The Winter Pascha

The other day, the teenager I was driving with told me Christmas is his favorite holiday. “Why is it your favorite holiday?” I was expecting to hear something about presents…yet he answered, “Best of all, I like the Christmas Spirit.” Intangible, there is a spirit in the air during this season of Thanksgiving and Christ’s birth. It is beautiful, anticipated and welcomed. The Christmas fast comes just at the time when the world is gearing up to spend, spend, spend and eat, eat, eat. The Winter Pascha, as Fr. Schmemann coined, is another season dedicated by the church in readying our hearts to receive the new baby King. How joyful are children in our lives! Their exuberance and energy are uncontainable! They are all possibility without self-conceit or self-consciousness. Have you seen a child working hard at learning something new? The intensity of effort and extreme focus is delightful…it is the gift which results in mastery and accomplishment. Let us foster this gift within ourselves and dedicate this time, set apart to join with the chorus of angels, preparing in our lives all that is necessary to welcome a new baby into our midst. Let us worship this child who is from all time…Christ here, present with us. Let us honor this king whose intent is to make us all children at heart that we may revel in His mysteries of life here on earth. Let us thank our Savior, through whom we may be delivered from sin and death in hopes of attaining eternal life. I am glad I asked the young man this question. He reminded me that the Christmas Spirit is real and that I want to enjoy its beauty and fruit. Christ is Born, Glorify Him! “He was worshipped by wise men that the whole of creation might adore Him in His triumph over death. The Pascha of His Cross was prepared by the Pascha of His Coming. The Pascha of His Resurrection was begun by the Pascha of His Incarnation.” (Fr. Schmemann quoted in The Winter Pascha by Fr. Thomas Hopko)