I have a confession to make, dear reader: I have never read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I have, however, watched The Muppets’ version of A Christmas Carol several times and, although one may find fault with my basing this article on a movie instead of a timeless piece of classical literature, I think the addition of singing puppets and corny jokes more or less balances things out.
We may not live in Victorian England, but it seems to me that there are plenty of Scrooges around these days. People may not be as curmudgeonly or rude as Scrooge but society seems determined to place money and the accumulation of it as the goal and purpose of our lives. We even see this in our interactions with one another.
What’s usually the first thing you ask someone when you meet them? We ask them what they do, what their job is; how they make their money. And if someone has a job that is more prestigious (which also usually means it pays more), we are more impressed than if they had a job that paid less. Money is an important tool, don’t get me wrong, and we can do many good things with money. It’s required to feed, clothe, house, educate, and care for ourselves and our loved ones.
What matters most
But after reading (or watching) A Christmas Carol, we see that what really matters is not money. It’s our friends and loved ones, the community of faith and prayer that surrounds us. We see this in the closing chapters of A Christmas Carol, during Christmas dinner with Scrooge, his nephew Fred and the Cratchits and other guests and we see this in the quiet peace and joy that the Holy Family shared, tucked away in the stable in Bethlehem.
We rejoice in the gifts that God has given us and take time to appreciate all of the loved ones in our lives. We also recognize that so many others in this world do not have the gifts that we have. Like Scrooge, we realize that money itself is a gift to be used . . . and to be given away.
Better to give…
Christmas is about a lot of things, one of which is the realization that, as St. Paul says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) Additionally, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews exhorts us: “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (Heb 13:16).
As part of your Christmas preparations, I encourage you to give from what you have, whether that be a financial donation, giving of your time to assist a charity or visiting those who are ill, homebound, or lonely, and, of course, giving the gift of prayer, which is the cheapest and yet most valuable gift of all!
The three ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future showed Scrooge how his love of money had twisted his view on life and caused him and others pain. He sought to ease that pain by collecting and amassing more and more money . . . only to make things worse. He learned that healing and joy were found in giving, in helping and in loving. He felt blessed when he gave, just as St. Paul said.
A London Christmas
Christmas is a time of joy and a time of coming together to celebrate the things that really matter: friends, family, and faith (and food, too!). Scrooge was given the chance to start over; to realize the mistakes he had made in his life and to move forward a changed man. We have that same opportunity too, given to us by Jesus, Whose birth we celebrate during this holy and blessed time.
As Providence would have it, I live in London . . . not Victorian London, mind you, but the modern-day version. Obviously, being far from home, especially during the holidays, is difficult, but thankfully, there is a wonderful Catholic community here in London and I’ve even met up with a few Americans too.
I will spend my first Christmas here in the UK like the characters from A Christmas Carol: united with friends and loved ones, visiting Marian Helpers and others, and doing what I can to bring some Christmas cheer and joy to everyone I meet. I’m sure I’ll be invited to a party or two and hopefully there will be some mince pies there!
I suppose I might find myself giving and receiving presents on Boxing Day instead of on Christmas Day (although in my family, we do it on Christmas Eve, but we’re a bunch of wacky Germans). Thankfully, the extra day might give me time to do some last-minute preparations!
And so, in closing, I echo the words of Tiny Tim: “A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, every one!”
Contact Father Alex Pumphrey, MIC at info@divinemercy.org.uk
Please send us your prayer intentions! (click here). We will place them at the foot of our altar in the Divine Mercy Apostolate’s Chapel here in West Ealing, London and will remember them in our daily Chaplets of Divine Mercy, as well as in our novena during the nine days before Christmas.
