Christmastime and consumerism
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Bernardo M Villegas
WITH the possible exception of the lucky relatives of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are remitting home a record US$10 billion or more for the whole of 2005, Filipino households on all levels will have less to spend for Christmas goodies this year. A much larger share of their annual budget has gone to transport and other energy-intensive items as well as to tuition fees and other education-related expenses. To complicate matters even more, the young consumers in most households have decided to splurge on texting and other uses of the ubiquitous cellphones. In not a few instances, these texting enthusiasts even skip lunch in order to purchase more pre-paid cellphone cards. Just ask the fast-food stores, the softdrinks companies, and the personal care marketing executives about the large volume drops in their sales this year.
This slowdown in consumer spending may actually be a blessing in disguise. It might just be the pause needed to remind those who claim to be Christians about the true spirit of Christmas. It might be a counterforce, albeit temporary, to the pernicious spirit of consumerism that is blinding many Christians to the message of the Child in the manger. God decided to be born in the most destitute of circumstances in order to teach us how to be detached from the goods of this world.
It was the late Pope John Paul II who first identified consumerism as the new scourge of Christianity that can be even more harmful than atheistic communism which was based on the philosophy of materialism of Karl Marx. Marxism was at least openly anti-Christian. Consumerism – the unlimited desire for earthly goods, the constant obsession with "having" more – can silently dull and eventually kill the supernatural sense of so many so-called Christians and Christian societies. It is a more subtle form of atheism because individuals who proclaim their belief in God act as if there were no God. It is a form of practical atheism.
The ultimate model for the spirit of detachment which is the antidote to consumerism is Jesus Christ Himself. As St. Josemaria Escriva wrote in Friends of God (p. 167ff), "The detachment which our Lord preached, and which He expects from every Christian, necessarily brings with it external manifestations. Jesus coepit facere et docere. (‘He began to do and to teach’). Before teaching with words He proclaimed His doctrine with deeds. You have seen that He was born in a stable, in the most abject poverty, and that the first time He slept on this earth was on straw in a manger. Later, in the years of His apostolic journeyings, you will recall, among many other examples, the clear warning He gave to a man who offered to become one of His disciples" ‘Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air their resting places; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’ Nor should you forget to contemplate the Gospel scene which shows the Apostles staving off their hunger on the Sabbath day by plucking some ears of corn that were growing by the wayside."
The true spirit of poverty which every Christian must live is compatible with the acquisition and use of material things. Detachment is precisely to possess things but not to make one’s possessions as the end all and be all of earthly existence. As St. Josemaria wrote: "If you want to be your own masters at all times, I advise you to make a very real effort to be detached from everything, and to do so without fear or hesitation. Then, when you go about your various duties, whether personal, family, or otherwise, make honest use of upright human means with a view to serving God, His Church, your family, your profession, your country, and the whole of mankind. Remember that what really matters is not whether you have this or lack that, but whether you are living according to the truth taught us by our Christian faith, which tells us that created goods are only a means, nothing more. So, do not be beguiled into imagining that they are in any way definitive: ‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where there is rust and moth to consume it, and where there are thieves to break in and steal it. Lay up treasure for yourselves in Heaven, where there is no moth or rust to consume it, no thieves to break in, and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart is too.
"When a man tries to build his happiness exclusively around the things of this world, and in this I have witnessed some real tragedies, he perverts their proper use and destroys the order so wisely established by the Creator. As a consequence the heart is left sad and unsatisfied. It starts following paths which lead to everlasting unhappiness and it ends up, even in this world, a slave, the victim of the very same goods which had perhaps been gained at the cost of countless efforts and renunciations. But, above all, I recommend you never to forget that God cannot find a place, that He cannot dwell in a heart which is bogged down by a coarse, disorderly, and empty love. ‘No man can serve two masters; either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will devote himself to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.’ ‘Let us then anchor our hearts in a love that can make us happy . . . Let us desire the treasures of Heaven.’"
Christmastime is just the right moment to examine how each of us is growing in the spirit of poverty in a consumerist society. It comes at the end of the year when we can examine what has happened over the last twelve months. We can learn from our past failures in order to begin another year of struggle to improve in one way or another. It is also a time when we are showered with gifts, from the latest fashion goods to the most advanced electronic devices. In the midst of this relative abundance, we can focus our gaze on the Child God surrounded by the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. From them we can learn the secret of true earthly happiness, which is found not in material riches but in doing the will of God at every moment of our lives. I wish all my readers a Most Blessed Christmas and a Prosperous and Peaceful 2006. For comments, my email is bvillegas@uap.edu.ph
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