Time for More "OH's!"

 We have entered those days again - seven days of "OH's!"

These are the days from December 17 to December 23, the days immediately preceding Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the whole Christmas Season.

These are days, in a sense, specially marked since back sometime in the seventh century which means that their place in our observance of Christmas long predate Santa Claus and his role in Christmas and also the Christmas tree and definitely that phenomenon called Black Friday (followed now by Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday and now some number called Green Monday.

These are the days that try to remind us that Christmas was not always the way we seem to know it today.

As the observance of Christmas began to emerge in the course of our history, it did not involve gifts or cards or decorations. It was a simple, mostly liturgical, recalling of the Incarnation, the fact that God had taken on flesh and blood, become one with us.

As mentioned already, somewhere in the seventh century, in monasteries, there emerged the "OH's!"

Each of the days from December 17th leading up to Christmas Eve began telling the story from both the Gospel of Matthew and that of Luke, the only two Gospels that tell the story of the Incarnation. In these Gospel reading we begin by hearing Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, a very telling read as this listing includes some sharp and significant surprises. Matthew includes women in the listing and while it would be obvious that any true genealogy would include women, back in the day when this Gospel was written, only the male ancestors really mattered. 

But Matthew includes women and among them Jesus had a Gentile ancestor! Yep! Mixed breed!

And there was also a prostitute and an ancestor who slept with her own father-in-law. Not exactly reputable folk but remember, Jesus told us Himself that he had come to heal the broken. Savior is all about coming for those who need saving!

Those Gospel readings then move on to the stories about the coming of John the Baptist and the angel's visit to Mary and the visit of Mary to Elizabeth and so on, right on up to Christmas Eve when we remember that incredible, history-changing night.

In addition to those stories the days from December 17th to 23rd include the "OH's!"

They are now part of the official prayer of the Church, sometimes called the Divine Office or the Breviary.

In evening prayer each of those days we pray an "OH!" As we move to the great prayer of Mary, the Magnificat, we surround that prayer with an "OH!"

Each of the seven "OH's!" is a plea for Jesus to come to us, an invitation and longing from us declaring to Him that we truly need and want Him in our lives. Each invokes Him by one of the Scriptural titles for Him.

And even if, up until now, you think that you have never heard of these "OH's!" truth is you know them very well.

Ever hear of the hymn, Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel?

Yes indeed! Each verse of that very familiar song is one of the "OH's!"

That familiar, traditional Christmas song included on many a Christmas album is, in fact, that traditional custom emerging from the monasteries in the seventh century! The melody is not the ancient Gregorian chant but the words and the longing and the prayer are still the same.

So, in these final days before Christmas, find yourself a copy of that song, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Stream it; put that CD in your machine, ask Siri or Alexa to locate it for you. Whatever twenty-first century means you have at your disposal, take some time to listen, to reflect on and to pray that song.

Join all those ancestors down through the ages in that great prayer of longing and invitation.

O Come,O Come, Emmanuel!

Meantime, 

Keep Praying

 . . . and Stay Safe! 

O, Tannenbaum, O, Tannenbaum!

Oh! Just go ahead!

And actually most of you already have and even without my permission.

As if you even really needed my permission or cared about it.

But just in case, you have my permission especially this year and so, go ahead.

Put up that Christmas Tree!

And as I say that, I will also speak a word of truth. As I write this, my tree is still not up but it is a simple, made by my parents, ceramic, lighted tree, probably four pieces. It will likely take all of about five minutes to set up, longer if I count the struggle to get at that outlet to plug in a timer. But this tree goes up tomorrow. That is my plan.

And I am reading more and more, including in some Catholic publications, words of encouragement to go ahead a put out those signs of Christmas this year, especially this year. In a year like 2020 we need a little Christmas.

No!

We need a whole lot of Christmas!

This year may not look much like Christmases of our past. There likely will not be those large gatherings, office parties, crowds of revelers singing Carols in the streets. The malls, so I am hearing, are mere echos of their former selves. Even family gatherings may not look like those of our Christmases Past.

In so many ways life has been changed and we have been changed and our customs and traditions are being affected. Why, it is likely that this year you may even need a ticket to take part in a Christmas Mass!

So, in this most unusual of times, I say feel free! Go ahead! Put up that Christmas Tree.

And those who have known me over the years can testify as to how radical that might sound coming from me.

See, as a liturgist I have tended over the years to be something of a purist, a rigorous purist. I would be the one to declare that it is Advent and that should be a time of waiting and so let's not rush the season. In parishes where I served, Christmas decorations did not appear in any shape or form until after the last Mass of Advent. The hours of Christmas Eve were spent hauling in sizable Christmas trees and multitudes of poinsettia plants, and stringing lights and so on and so on.

Christmas did not arrive until the last minutes of Advent.

In fact I can still recall a Christmas Eve many years ago. My whole family was coming to the rectory for Christmas Eve dinner. I could not risk heading out any distance on a Michigan winter's night as I was presiding at a Vigil Mass and later at the Midnight Mass.I had  to be home or very, very near. And so, in between the two Masses, we would have our dinner and share our gifts and enjoy a bit of Christmas.

Family arrived shortly before the scheduled Vigil Mass and as they arrived, bearing gifts to place under the tree for exchanging later, one by one they stared at the tree.

"Your tree has no lights on it yet!"

"Your tree is not decorated!"

And they were, of course, absolutely correct.

The lights and the ornaments were still in boxes scattered on the floor around the tree.

And so I informed and instructed them, "While I am at Mass, the first Mass of Christmas, you can spend your time decorating the tree and the house!"

Christmas would arrive when Christmas actually arrived.

That is the sort of liturgical purist I was.

But I am older now and maybe even a bit wiser and I can also read better the signs of the times. And the times in which we are living now are different times and even for so many difficult times.

And so we need to know that, even though we are a people waiting for His coming, we also know that He has come to dwell among us and bring us hope and bring us healing.

He is still and always with us.

So, go ahead. Put up that tree. Turn on those lights. Play that music.

In these darkest of days, celebrate the presence among us of the True Light of the World!

Meantime, 

Keep Praying

 . . . and Stay Safe!