Today December 25

Today is the birthday of Our Lord Jesus Christ, commonly called Christmas Day. Scott Hahn was impressed with the announcement of the celebration in the Roman Martyrology (now the optional announcement before Mass): "Countless years after the creation of the world, when God in the beginning made out of nothing the heavens and the earth; the 2957th year after the flood; the 2015th year from the birth of Abraham; the 1510th year from Moses and the going out of the people of Israel from Egypt; the 1032nd year from the anointing of King David; in the 65th week according to the prophecy of Daniel; in the 194th Olympiad; the 752nd year from the founding of the city of Rome; the 42nd year of the rule of Octavian Augustus Caesar; all the world being at peace, in the 6th age of the world: Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, willing to consecrate the world by His most merciful coming, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and 9 months having passed since His conception, was born in Bethlehem of Judah of the Virgin Mary, being made man. The birthday of Our Lord according to the flesh.

The thing that impressed him was the whole sense of history -- of real, actual, concrete history attached to this day, that is, to Jesus. I mean, we don't often think of Jesus as having being born in the 194th Olympiad, but he was. And it gives it such weight in our eyes. Because we're so used to so much unrooted, free-form kind of scholarly talk about Him -- or pious repetitions -- that we think of Plato and Aristotle and Caesar himself as much more grounded in history. Silly, really. But we surround secular history with such scientific solemnity that religious history seems lightweight by comparison. But it isn't. It's real.

I was glad to hear (from Butler's Lives) that "The notion of an origin [of Christmas] in the Roman Saturnalia of December can be safely disregarded" -- since a friend's Jehovah Witness husband sneered at Christmas as "a pagan feast, you know." No, it's not. But we really don't know what day He was born on. The practice of December 25th began before 336 (but not necessarily before 300) and was first known in Rome. There is some reason to think it was associated with natalis Invicti (birthday of the Unconquered [Sun]) to help fix a date. In the East, the Epiphany (always Jan. 6th) was a much bigger -- and more ancient -- holiday, and for some, like the Armenians, it still is. (Although they celebrate the birth that day, too.)

The actual date may have been tallied forward from March 25th, the traditional date of His conception. Adding exactly nine months, you get December 25th.

And the place has never been in dispute: the little town of Bethlehem, the exact place marked with a silver star in the ground. A beautiful church covers it. "The cave beneath the basilica of the Nativity has an unbroken tradition of authenticity of very great antiquity. In its floor is set a silver star, around which is the inscription: Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est: Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary." - Butler's Lives. May here today Jesus Christ, again through Mary, be born in our hearts. Merry Christmas!