I love this time of year as it gives me a chance to re-read one of my favourite books 'A Christmas Carol' by the great Charles Dickens. His critique of Victorian poverty still resonates in this modern era, as he reflects on the need for generosity and care— 'Scrooge' is as much a part of the Christmas tradition as Turkey, mince pies, and twinkling lights. I was lucky enough to see the latest version at Bolton's Octagon Theatre only this week. I shared the fear of seeing Marley's Ghost, complete with his chains of greed. I loved the Ghost of Christmas Present who spread Christmas goodwill as fast as she shared the gift of snow with unsuspecting audience members. I enthusiastically joined in Mrs Fizziwig's dance in true British pantomime style. In all it was a fun night out that taught a strong moral message. Amid the laughter, pain, fear and Victorian poverty, we are forced to question our own morality in 2022. As a nation, do we share the attitude of Scrooge, before his conversion, to those on the margins of society? In these harsh economic times, do we find room in our hearts for those refugees fleeing disaster? As Christians we are called to share the compassion of a Holy Family forced to leave their home, endure a birth in a stable, and flee for their lives from an avenging and selfish secular power. The message of this powerful novel is for every age—2022 is no exception.

I suspect that if you scan your TV listings for Christmas, then various adaptations of the book can be seen varying from the sublime to the ridiculous. This 'ghost story in prose' was first published in 1843, with graphic illustrations by John Leech. While he had written some Christmas short stories before, experts say that it was a visit to one of London's Field Lane Ragged School that prompted him to write this novel and question why such conditions existed in his world. Dickens was able to see, at first hand, the poverty and deprivation that so many were forced to live. In the story we meet Ebenezer Scrooge who is so miserly, miserable, and evil that he is almost a pantomime baddie. If you remember, he was not happy with the need to celebrate Christmas, and his reaction to the feast was a resounding 'Bah! Humbug.' To him, Christmas was a scandal, because it was only a time for finding yourself a year older and not an hour richer. His treatment of family, work colleagues and strangers is the same: they are shown total distain, as he lives his lonely life.

The ghost of his former partner, Marley comes to visit him on Christmas Eve, and warns him to change, and change for good. Spirits guide him through his past, present and future: they force him to re-evaluate his life and attitudes. His salvation, on Christmas Day itself, reveals a man now in touch with his feelings. He wants to bring new life and light to those he has hurt. As one transformed, Christmas can take on a whole new and generous meaning in his life. As the villain, turned hero, can say at the end of the novel:

I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.

Even though I have read this book so often, I never fail to learn from those lessons taught by ghosts! Advent is that time to re-examine our own individual attitudes towards others: are we Scrooge before or after his night of ghosts? As we wrap our gifts and write our cards, we, once again, connect with loved ones. We can live the spirit of 'Tiny Tim', 'Bob Cratchit' and 'Mr Fezziwig'. We can share the enthusiasm of Fred, the ever-optimistic nephew of Scrooge, who will never allow meanness to get him down:

I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!

As Christianswe are invited to see others, especially those trapped in the cycle of poverty, as equals. This spirit of generosity will do us good: it gives us a feeling of empathy. In our Advent journey we can walk with those experiencing difficulties of any kind—in a true spirit of solidarity, they can help us too. We are on this Christmas journey together along with John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zechariah, the Shepherds, Magi, and the Holy Family. Together, once again, we can re-discover the love that is our Christmas gift from God. We must never listen to the naysayers and modern-day Scrooges that can be found even in the ranks of the Church. We all know those who make life difficult for others. They may well know their scripture, attend their prayer meetings and sit in the best places in Church, but their selfishness and narcissism is every bit as harsh as 'Scrooge'. As the 'Ghost of Christmas Present' observes:

There are some upon this earth of yours who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.

'A Christmas Carol' shares with us the fact that so much evil is all too evident in our world. In the end it is goodness that prevails, but as are all too aware, in our own life stories, it is not a case of '…and they all lived happily ever after.' The good things that we want to happen that do not happen in our lives. The dreams that we have had that do not seem to be able to come true. The heart that we hope to change in someone else that never seems to change. The prayer that we pray that never seems to get answered, at least not the way we wanted it to get answered.

You look at these real-life truths that we have to face every day and you realize if joy is going to work you cannot wait for perfect circumstances because we do not live in a world of perfect circumstances. If joy is going to work it has to work in an imperfect, often ugly world. That is what the message of Christmas is all about. God came to this often-ugly world, and, in Jesus Christ, we realise that joy can happen even here. How can we bring that joy into our lives? How does it happen? Do you work harder at it? If it works that way, then the most joyful people in the world would be workaholics and that is not the case. Can you lie yourself into it and just pretend that everything is ok? There are some people who think that they are joyful, but they are just blissfully unaware. If joy is going to work, it has to work in a real world with real problems. Do I have to wait until I win the lottery to have a one in a million chance at joy? Today is your opportunity to identify with joy, follow the example of Scrooge, and make the difference that will make all the difference!

The challenge of Advent is to learn how to make that Christian teaching real and tangible. Our faith is not something we bring out for show on a Sunday, or on great feasts. Our faith guides our life from what we say to each other, to how great them. We are invited to share our faith as a real and living way of life. Aware of our blessedness, as daughters and sons of a loving God, we can, with Scrooge, enter fully into the season:

And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, 'God bless Us, Every One.'

Author: Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB

Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash