Caritas Begins in the Home.

I'm sure that driving through our neighborhoods we have seen houses just like this. The first two thoughts that enter my mind are "how did they get all those lights up there?" and "I wonder how much it costs to light that house right now?". I know, I'm a mood killer. You can call me a grinch if you like. And while I certainly celebrate the right of every person to decorate, or not decorate, their house as they see fit, I will call foul when they say that it's in the spirit of the Christmas season.

"We're preparing for the baby Jesus. You know shine the light for the light coming into the world." Wonderful sentiment but sorely off the mark. When I think of a home that is prepared for "the light of the world", I don't think of the perfect Christmas tree, Santa Claus and his sleigh lit in the front yard and a Mickey Mouse Nativity scene by the front door telling me to have "A Very Disney Christmas". Instead I think of the preparations that have taken place in the hearts of those inside the home. This becomes much more evident as the tensest moments of the Advent season (yep, I said Advent) wash over us like breakers. My wife and I finished all our Christmas shopping, decorated our tree, and began the holiday baking earlier than ever this year. But that didn't stop us from being frustrated with each other, about losing sleep with a crying baby, about relatives bickering senselessly with each other, and of course don't forget the dogs. It's during this season of preparation for celebrating Christ's birth that we need more than ever to think of his death and resurrection. We need to ask how he prepared himself; physically, emotionally, and spiritually to face the horrible trial he would endure to bring us back from exile and to the throne of the Father. We need to focus on our own hearts and if we are up to the task of following him.

Where does that begin? It begins with those who are closest to us in proximity but more often than not furthest from our hearts. I am speaking of family. I am speaking of the relatives with whom we make small talk for a few moments, exchange a Christmas card and a fruit cake (if you really don't like them) and then forget them for another year. Or worse, think of the relationship each of has with our siblings, parents, spouse, or children. Caritas was one of the Greek words for love. Many of the scriptures we interpret as talking about erotic love or the love between a man and wife are in fact talking about the most basic and necessary charity that every family needs. When I look at my wife and children my goal is to see not what they might do for me but rather how I might serve them. This is no easy task because I am by very nature a selfish person (just like everyone else). I struggle to love others in the way that God has called us all to love.

In the end, Christ did not come to the flashiest house or the home with the best comforts that money could buy. He came to the home with the greatest amount of love; a love that was given freely and without expectation of return. As we eagerly anticipate the celebration of Christ's birth tomorrow let us focus for just a moment on the home we have built in our hearts and not the one we have decorated. Let us hold one another closer as Mary and Joseph did as they gazed at the innocent child before them. If we can, then we can give a new meaning the phrase "Merry Christmas".