Christmas Warrior

"What does Christmas mean to you?"

            As I sat in Mass this week watching the lighting of the first purple candle, I began to contemplate what the reason for the season was: I struggled, as I do every year. I felt like Charlie Brown in the Christmas special when he cries out, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about!?” I found myself waiting to hear some Linus answer to that question for me, but it never came in words. Yet, like in the movie, that scene led me to an important conclusion: it is not a time meant for words, but for action.

            The word Advent draws its roots from the Latin for “coming towards,” which is fitting since it is a time for preparation for Christmas, the birth of Jesus. We must strengthen ourselves and our virtues to prepare. This training connected to an idea Father Mike Schmitz expressed last Christmas in his homily: when Jesus is born, He wages war on sin. A baby, the symbol of innocence, is waging war? It almost sounds contradictory. Well, if Jesus is the one that wages the battle, then He needs holy fighters by his side, so Advent serves as our training for this mission.

            My way of preparing for Christmas connects to two words: aspire and inspire. Both are like (yes, another Latin word) the term “spes,” meaning “hope,” where aspire is about having it and the word inspire, giving it. The Catechism describes hope as “the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1817). By developing hope within ourselves, we are training to be selfless and to seek beauty in all that we do, because we know that this beauty is one that directs us to Christ.

            At the core of the word aspire is the idea of direction: we must make sure that all we do and think directs us back to Christ. This requires internal training. One of the greatest sources of this in my life has been listening to the Bible in a Year podcast by Father Mike Schmitz on Audible. He reads chapters from the Bible, then teaches how their themes return to Christ. It may not seem like the season to start the Bible since it centers on New Testament events and Christ’s birth, but I recognize this differently: Advent is like the Catholic version of New Year’s since it is the start of the liturgical year, a time to take charge of aspirations or resolutions we set for ourselves that go on throughout the whole year; we do not limit our goals to this season alone.

            We also do not limit hope to ourselves and should find ways to enliven it in others. At Christmas time, my family hosts relatives from Long Island and Philadelphia; doing this allows us to practice hospitality and fight the destructive feeling of isolation. How can we bring goodwill to others if we are away from others? Once we are together, we sit around the table for a traditional Polish meal known as the Wigilia, consisting of pierogies, mushroom soup, and fish. Before feasting, my brother, sister, and I each take turns reading from my grandmother’s Bible, going through the narrative of the sacred birth. Doing this allows us to recall what the season is about to refocus our thoughts and prepare ourselves for the highlight of the meal: the Oplatek. It is a thin wafer each family member holds and breaks, then gives to another. With this, the person says something they are thankful for about the other, along with a wish or blessing for the person’s year. Both then eat the wafer they received and hug. This directing of our words allows us to enkindle hope within each other.

            It is fitting that the first candle we light during Advent is the one symbolizing hope: when we ignite the candle, we must contemplate how this illumination signifies freedom from darkness; we are aflame, steadfast, courageous. Christmas is a time to have hope, directing ourselves towards God to bring glory to Christ, the babe born so we could live forever. We must be merry and bright. In the fight, “Let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8).

My name is Finn Mokrzycki, and I am a first-year Statistics major in the college. I am from Woodbridge, Virginia and I love paper crafting (card making, paper sculptures, etc).