Have you ever heard that cliché, "the magic of
Christmas"? In the English language,
"magic" can be purely supernatural or else mysterious, as in
astounding magic tricks. Otherwise,
"magic" can simply be something wonderful and exciting. Like me, you probably appreciate what "the
magic of Christmas" is, or was, for you.
Most still remember what it meant to be a
child enchanted by the colored lights of Christmas, by glittering
trees, backlit
manger scenes, shiny packages, musical pageants, packed toy departments. Not to mention the wait for either December
25th or January 6th, or else as in Italy, for both of those dates, when gifts
are magically delivered by Santa Claus, Father Christmas, the Three Kings, the
Befana (the Italians' Christmas Hag), or whoever. Even though adults no longer associate the
arrival of gifts with supernatural phenomena, unless we happen to receive an
unexpected bonus from the Scrooge in our lives, many of us are still moved whenever
we hear favorite Christmas songs or get holiday greetings from folks we seldom
hear from. We still enjoy exchanging
gifts and good wishes. We have fun
decorating our homes and making Christmas treats. We donate to charity and extend greetings to
everyone we bump into. Many make a
semi-annual showing at church, a clear sign of Christmas magic! The holiday season comes loaded like Santa
Claus' sleigh with sights, smells and sounds intimately connected to memory. Today I came out of a local shopping mall with
glitter on my clothes, those pesky little chips of shiny stuff that get glued
onto Christmas decorations. I had made the
mistake of handling ornaments manufactured in China, wanting to see whether the
poor slaves who made them had stamped designs on the balls or handpainted
them. Glitter must have been wafting
about like pollen, clinging to shoppers like fairy dust. The magic of Christmas, I thought sardonically,
working to brush it off. The mall was
full of shoppers, especially young families with excited or crying kids, and
plenty of pensioners choosing presents for grandchildren. There was a grandmother shopping with her
grandson, looking at nativity scenes, these too made in China. She kept asking, "Do you like this
one?" He was a polite five-year-old,
I guessed, and issued only a submissive "Sì" before each model of the
First Noel. They were intent on the
reason for the season, the Christ in Christ's Mass, and not caught up in
illuminated snowmen and reindeer. Let's
face it, Christmas has become, even in Italy, a do-or-die moment for merchants. It keeps getting tackier, and less magical,
the sooner the Christmas merchandise appears in the stores, accompanied by
chain store Christmas ads delivered to every door in Venice courtesy of Muslims
on bicycles. Does anybody besides the
most devout think much anymore about the real
magic of Christmas? About what happened at
tax time over two thousand years ago?
That the Son of Man was born in a stall, maybe in a grotto, to God-fearing
parents with domicile in Bethlehem and residence in Nazareth. On pain of death in a dangerous world
overseen by hypocrites and governed by heathens, that child would grow up to
show everyone, Gentiles and Jews alike, what love is capable of. The author of countless unexplained phenomena,
He said that if He didn't perform miracles, no one would believe Him. He knew the Holy Scriptures by heart and had
come, He said, to fulfill them. Some say
He was God in human form. Before He
left, He said that whatever we do to the least among us, we do to Him. Which can only mean one thing: The Son of Man is everywhere! That's the true magic of Christmas, and that's
why we're better people at this time of year.
And now, if we're willing, a really good trick would be to keep the
spirit of Christmas alive in our hearts all year, each of us going on to become
"the gift that keeps on giving". There won't be much support after Christmas,
of course, but that's each soul's eternal problem. How to be generous in spirit and in deed
always? Jesus came to Earth to help us
resolve that problem. His words contain
solutions. He said who seeks will
find. That's the best gift we'll get
this Christmas. I wish us all a magical
Christmas and a blessed New Year. UN'AMERICANA
A VENEZIA
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