Ebenezer Scrooge Had It Right

When Scrooge awakes from his nocturnal visits of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Future and Present, he makes this promise: “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirit of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” Liturgy holds together the past, the present, and the future. All are celebrated in every Mass, Sacrament, or Liturgy of the Hours. At the Christmas Masses we celebrate the past when we remember the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. We also look to the future when the Incarnation will be completed in the Second Coming, when God comes in full glory as King of the Universe. Most immediately, we live in the present and incarnate Christ in our lives through goodness. Scrooge’s conversion led him to believe that Christmas and every other day of the year has a past, present, and future. Let us remember the past historical events of Bethlehem, the future events to which Advent points, and the importance of living the life of the Incarnate Word today.