Paul Derengowski, ThM
Yes, that’s right. The Holy Days are upon us, as many of us get caught up in hanging Christ Mass lights on our houses, erecting Christ Mass trees in our living rooms, and finding that perfect gift to give to someone we love, instead of to Christ himself.
I’m still wondering, though, just which days are the holy days and what is supposed to be so holy about them.
Anymore, the Holy Day Season starts sometime around early to mid-September, when all of the merchants start placing their Halloween goodies and paraphernalia out to get ready for that “holy” day on October 31st.
But, is there really anything holy about Halloween (All Hallows Eve), when ghosts (demons), witches (the devil’s emissaries), and The Walking Dead (demon-possessed corpses) are part of the celebration?
Then, there’s November 1st, or All Saints Day, that is barely, if ever, noticed, even by most Christians. So, what is holy about a day that no one even pays attention to?
Later in November, the third Thursday, we have Thanksgiving. Now, this may be about the closest to a holy day of the “season.”
Most families generally get together to pig-out, exchange pleasantries, and then scurry off to sit in front of the television to watch football and take a nap.
Yet, is that what holiness is about? Is that what the Pilgrims did, many of whom were of Puritan stock? Probably not.
Then there is “Black Friday,” which is more like “Black Thursday,” because those same merchants back in September have hurriedly taken down all the Halloween junk and replaced it with Christ Mass junk.
Moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, along with a few of their screaming and squalling tag-along children, scramble out the door and head down to the local sheeple shops, where all the sheeple can vie for the latest whopper of a deal on a widget they have longed for.
Of course, if the sheeple cannot find that all-enticing deal, perhaps because they did not pitch a tent outside the sheeple shop the night before the holy day, then there is no need to worry. There is now “Cyber Monday”!
Yes, Cyber Monday has recently become another “holy” day amid the season, where instead of packing up the herd and scrambling to find a parking place, now the sheeple can satisfy their avarice at home, on the computer.
It does not get much more holy than that, right?
Of course if does. Because there is still Christ Mass Day; December 25th.
Christ Mass Day is the holy day when both pagans and believers celebrate the re-crucifixion of Jesus all over again.
Oh, some Christians will get testy and take umbrage over that description, because they claim they are celebrating Jesus’ birth, even though Jesus never said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” in reference to his birth, but in reference to his death and resurrection!
Besides, when it comes to Christ Mass hoopla pageantry, most Christians have not read their Bibles with enough attention to keep the wise men and the shepherds away from each other.
Christmas, however, is simply an adaptation of the Roman Catholic Mass, whereby the priest sacrifices Jesus through the ritual.
Please note what Dr. John O’Brien, a Roman Catholic Professor of Philosophy and Apologist at Notre Dame University, wrote years ago about the Mass:
The Mass is the unbloody re-enactment of the sacrifice of Calvary. Through the consecration of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, the Mass perpetuates the sacrifice of the Cross by offering to God the same Victim that was immolated on Calvary for the redemption of man. In the Mass the priest speaks not in his own name, but as the ambassador of Jesus Christ, speaking the very words which Christ uttered at the Last Supper. Thus Jesus Christ is both the High Priest and the Victim in the sacrifice of the Mass and in the sacrifice of the Cross, and the ends for which both sacrifices were offered are identical (The Faith of Millions, p. 311).
And just how does the priest sacrifice Jesus, as “the same Victim”? O’Brien explains, by pronouncing “the tremendous words of consecration, [the priest] reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man” (p. 258).
Now, if Jesus said, “It is finished,” meaning that he had finished the mission given to him by God the Father, for the redemption of the world, then (1) how can a Roman Catholic priest order Jesus down from heaven, (2) why is it necessary to crucify Jesus all over again, and (3) what makes Christ Mass (i.e. December 25) a holy day?
Few Christians stop to think just where “Christmas” even comes from, let alone the blasphemy associated with it.
Of course, Christ Mass aside, what would the Holy Day Season be without the start of a new year, January 1st?
But, what exactly is holy about ringing in the New Year with Auld Lang Syne (“for the sake of old times”)?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?
What? This is holy? Really?
Anyway, this time of year still amazes me, just how gullible so many people are.
Holiness means distinctness, separated from the mundane and the worldly.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday (Thursday), Cyber Monday, and Christmas (Christ Mass), though, have all the inward and outward appearances of being unholy.
If you are an unbeliever (i.e. not a Christian), then the Holy Day Season is meant for you. Rejoice!
If you a believer (i.e. a Christian), and getting caught up in all the paganistic revelry, you need to stop and ask yourself, “Is this what I should be doing? Is this the kind of holiness I should be practicing before a lost world?”
If you conclude with anything other than No, then you need to do some real soul searching.
Happy Holy Days.
