Amidst the many distractions of life it is very easy for us to be sidetracked as to really living out the true meaning of Christmas, if you like the true “Reason for the Season.” The very focal point and meaning for the season of Christmas is the Person of Jesus. Christmas indeed is the birthday of Jesus Christ. A little more than 2000 years ago Jesus was born in Bethlehem—meaning “House of Bread” — with the purpose of saving us. Actually His name “Jesus” means “Savior”, as the Archangel Gabriel announces to Mary: “He will save the people of their sins.” How then can we prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for the Birthday of our loving Redeemer? We would like to offer a few concrete suggestions that can be of paramount importance in helping us to prepare well so that Jesus will be born in our hearts this Christmas.
1. LET US PRAY FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT CARE TO BE SAVED. There is a class of persons who really do need frequent and fervent prayers. These are individuals, and there are many of them, who live never thinking of, much less talking to God. For them, living a pagan and hedonistic lifestyle—for the world and the pleasures the world offers— is the end and purpose of their existence. They are blinded to see anything beyond their momentary, fleeting and transitory plight. For them, life and the meaning of life is here and now! Let us pray for these individuals that they might become aware of their dire need for Jesus and be enlightened to see that only Jesus can give true happiness in this life as well as the life to come.
2. LET US PRAY FOR THE ANGRY, THE BITTER, THE RESENTFUL AND THOSE WITH UNFORGIVING HEARTS. This is another class of individuals who urgently need fervent and frequent prayers so that they can truly encounter Jesus when He is born and lives with us. Emmanuel means “God with us”. These are wounded individuals who have gaping wounds from their past. Instead of these wounds healing they grow, become putrid, become infected. In a certain sense, they become cancerous. The worse thing about these individuals is the simple fact that they do not recognize that they are bitter and unforgiving. Everybody is at fault except them. May these individuals be enlightened to the reality of God’s infinite Mercy. May they have the courage to recognize that they have been mortally wounded by others but that they must forgive; if done they will be setting the captives free; indeed, they themselves are the captives who have to be set free!
3. LET US PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE SLAVES OF ADDICTIONS. Never have we lived in a society with so many addictions. Drugs, drink, gambling, horses, casinos, sex, pornography, overeating, buying and accumulating—just to mention a few, are all forms of addictions. Jesus came to save all; Jesus also said that sin is slavery. Dragging the moral chains and bonds of sin is actually worse than physical slavery. Saint John the Baptist experienced the bonds and chains of imprisonment as a result of his denouncing the adulteress relationship between King Herod and his brother’s wife. However, King Herod was more a slave and prisoner than John the Baptist! Herod indeed was a slave of his passions—his greed, lust, pride, insecurities; these were more insidious and more perilous bonds then the chains and manacles that bound the Baptist. Let us pray in a very special way for the many people in modern society who are slaves of addictions and are blind or powerless to break asunder these sinful chains. The great Saint Augustine was bound and enslaved to the addiction of lust for more than 30 years. Due to the prayers of his mother, Saint Monica and the powerful and holy example of Saint Ambrose the addiction was conquered! Then Augustine went on to become a great saint, writer, teacher, preacher, Bishop, saint and Father or the Church.
4. LET US PRAY FOR THOSE WHO LIVE IN THE DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE. Never have we lived in a society with so much information, but never have we lived in a society with so much ignorance, especially in the realm of religion. Let us pray for the many Catholic-Christian adults who have not studied their faith for many years, possibly decades. Possibly they were confirmed in their early teens and since then have not opened a religious book, the Bible, nor even a catechism. On a professional level maybe they are thriving, but in knowledge and love for the faith they are spiritually as dead as a door nail. The worse part in this scenario is that they have no hunger and thirst for the truth. Jesus is the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life. Nobody comes to the Father except through Him. Let us pray for these individuals that they will come to a keen awareness of their ignorance of religious truth, and hunger and thirst to dispel this cloak of ignorance. May the Holy Spirit who descended upon Mary and the Apostles that first Pentecost in fire and wind enlighten them and forcefully blow away and dispel their ignorance.
5. LET US PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERVERT THE INNOCENT. Finally, there is a very important category that we should pray for that they may encounter the Light of Jesus the Savior—those who pervert and damage the innocent! Jesus said regarding those who scandalize or pervert the innocent that it would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and be thrown into the depths of the sea. Very strong words from the lips of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that should be listened to and obeyed! Many who work in television, many who work in fashion and dress, many who promote indecent websites, many who publish indecent magazines— many of these fall into the category of those who pervert and scandalize the innocent, especially the minds and hearts of children. For these we should pray fervently for their conversion and salvation.
