Let's Make Christmas Simple
I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic School and attended Mass every Sunday until I was 18 years old. My father and mother were devout Catholics; in fact, I wanted to be a priest till those teenage hormones kicked in. Growing up as a Catholic and Italian, guilt was no stranger, nor was the fear of dying and going to hell. I was indoctrinated into believing that I was born with sin on my soul and must be baptized to erase that sin, otherwise if I should suddenly die, I would end up in limbo and never go to heaven and see the ‘face of God’. Missing Mass on Sundays was a mortal sin and I would go to hell. There were lots of reasons to end up in hell and suffer an eternity of fire. Heavy? You better believe it!
I came to realize that the Church taught that almost anywhere I turned there was the Devil tempting me to commit all kinds of sins because he wanted my soul. How does one deal with all of this? The only way is to become a priest (the kind that does not prefer children), or live a true Catholic life: attend Sunday Mass, attend confession, receive communion, contribute money I couldn’t afford and censor everything I read or watched, as well as my sex life.
When I finally came to my senses, I realized I had been duped.
I read a lot. I also read the Bible. I wanted to see if any of it made sense. By the time I was 27 years old, I had let go of the church and its’ restricted teachings and finally felt free. My family was horrified when I announced that I didn’t believe that Jesus was the son of God or God himself and the Holy Trinity was conceived by men and there was no such thing as the Immaculate Conception. We’ve been scammed all our lives so that the Catholic Church could get rich off our fear.
But through it all I always believed in Christmas, not as a fact, but as an idea – an idea that through the years has been manipulated by greed and merchandizing. I am disgusted by the fact that Christmas has become so commercialized that most of the world has forgotten what it truly means.
If taken literally, when the three wise men came to visit the baby Jesus they brought gifts, small gifts, one from each of them, which through the years has translated into ‘Let the Shopping Begin!’
Let me ask you, is it better to give a child a gift of love that will instill a sense of well being, security, self confidence and happiness which will endure a lifetime, or a video game that will wear out and is often filled with blood and violence and could possibly twist their reasoning? What greater gift then to share the wonder of reading books? Instead of spending money we don’t have to buy stuff that will eventually break or be discarded and teaches nothing, spend time with them, time that will give them memories that will last a lifetime.
Whether you are a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Mormon or any other religion that exists, Christmas can only mean one thing - love. If you want to believe it is Christ’s birthday that’s OK. If you don’t, that’s Ok too.
Let’s change the meaning of Christmas from, ‘let’s shop till we drop’ to ‘whom can I help today’? Wouldn’t it be great if we could continue this selflessness throughout the year?
Let’s let go of the selfishness and the ‘me’ attitude and think of us as one; one color, one religion, one race – the Human Race…. One! It’s so simple.
I wish us all a Happy Holiday and a New Year filled with
Love, Health, Friendship, Generosity, Forgiveness, Abundance, Gratitude and Creativity.
Dom Minasi
