Always a Glorious Christmas

Militant groups here in the Philippines, frustrated probably with how things have been going (as we all most likely are), have tried to be witty by coining the phrase: "Paskong walang glorya" (translation: joyless Christmas or Christmas with no glory). The phrase obviously is a pun, making use of President Gloria Arroyo's name.

Call me a party-pooper or a Filipino with no sense of humor (is that possible, how'd we survive?) but I really am irritated by the phrase. I don't think the occasion of Christmas should be used for political purposes. The phrase smacks of a misconception of what Christmas is all about.

Do we truly believe that it is our present circumstances which give a particular Christmas its glory? Not at all. The glory in each Christmas lies not in how things are today but in how things were that night in Bethlehem, when a star shone as warmly as our Savior's love. It was and is this gift of salvation that we commemorate every December 25. Let us remember.