SPIRITUALITY Reflections on the sacredness of Christmas season

The faithful find the sacred around us and in us.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR RELIGION EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- What do you find is the most sacred part of Christmas? What makes that part of the celebration special to you?
Three people -- Sister Barbara O'Donnell at the Sisters of the Humility of Mary in Villa Maria, Pa., the Rev. Theodore Schaffer, a veteran Lutheran pastor, and Vincent J. Lisi, coordinator of the Youngstown Spiritual Society -- shared their views.
Sister Barbara is the director of EverGreen, one of the order's ministries, which will have "A Winter Solstice Celebration: So Sacred and Serene" at the Villa Maria Community Center at 6 p.m. today.
These days, the sister said, "There is so little time for silence and reflection and solitude."
Still, she finds much that is holy this time of year.
"Our need for religion is so deep. I find the sacred surrounds us."
At the solstice, which marks the beginning of longer days, she is struck by both the beauty of natural light and the church tradition of Jesus as the spiritual light.
"There was this great light that came to be among us," she said.
Sacredness of relationships
The sister also finds the sacred in relationships.
"We become intertwined with those with whom we share our lives," she said.
The sister has friends from her youth, including one she has known since the first grade. They write to one another only at Christmas, thereby creating -- and continuing -- a special bond.
There is also the notion of the sacredness of food during the holidays. People may find meaning in preparing special, seasonal, or ethnic food during the holiday -- and then sharing it with family or friends, she said.
And the secular may become part of the sacred, she said. People in their 40s, 50s, or 60s have many memories of the holidays and the toys or movies of Christmases past.
"Some of that sacredness is in our memories," she said. "It's making the connection. All of the intertwined experiences connect to be a reminder of what Christmas is."
That connection is then expressed by us: "It's the values we have and the stories we tell. It's the affection of the goodness of friends and family," she added.
And children are sacred, especially because of Christ as the child in the manger.
"This gift is so great," said Sister Barbara. "He had so little but shared so much."
That sharing, she said, becomes an invitation to go deeper spiritually, to consider such questions as, "What is the purpose of my life and what is really important?"
That reflection, she added, becomes "an invitation to become your best self. That's what Christmas is all about."
Family and church
The Rev. Theodore Schaffer, the interim pastor at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Warren, also knows a thing or two about sacredness, Christmas and children.
Personally, he is retired but continues to work as an interim pastor while the church searches for a new one. His work, he said, has never been a job and he never told his children to go to church.
His daughter, the Rev. Heather Lubold, is a Lutheran pastor, as is her husband, the Rev. Paul Lubold. The couple's first child, Fiona Grace, turns 5 on Christmas. She was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 22 months old. The good news is the hospital she was in housed a childhood diabetes research team.
Right after this Christmas, the Rev. Mr. Schaffer will help baptize his new grandchild, Nathan Lubold, who was born in August weighing 21/2 pounds. But he and his mother are doing fine.
"He's a beautiful little child," said Mr. Schaffer.
Professionally, on Sunday his church had its Renaissance Nativity Festival, which it has produced approximately every other year since 1981. The festival has special music, costumes, banners and decorations.
One might wonder if the musicians find the sacred in music or the performers in their performance. But Mr. Schaffer says it's more than that. The sacred is in the congregation's being moved to reach out to help the community, he said.
Spirituality is "a little bit of joy in a world that may be a little sad, and pulls it together. It looks at other people as a fellow traveler in this," said Mr. Schaffer.
Vincent Lisi said of Christmas, "The day is no different than others."
But the holiday offers time for reflection.
"More particularly, the world ought to reflect on the centrality of the truth of Jesus," Lisi said. "The reality of Jesus is felt with the Holy Spirit of God: that God is with us."
Reflecting on God's love of mankind allows us to deepen our spirituality.
Because of the Holy Spirit within us and God's love, Lisi said, we are able to find the divine within ourselves.
wilkinson@vindy.com