I will be the first to admit that I really do not know what most of you go through in order to prepare for Christmas. It must be traumatic from all that I hear. So many presents to buy…so much travel to arrange… so many schedules to manipulate… so many visits to plan, not to mention the hasty Christmas Cards! And above all, that compulsive need to make everyone happy and satisfied while ‘keeping the peace’. I surely don’t want to add to the ‘burden’, but can I suggest some practical spiritual preparation and/or attitudes that may lead the Christmas ‘experience’ to a higher… yes, higher ‘spiritual’ meaning?

For starters: remember Who it is we celebrate and why we celebrate the Birth of Jesus, the Savior and the Redeemer. Jesus is ‘The Present’ from God. He is the Word of God whose Gospel is truly the Good News. You know this to be sure! I am just asking you to ‘remember’ it.  So the following practical preparations will then make more sense:

1. Choose the Christmas Mass that is the best time for you and will give you the holiest experience. Give your family ‘plenty of time’ to get ready, get to Church, and to attend the Mass without hurry. 
2. Read the Christmas Story to your children one more time before you come to Mass. Sit down as a family in the quiet of your living room and then ask the Lord to again come to your home with his Peace and Joy. If possible, fathers should read this story. Why? Because he is the ‘Joseph’ figure and needs to lead the family to Bethlehem-first to the Church and then back home. (No children? Adults only! Read the Gospel for yourself, but pray for the same things.)
3. Come to Church with time to spare. Get your pew. If you come to early Mass, be here early enough to give the Children’s Choir your full attention as they sing their Christmas renditions of Lessons and carols. They deserve your attention for all their time and effort.
4. Come dressed for the occasion, no matter what Mass you attend. It is Christmas!  And even though Jesus doesn’t care what you wear, you tell Jesus and the community, that you care by what you wear. Besides, what are you saving those ‘special’ clothes for if not for special days like Christmas? 
5. Come, not to be entertained, but to receive a Gift from God, the Gift of God’s Word, the Gift of himself in the Eucharist, and the Gift of God in our Community of believers.
6. Be a Participant, not just an Observer. Take the pew Cards, follow the Prayers; take the Missal and follow the Mass Prayers. What an example we can be for each other, with strong responses, and attentive hearts to the Mass. Your attentive and participative spirit hopefully will be caught by the ‘religiously faint of heart’.
7. Be appreciative of the many persons, choirs, decorators, liturgical ministers, ushers and other behind the scenes parishioners who make such celebrations possible.
8. Finally, return home with not only the ‘experience’ of Christmas Mass, but with the ‘meaning’ fully enveloped in your heart, a memory to be sure, but also a desire to be followed.

- Fr. Louis Petruha, OFM Cap.