Fr. Dwight Longenecker: Must Christmas Be Magical?

The tree is up, and the lights are twinkling. There is excitement abroad as the celebrations begin. Who dares to deny the delight, grumble at the good cheer, quash the carols, tear down the tinsel, be churlish to the children and be a grump, a Grinch, or a bah humbug Scrooge?

Not me. And yet, in the preparations of Advent, it seems a Christian duty to put on the brakes at least a little. Our Christian feast has been hijacked by the secularists. Our culture has been appropriated.

The angels have been replaced with flying reindeer. St. Nicholas has become a fat, Coca-Cola swilling imposter, and instead of shepherds in the field keeping watch over their flock by night, our lawns are cluttered with garish inflatable elves, singing snowmen, and grinning cartoon characters. As a kind of magical blessing, the whole commercialized celebration of consumerism is sprinkled with sparkly fairy dust. …

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