Let’s Talk About Christmas Feasting and Why It Matters

Did you know that there was a heresy in the early centuries of the Church, known as gnosticism?

The Gnostics thought the human spirit was naturally good, but it was imprisoned in the body, which was naturally evil or simply an illusion.

Their goal was to free the spirit from its embodied prison. Why this matters is because many of us struggle with this same heresy today.

We find ourselves seeing the body as bad or evil — and spiritual things as good and in conflict with the body.

It’s understandable, considering the sex-saturated, botox injected world in which we live — but the proper response to all the craziness around us is not to reject the body and things of the body.

Not at all.

The proper response is to embrace the body and the physical world in a health way — knowing that God made them good — and to rid ourselves of the gnostic attitudes that deny a proper understanding of the human person.

The truth is, both our body and soul is meant to be redeemed by Christ.

For most of us, that redemption will only be fully realized in Heaven — but it can and should begin right now.

Right about now, you might be wondering what all this has to do with Christmas feasting — but believe me, it has everything to do with it.

God knew that we would struggle with a true understanding of the human person, and so He established both feasting and fasting in order to correct the flawed ideas we have towards the body and the physical world.

It is why God has given us penitential days in every week (Fridays) and in our every year (Advent and Lent).

It’s also why He has given us days of feasting every week (Sundays), feast days sprinkled throughout the year and entire Seasons of Feasting as well. (Christmas and Easter).

Which brings us to Christmas Dinner. I knew I’d get there eventually.

Christmas is meant to be a Feast Day, and in fact we are meant to have twelve days of Christmas Feasts — and then some.

The Feasting Days of Christmas traditionally lasts from Christmas Day (or Christmas Eve Mass) until the Epiphany (traditionally January 6th), but the feasting Season of Christmas doesn’t really end until we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus (typically the Sunday after Epiphany).

The Season of Christmas can be confusing because it changes in actual number of days, but the point is, there is meant to be a whole lot of feasting going on in the Christmas Season.

So do it up, people! Feast to your hearts content.

Feast, knowing that Lent will be coming and you will soon be asked to apply yourself with the same fervor to the fasting that will come.

Which is why I hate the New Year’s resolution of dieting. People, we are meant to be feasting on January 1st, not fasting!

And I’m not talking about gluttony — but to sincerely take the time to appreciate the good things of life.

Feasting isn’t just about eating a lot of food, it about celebrating the good things God has given to us in His generosity: food and drink and people and pretty clothes and maybe even that play you’ve been wanting to see — all the things He has given to us.

Just remember to do it all for the glory of God.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

And I get why all this feasting could seem extravagant — because most of us have been feasting since Thanksgiving — and there is only so much feasting a soul can handle!

But that is not how it was meant to be.

If we Catholics lived the way the Church encouraged us to live , we would stand out a bit, come January 1st.

What would happen if we followed the lead of the Church and made those days extra festive, from Christmas Day until the Baptism of Jesus — without one ounce of guilt in doing it?

If Advent has been a time of trying to make little sacrifices, then we should not feel guilty at all about embracing the feasting of the entire Christmas Season.

Besides, feasting is also about trusting in the goodness and providence of God — that somehow He will provide for your needs after the feasting is done.

It is also about believing so firmly in God’s abundance that we are wiling to share those good things with other people — even people we have never met.

Real feasting should not be a “me-centered” celebration.

It should move us to share good things with all of God’s people, far beyond our own home and our own borders.

That is where the spiritual reality of feasting comes in to play. It is a recognition of the generosity of our Creator and it is an imitation of that generosity.

You might be wondering, “Why try to hold back the waves of all the celebrating that typically begins the day after Thanksgiving?

The answer to that comes down to one very simple answer: because God said so.

Of all the nerve! But hear me out.

God has spoken through His Church. He has established days of feasting and fasting, and I just have to say that sometimes in life taking that leap of faith leads to a greater understanding of life and the meaning of it all.

Back to those Gnostics for a minute. They thought that the key to unlocking their souls from the prison of their body was a secret knowledge that only they had.

But here’s the deal, all knowledge, all truth comes from God. He knew we couldn’t figure it all out, so He gave us a Church to guide us.

And believe me, after the summer of scandal, sometimes it makes a girl wonder what God was thinking putting His truth in the hands of such flawed people.

But I know that He has done just that. Jesus’ words to Peter and his disciples makes that point very clear:

“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 18:18

So I’m trying something different this year. I’m trying to see how really trying to live out the liturgical year will impact my life.

I’m talking about really feasting and really fasting on those days in the Church that have been designated as such.

Will it make a shred of difference?

Only time will tell, but I’m willing to bet that it will, because God has given us these days for a reason, a reason beyond my own comprehension.

I’ll keep you posted.

Till then, I hope you really feast this Christmas Season. I hope you do it up and you make time for the people you love.

Try not to make it all about the “perfect” home or the “perfect” gift or the “perfect meal”

Sure those things are nice — but remember that peace and joy are gifts from God and are independent of those things we sometimes focus on a wee bit too much.

You could mess up all those lesser things and God could still pour out his peace and joy on you and your loved ones in this Christmas Season.

So take time to rest in Him. If you haven’t made time this Advent, try to go to Adoration and adore Him, if only a few minutes.

I promise it will help keep things in perspective.

Since I won’t be posting again before Christmas, I wish you a very merry Christmas — full of all the good things that God has generously given to us!

Just four days to go! Breathe Deep. Make those lists. Check it twice. Maybe cut a few things. And then get ‘er done.

On your marks, get set, go.

Sharing over at Kelly’s