A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - Matthew Kelly - A Christmas Message! - Christmas Traditions

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - Matthew Kelly - A Christmas Message! - Christmas Traditions

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Video Transcript:

“The world is becoming more confusing. Our culture seems intent on throwing everything into a huge stirring pot and what comes out is an unrecognizable bland virtueless blob. This great loss of identity effects almost everyone and everything. Christmas is no exception. This confusion makes us unclear about who God is, unclear about who we are and what we are here for, and unclear about what Christmas is and how best to celebrate it. Still our souls are hungry for the simple and thirsty for what is good and true. We often find this in simple traditions.

We all have traditions. Many parents have a tradition of reading their children a story before bed. It is a beautiful tradition that can have an enormous effect on the life of a child. Many people have the tradition of watching football on Sunday afternoon, some people make it a tradition to attend the Opening Day of baseball each year, while others hold the tradition of vacationing in the same place every summer.

Traditions are a beautiful thing. We can learn much about ourselves by examining our traditions for they reveal what we value.

Christmas is especially a time of traditions. Midnight Mass, presents, the Manger, a Christmas tree, lights everywhere, generosity toward those less fortunate, and the gathering of as much family together around a table as possible, to name just a few.

One of my Christmas traditions is to make a pilgrimage to the Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati for the annual performance of A Christmas Carol. First published just a few days before Christmas in 1843, it was a massive success from the very beginning.

A pilgrimage is a sacred journey. I chose the word deliberately. There are many reasons to make a pilgrimage. We make pilgrimages to ask God for a favor or miracle, to beg forgiveness, to gain spiritual insight into a particular situation, to learn something new, to deepen our relationship with God, to visit a particularly holy place, or to escape the distractions of daily life to focus on life’s bigger questions.

For some it is just entertainment, for me it is a pilgrimage, but nobody can escape the messages that are so well woven into the story that they sneak past all our bias, objections, and prejudices, to brilliantly challenge us to examine our lives.

Ever since Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol the selfishness of modern man has been gathering momentum. So to place the dangers of selfishness in full perspective by reminding us of the past, the present, and the eternal future is evermore relevant today than when this timeless classic was first written.

Every year millions of people all over the world attend a performance of A Christmas Carol. They are men, women, and children of all faiths, and some of no faith. The fallen away, the barely practicing, the faithful, and so many who have never had Christianity presented to them in an authentic and compelling way. They will all leave better for the experience.

Life is messy. We are each intimately aware of our own mess and just how messy the world can be at times. But fortunately, Christmas is a celebration of that moment when God placed himself in the middle of our mess.

So wherever you are in your journey, whatever is happening in your life, this Christmas I pray that you will invite Jesus into your mess, and that by doing so, you will find new hope, deep healing, and a joy that cannot be extinguished!

May God bless you and all those you love this Christmas, and every Christmas to come!”

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