Christmas is still here

You've gone to church for Christmas Mass, opened presents from Santa and eaten lots of food. You visited relatives and friends and played 'til you were tired out! Now that all of the excitement of Christmas is over, how do you feel?

Even when you're done waiting for Christmas to come, there are still good parts of Christmas left. It's fun to see your friends at school again, and to take down the Christmas tree.

The wise men in this week's Gospel (Matthew 2:1-12) knew that once Jesus had been born, the fun was just beginning. Back then, people believed that a new star in the sky meant a new king was being born. When the wise men saw that star, they rushed to see Jesus.

After Jesus was born, three wise men followed a star to Bethlehem. They asked King Herod, "Where's the new king? We saw His star and came to worship Him." Herod was afraid Jesus would take over as king, so he told the wise men to find Jesus and come back. Herod planned to kill Jesus. The wise men found Jesus, but instead of going back to Herod, they gave Jesus presents and went home.

After you've seen everything in your Christmas stocking and heard Christmas carols at church, you might feel sad that it's all over. Soon, everything "Christmas-y" will be gone.

The wise men could have felt that way, too. When a new star popped up in the sky, they could have said, "The new king will be just a baby right now. Why should we go see him?"

But even when Christmas Day is over, you still have cookies to eat and toys to play with. You can go to see the statue of Jesus in the manger at church, and tell all your friends about your Christmas

For the wise men, the best part of Christmas wasn't waiting for Jesus to come or taking a trip to Bethlehem -- it was meeting Jesus, the new king who would grow up to save the world. The wise men knew that Christmas wasn't about presents in stockings or Christmas carols; it was about Jesus. And Jesus isn't around just one day a year!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me to remember that Christmas is every day, because you're always here with me! Amen.

(01-02-97) [[In-content Ad]]