Christmas Anguish

The dad of a close friend of mine died about a week ago. (Permit me for a moment to write as myself and not as a 12th century warrior.)

I've been developing a theory since my own father died on Dec. 18, 2007 (25th anniv of my reception into the Church, & don't think that didn't hurt) that Christmas - if it isn't actually about grief - at least has a lot of grief built into it. St. Joseph must have been anticipating how he would welcome the Child, & he must have been sick, sick, that when it came to it he couldn't protect his family from being jostled by the authorities, and could find no better spot for the birth than a cave or stable. He didn't have any concept of posing for Christmas cards, though of course we do when we think of him. 

The legitimate role of decorating homes and buying presents is to console the Holy Family for the deprivation that hung about the first Christmas. And sometimes, on particular Christmases, we get called not to mitigate that deprivation but to share it.