Christmas is above all the feast of the Incarnation. It’s a time we are supposed to contemplate the mystery of the infinite, eternal all powerful God, entering our finite, temporal and broken world. Wow, who can do that? Well, G.K. Chesterton leads us to this truth when he says, “There is no other story, no pagan legend (like Apollo slaying the Cyclopes) or philosophical anecdote (like; if a tree falls in a forest...etc) or historical event (like Washington’s victory at Yorktown) that affects any of us with that poignant impression produced on us by the word Bethlehem.” He tries to convince us that if we are unaware of the evil powers that are just as much a part of the scene as the manger, the sheep and shepherds, the 3 kings and of course Mary and Joseph, we will miss the point of Christmas and the meaning of Christianity. Unless we see that God came into the world to correct the world, to save all its inhabitants, to do battle against His forever present enemy, we call evil, we miss the point of Christmas.

There is something profound in describing Christ’s birth as in a cave. Chesterton likes the image of the cave, not because it is a place of poverty or darkness, but because it is a place of hiding. You see, to consider the coming of God to earth in a cave, it makes the Incarnation something like the French underground during WWII, or the underground railway of our Civil War. Those who are trying to topple an evil regime need to avoid being detected by their adversaries. Jesus was born in a cave to be protected, like Jews had to be hidden in the attics of Catholic homes or the way Washington’s soldiers crept up silently before they attacked the Hessians at Valley Forge. We may enjoy the tranquil peace of Bethlehem for a moment, but we miss the power of Christmas if we ignore the fact that King Herod sent his henchmen to kill the baby. I am sorry for reminding you of this negative fact, on a feast day when you might expect the priest to give you only positive feelings. But it is a very positive thing to see God’s entrance into our broken world as a sort of defiant thing as a victorious thing. “Christmas bells have something of the sound of the great guns of a battle that has just been won.” Children may smile at the face of the cow breathing on Jesus, but us adults, who understand the good and the bad of this world should feel like shouting hurray, the calvary cometh, the victory is almost here. The powers of darkness are no match for this kid.

This is why considering human history without Christ as history’s most pivotal actor is the real tragedy of modernism. This is why Shakespeare had to hide his faith in his “tragedies” because he was not able to include the fullness of truth which is found in Catholicism. Full disclosure, I am one of those people who believe the Bard was a covert Catholic. G.K. goes on to say, “By the very nature of the Bethlehem story the rejoicings in the cavern were rejoicings in a fortress; properly understood it is not unduly flippant to say they were rejoicings in a bunker. It is as if, God Himself, the master of the universe was buried underground because His mission was to “undermine” the ancient world of the pagan gods and the polytheistic intellectuals. Such an insight into Christmas as a world changing event leads me to end with a plea. Resist at all costs the attempts of modern philosophers, to blur this message of Bethlehem by never using the terms B.C. or A.D. Those of us who left college before the year 2,000 remember that those initial mean “before Christ” and “annum Domine”. To consider the coming of God into the world simply began a “common era” renders Jesus a common hero. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fight.