December is the last month of the Calendar, a month which is eagerly awaited by all Catholics as well as others. It is a time to be joyful. A time where families unite to celebrate the birth of Christ. Its Christmas time.  As the magazine reaches you we will be already in the mood of celebrating Christmas, with the markets flooded with decorations, Christmas carols are in the air,  and we listen to this music, as it helps us to come in the right spirit, right mood. But what is Christmas time?  it is that time of the year when people get ready to celebrate Christmas in true spiritual way. We prepare ourselves in true Catholic spirit. Christmas time or Christmas tide is a season of Liturgical year wherein we celebrate birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, 2000 years ago. This time of the year stretches from 25th December to 6th January and has 12 days of Christmas.  According to Christian theology it marks the span between the birth of Christ and coming of the three kings or wise men. It culminates on the feast of EPHIPHANY.Christmas is one of the most Holy days as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. It is wrong for people to take Christ out of Christmas and say it as X’mas. Literally it means removing Christ out of Christmas. The first recorded date of Christmas was 25th December 336AD during the time of Roman Emperor. A few years later Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus Christ would be celebrated on 25th December.The earliest source stating 25th December as the date of birth of Jesus Christ is likely by Hippolytus of Rome, written in early 3rd century based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the spring equinox which is placed on 25th March. And then added 9 months, thus we have December 25 as the date.During this Christmas season we have Christmas tree. What does it signify?In 2004 Pope John Paul called the Christmas tree a symbol of Christ, the very ancient he said exalts the value of life. As in winter what is evergreen becomes a sign of undying life, and it reminds Christians of the tree of life in Genesis 2:9; an image Christ the Supreme gift of God to humanity.During this time we sing special songs, joyful songs, the ones which are pleasant to the ear. It gives a different energy and excitement. We call them carols. There is a list of carols sung by various singers. This dates back to many years. But these carols never go old, and moreover they are never a  bore to the ear. Every year new are added to the existing ones and yet the music goes on. What are carols after all? Its music and lyrics heralding the birth of Christ, The music is soothing to the year and lyrics are really a heart’s contentment.We have Santa Claus during this season. Who is he? And why do we need him? What is his role during this time! Santa Claus also known as Saint Nicholas or Father Christmas or Christmas Father. A legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture, who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on Christmas Eve down the chimney. Or during the early morning of Christmas day. The reality of the legendary figure is really important to the children who eagerly wait for his arrival and the excitement that a gift will be brought to them if they behaved well. Weeks in advance,  the children even wrote letters to the Christmas father as what gift they would like to receive for Christmas and also promise that they would behave well. Sometimes the children would get disappointed if the gift was different from what they asked for. We have the STAR lit during these twelve days of Christmas. It symbolizes the star of Bethlehem where the shepherds were guided by this star to the place where Baby Jesus was born. The star was also a guide to the three wise men who came from the east to pay homage to the new born king.We have three wise men or the three kings who came from Far East to Bethlehem namely Balthazar, Melchior and Gasper to venerate the king of kings with gifts of Frankincense, Myrrh and Gold.The three gifts of the wise men represent as Gold – a symbol of kingship on earth. Frankincense an incense as a symbol of deity and Myrrh an embalming oil as a symbol of death.The present generation is eagerly awaiting for Christmas time to have a grand time with families and friends. But before the Christmas season we are supposed to be prepared spiritually and in order to do so the Church has set aside a period of time namely the Advent. Advent has been a period of preparation and we must be really prepared to the coming of Jesus Christ in our lives. The four Sundays liturgy during the advent really stirs us up and helps us to prepare ourselves well to the Grand Day. We prepare our hearts, we prepare the way and we bring Jesus in our lives. Shall we prepare ourselves spiritually well to receive Jesus on Christmas Day?

Rosarito Coelho (PPC Moderator )