Spirit of Christmas

I have such a great life.

I love my husband and I adore my little son. I live in a home I like very much. My husband has a good job that he likes, I have a piano and can play whenever I need to, and we have a great church family, and plenty of clothing and food.

Plenty... incredible that many people have never experienced the meaning of that word, and I've lived, blessed by it my entire life. I have never lived wanting or lacking the necessities. There are so many material pleasures we indulge in every day that I can't imagine living without. My toaster, for example...

In the Orthodox Church, the Nativity fast (Advent) begins forty days before Nativity, Christmas. I think it's even more difficult than fasting the forty days before Pascha (the Orthodox name for Easter) because we are bombarded by the rambunctious and hasty shopping spirit and merry Christmas music everywhere we turn. Now, don't get me wrong, I think the holiday cheer is wonderful and I absolutely love getting excited for Christmas. But our priests encourage us to be calm in spirit and not to indulge extravagantly before the feast (of Christmas.) That's what celebrating after Christmas is for.

I struggle every year trying to figure out how to act, think and be toward the commercialized Christmas our culture has created. I try to give to the bell ringers stationed at grocery store entrances, with their little red money buckets hanging nearby as they stand out in the cold bundled up like Eskimos. It always seems like a good reminder to give. And I smile at everyone, but I do that all the time, so that's not really anything special.

Whenever there is a fast in the Orthodox Church, there are three things that go together which make up the spirit of the fast: prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. The fasting and almsgiving come easier for me than the prayer part. For some reason, once you decide the menu, it's not the hardest to stick to it if you just don't have those "off-limit" foods around the house.

But praying is harder. You have to stay focused to remain prayerful. And focus takes energy. And for me, energy takes prayer. So it's all a vicious cycle that is so easily deterred by stray thoughts of what I'm going to do after I'm done praying. Or why Cillian is being so wiggly while I'm trying to pray. Or why I'm hungry. Or why I can't stop thinking about what I want to have for breakfast. And on and on. And I rein those thoughts back in and focus again every time I get distracted. But I'm usually on the third or fourth tangent of thoughts before I realize I've strayed mentally, yet again.

Praying is much, much harder.

But the spirit of the fast is a prayerful spirit. The ultimate goal is to be in never ending prayer! I think America would be extraordinary to the point of being unrecognizable if the "Christmas Spirit" became a prayerful one.

So that is my eternal struggle every day, let alone every fasting season. This time of year, it seems hardest because of the hustle and bustle that comes with Christmas. But I suppose the key is to keep trying. To find silence and quiet in the heart and the home for a little bit each day so as to focus your efforts toward prayer, and in prayer, find peace and humility and repentance.

Today was a productive day - I organized Cillian's closet a bit and finished the laundry and started the STOCKINGS!!! Actually, I started the stockings last night. And it's going to take me about as long as I thought. Sewing by hand takes a while! And I'm making them complicated. I like to complicate things. So it'll take extra long. But the important thing is that they are started and I know what to do.

So it was definitely a good day. Cillian and I had a good time today.

Time to wrap it up - I'll end with the Quote of the Day:


"There are three things, my brethren, by which Faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting, and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy, and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other."

~ St. Peter Chrysologus of Ravenna