The meaning of X in Xmas

Christmas is commonly abbreviated as X-mas, X being a symbol of Christ. This X actually comes from the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Χριστός  —  Christós or “Christ”. This abbreviation makes a lot of sense. Nowadays, however, I have a growing feeling that for many people, this representation has been somewhat lost. The symbol X now means "to cross out" or "leave out" or, in recent jargon, "to cancel". 

 

Amidst the whirlwind of Christmas activities there is a tendency to leave out Christ in Christmas. Crazy as it may sound, it is even crazier that some people do not even know that it is actually happening.  We concern ourselves so much with Christmas preparations —  decorations, reunions, gifts, and the noche buena  —   that we forget about the real reasons why we are doing them. 

Obviously, the solution is not to do away with these preparations, but rather to re-orient them in such a way that they help us celebrate Christmas without losing its deepest meaning.

During Christmas, for example, we busy ourselves decorating the house, putting up Christmas lights and lanterns and setting up the Christmas tree, giving everything a festive feel.  As we do these things, let us also decorate our soul in charity and virtues and cleanliness of heart, making it pleasing for the Person who will come to visit us this Christmas.  As we put up the Christmas lantern, let us remind ourselves to steadily pursue the Child about to be born, as the Wise Men did upon seeing the Star of Bethlehem.  As we turn on the Christmas lights, let us try to  dispel the darkness caused by our vices and sins. As we decorate the Christmas tree, let us think about the Tree of the Cross, the Tree on which the Child-to-be-born will later on hung, weighed down by our sins and the rest of mankind.

The Christmas season is also a season for giving and receiving gifts. We usually worry about what gifts to give to our loved ones and we are excited about the gifts we ourselves will receive on Christmas day.  This should remind us about the most important gift we will receive in Christmas —  the gift that the Celebrant himself will come to give us:  His gift of self and salvation. 

Let us now think about the gift we will give to the birthday Celebrant of Christmas day.  This seems to be rather difficult. After all, what gift could we give to the Author of the Universe? Clearly there is nothing material we could give that isn't already His. Luckily, that is not what the Celebrant is expecting from us. He simply wants our sins. Not that he wants us to commit sins, but he wants to hear and forgive our sins, so that we could experience his mercy and love.  In other words, the best gift we could give to the Celebrant of Christmas day is to go to Confession.

Then let us consider what would be the best gift we could give to our family and friends. The answer to this is actually quite easy. The best gift we could give to them is the best gift that we have received, that is, Christ!  Because there are many who still spend Christmas without receiving this Great Gift. What we could do is to help them go to confession so that they could personally encounter God’s goodness and mercy and love.

Christmas is also known for the traditional family dinner we celebrate on its eve. In the Philippines (and in Spain and Latin America), this is known as the Noche Buena or The Good Night, a description of that very first Christmas in Bethlehem. As we prepare and look forward to this great feast, may we also prepare and look forward to the great feast that the Celebrant has prepared for us, namely the Holy Mass, the Sacred Banquet, which we can participate in on Christmas eve.

The Christmas season is also a period for having reunions with family and friends. As we seek and give company and affection to our loved ones, let us also seek and give company to the Baby Jesus and the Holy Family. A good way to remind ourselves of this is by putting a Belen (or crèche) in our homes. We can pray before it and talk to Mary and Joseph, perhaps asking them how they prepared and celebrated the first Christmas. There in the belen we could also give warmth to and cuddle the Child that is born for us.

Christmas is a joyful season for many. But it could transform into just another social celebration in which the original meaning and intention has already been lost. You and I could prevent this from happening to us and to those who are close to us by putting the right X in Xmas. Not the X that marks something out, but the Greek letter X (chi), that represents Christ. This yuletide season, may we not cancel X in our Xmas.