never alone. Sure, all of the festivities of Christmas are fun, and I certainly encourage us to have a little more fun in our lives, but fun is not enough. We celebrate that during the darkest days of the year, the light of Christ shown first in Bethlehem. We celebrate that in a time that values money, power, and status. The Son of God was born in a small town to poor parents. We celebrate because we remember that Christ came to save us all.

Merry Christmas
Everyone!
Fr. Chris