December 17, 2006
Dear Friend,
Now I’ve seen it all. The marketing campaigns seem to get crazier each year. Try this one on for size.
This year you can see in magazines an ad for Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash, in which a soda bottle is jauntily decorated with a sprig of holly. The rest of the page is given over to a carol entitled: “We Wish You a Merry Cranberry and a Lemon-Lime New Year. Lime tidings we bring, of Lemon we sing. Good tidings of Cranberry and a Lemon-Lime New Year.”
You’ve guessed it; the infant Jesus has been replaced with a small red berry!
There are also signs that the Christmas midnight Mass could one day be a fond memory. Midnight Masses are still treasured celebrations in Catholic parish and at Our Lady of Grace. In many places they are celebrated at 7:00pm so that younger children can participate. But recently a few parishes, with the best intentions and in the hope of attracting more families, have scheduled the Midnight Mass in the late afternoon – often around 4:00pm on Christmas, as do we. “It’s fantastic” claim many, “we can now relax on Christmas and enjoy opening our gifts.”
What’s a believer to do? I wouldn’t venture an answer since I don’t have children nor do I need to entertain a house full of family. It gets increasingly difficult to keep our focus on the reason for the season. But focus we must and keeping Advent can help.
Happy 3rd Sunday of Advent.
Fondly,
Father Nick Amato
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment