Christmas brings with it a radical development in the history of humanity. God shared our humanity so we humans could have a share in His divinity. Quite naturally, this has myriad implications on the personal, communal and political way of living of all men and women.
Christmas should be the guarantee that all humans should share in the freedom of God and live in true freedom. God is a community of people, so Christmas should instil a spirit of solidarity and community. By becoming man, God got involved in human history to free humanity. Involvement is the name of the game for Christians.
Christmas is not a sweet kids' feast. It is the promotion of a way of life. It promotes the integral development and the freedom of all men and women. Christmas promotes human dignity. This is the Gospel we preach. This is our mission of evangelisation.
During a visit to the Dominican Republic in December 1992, Pope John Paul II, while speaking about the fifth centenary of the start of evangelisation in the Americas, said: "Human promotion must be the logical consequence of evangelisation, which tends to the integral liberation of the person."
He went on to say the following words, which considering today's world situation, sound prophetic: "In today's world, it is not enough to limit oneself to the law of the market and its globalisation. Solidarity must be fomented, avoiding the evils that stem from capitalism, which put profit above the person and make (the latter) the victim of so many injustices.
"A development model that does not take into account and address these inequalities cannot prosper in any way," he said.
John Paul II's message has a special meaning at Christmastime because it is an eminently political feast. It is a celebration of involvement in the human condition; it is the clarion call of the victory of the meek and the humble; it is the ultimate defeat of the haughty; it is the bridgehead of solidarity.
This is the looking glass that Christians must be gazing at during Christmastime. It is also the mirror that reflects the real solution for the economic difficulties we are facing. We should resist the temptation of looking for salvation by applying neo-liberal theories that value the market more than the human person.
John Paul II said: "At the root of peoples' social, economic and political ills is usually the rejection or neglect of real ethical, spiritual and transcendental values. It is the mission of the Church to recall, defend and consolidate them."
A really happy Christmas can only be enjoyed to the full if we Christians individually and together as the Church discover and incarnate in our society the social and political dimension of Christmas which emanate from its religious dimension.