Christmas season is a period of joy for all. Nowadays Christmas has become a festival for all people in the world irrespective of religious affiliations. Without any distinction, all enjoy the season of holidays. The Christmas season is also a period to share happiness with friends and family members. The message of the Christmas season brings peace into the heart of all. All love the Christmas season for various reasons and the entire world is immersed in a spirit of celebration.

This year, however, millions of people would not be spending the holidays with their loved ones because of the pandemic Covid 19. Let us, therefore, be humble in our celebrations this year. First of all, we have to look after ourselves and remain safe. Let us fill the day of Christmas with the things we love.

If you are spending Christmas away from your loved ones this year, it’s OK to feel sad about it. But you shouldn’t take it as a curse. 2020 has not been a normal year, and this is not a normal Christmas. None of us could have imagined that this year would be like this.  We all deserve a massive hug for facing the difficulties bravely.

Set aside the pandemic situation for a while, and come back to reflect on the joy of Christmas. Yes, I think, Christmas cannot be confined to sharing gifts and Santa Claus. Christmas is a spiritual celebration that brings joy, peace and love to the hearts of the one who has prepared well to receive them. It is the great mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God among us. It is a celebration of the coming of Jesus Christ into this world, accepting the human situation. It is the humbling of the Divine as one among us. This is what Christmas is.

After the creation, according to the Bible, God saw that humankind was not fulfilling the purpose of the creation. In those days, God found a faithful man called Noah in the midst of deviations. God planned to wash away the entire creation to purify humankind except Noah and his family. Thus He caused a flood. But God himself repented about it after this event and promised not to punish humankind anymore in such a way. Since then God had sent Patriarchs and Prophets to convey His message to the people. But the people were obstinate and hard-hearted, and did not accept the invitation of God to change their way of life. God in his goodness wanted to give another opportunity to mankind. So He sent His only Son among us, to teach us the purpose and the meaning of life in this world and in the next. Thus Christmas is the coming of Christ, the Son of God to the world, to set mankind free from the clutches of evil. The Son of God willed to be born among us to be our savior. This is what the incarnation is. We are called to meditate upon and live up to this mystery during the Christmas season.

Again, it’s not enough to know what Christmas is; but one has to prepare to live its message. One has to experience the feelings of the parents of Jesus, Joseph and Mary. They struggled and suffered, as they did not have a place to give birth to their first-born. As Joseph and Mary accepted the will of God, this Christmas season should be a time to understand the purpose of our life in this world and to live up to it. By doing so, we can get more graces and blessings from God. Christmas 2020 invites us to discern the will of God and fulfill it in the midst of the sufferings caused by Covid 19.