There is nothing in the Gospels to say that Jesus was born on 25th December so why do we choose to celebrate Christmas on that day? The best explanation I have heard is that Christians adopted a “pre-Christian” feast celebrating the northern winter solstice.
For us living in the southern hemisphere that is not very convincing but I lived in Ireland for almost sixteen years and I well remember the long dark, wet and windy nights. Even the days were short and miserable and there was little you could do outside. People could get quite depressed. Christmas is the celebration of light shining in the darkness. It comes just after the winter solstice. In the middle of a seemingly interminable winter, the days begin to get longer and everyone celebrates the realisation that the winter darkness will not last forever.
I was reminded of this during the Amazonian Synod. Many Europeans were shocked at the use of Amazonian symbols and the talk of an Amazonian Rite, forgetting all the time how indebted the European Church is to European and pre-Christian cultures, even for feasts such as Christmas. The Christian faith – its structures of authority, its architecture, forms of worship, symbols – continued to adapt from the Greek and Roman cultures and adopt what was useful from them. As Robert Mickens (editor of La Croix International, English language) wrote recently, “The Roman Catholic Church has more exterior elements from the old Roman Empire than it does from the Nazareth or Jerusalem of Jesus's time."
Pope Francis frequently reiterates the need to inculturate the Gospel so that "people can receive the announcement of Jesus with their own culture." We Europeans did it quite naturally and unawares. The change is that the Pope now talks of non-Western cultures.
During his visit to Thailand, Francis said, "As I prepared for this meeting, I read, with some pain, that for many people Christianity is a foreign faith, a religion for foreigners. This should spur us to find ways to talk about the faith 'in dialect,' like a mother who sings lullabies to her child," the Pope said.
"With that same intimacy, let us give faith a Thai face and flesh, which involves much more than making translations. It is about letting the Gospel be stripped of fine but foreign garb; to let it 'sing' with the native music of this land and inspire the hearts of our brothers and sisters with the same beauty that set our own hearts on fire."
This means we are not afraid to look for new symbols and images, for that particular music which can help awaken in the Thai people the amazement that the Lord wants to give us. Let us not be afraid to continue inculturating the Gospel.
But it is not just the Amazon or Thailand that needs an inculturate Gospel. We badly need to inculturate the Gospel in Australia. Remember how meaningful it was for the Irish to celebrate Christmas just after the winter solstice. It is much more difficult to celebrate “the light that shines in the darkness, a light that the darkness will never put it out” when the sun is shining so brightly that we have to wear sunglasses, 50+ factor sunscreen and zinc cream on our noses and we are threatened by bushfires.
We need our own symbols and images if the Gospel is to have the beauty that will set our hearts on fire.
Columban Fr Noel Connolly is a member of the Adult Formation Team with Catholic Mission Australia and is a member of the Facilitation Team for the Plenary Council 2020.
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban eBulletin
- Click here to read from a collection of reflections on Plenary Council written by Columban Fr Noel Connolly