The hectic days of Christmas shopping and preparations are behind us and the calm of Christmas break with my family is in full swing. I’m in the backyard with the fire lit and my son playing. This is so much better than driving around town or sitting in my office. Don’t get me wrong…not a day goes by when I don’t thoroughly love being a priest, but a few days with the family is always appreciated.
So what are you doing during these Twelve Days of Christmas? I think I’ve mentioned before that the 12 days begin at Christmas and last until January 5th. This is the Feast of Christmas and we should find ways to honor the birth of our Savior during the days with special projects or at least with prayer and reflection.
Yesterday the Orthodox Church honored the Holy Innocents, those children killed by Herod while he was searching for Jesus to kill Him. Interesting how on the same day, the news stations were talking about new Medicare regulations that encouraged elderly to seek end of life options such as palliative care or hospice as finances would not be available for expensive procedures. So in honor of the Holy Innocents who were routinely killed by Herod and the political elite of Jesus’ day, I ask the following question regarding health care:
In consideration that money will soon run out to provide all the health care needs of our world (this is a fact) who would you be more comfortable in control of your health care decisions?
a. Democrats who routinely kill unborn children while protecting endangered mice?
b. Republicans who routinely kill prisoners while hording billions of dollars in their own banks?
c. Insurance companies who consider it “added risk” to be a woman of childbearing age?
The reality is that none of these options, when put in these terms sounds appealing because we live in a society that has forgotten God and uses the term Christmas to invoke guilt upon lawmakers for the passage of legislation while refusing to acknowledge what the word stands for. There is absolutely no respect for life remaining in our society, so I’m not really surprised.
Christmas is the celebration of the coming of Life into the world. Let’s honor this gift from God and rededicated our daily efforts to keeping Christ in Christmas and honor the life He gave us.
Merry Christmas
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