Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: December 23, 2018
With Advent’s end comes Christmas! Let me first of all say that, on behalf of the entire staff of St. Joseph Cathedral, I wish you and yours the very best of this wonderful holiday! I’m sure that Bishop Michael Duca (and our retired Bishop Robert Muench) join me in assuring you of our prayers, especially in gratitude of all you do for our community here at the cradle of our Catholic faith in Baton Rouge!
But boy, hasn’t Christmas changed? Once upon a time, especially in Europe and in Central and South America, Christian beliefs were overwhelmingly central to the rhythms not just of family life but of the broader society as well. While officially non-sectarian, even the fabric of our United States historically has reflected its Judeo-Christian “roots,” as it were. As such, the importance of Christmas once was almost unchallenged in the hearts and minds of ourselves and our neighbors.
It’s different now. Whereas once the basic meaning of the word “secular” meant “nonreligious,” nowadays it usually equates to “agnostic” and even more means “antireligious” and even “atheistic” in most discourse. (Other words have gradually come to mean something wholly different over time: I’m old enough to recall when the adjectives “conservative” and “liberal” were not necessarily opposites, as they all too often seem today!) And this is more than a vocabulary lesson. It’s regrettable that through widespread inattention as well as misguided malice humanity today seems less holy, and therefore less purpose-filled and more prone to mistakes.
In any case, let’s not give up. Rather, seize the opportunity, now that our Catholic Christian faith is numerically overwhelmed by other, even opposing, views in our world and society! The uniqueness and beauty of our sure and certain knowledge of the reality of Christian truth shines forth more clearly today, in the midst of a vast, contrasting secular “desert.” Or at least it can do so, if we remain believers, proud of our Catholic heritage, and both loud and visible among our neighbors who think differently.
Whereas massed flowers are spectacular, the beauty of individual blooms can be lost in a jungle of them. Perhaps what the Lord Jesus is doing today, as He is reborn in our hearts just as He was physically born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, is challenging us to be individually spectacular witnesses to Him. We can’t really rely on numbers, but we still can let divine grace work in and through us. Each of us should be a witness to Christ – and so also to Christmas – by the way we lead our lives the rest of the year!
Again, a Merry Christmas to you! Let’s make every day a reminder of it!
Sincerely yours in the Christ Child,
Rev Paul D. Counce
