Building Happy Healthy
Holy Families in Goa

CHRISTMAS – A SEASON OF GIVING AND STEWARDSHIP

Fr. Albano Fernandes,

Director, DFSC

As the season of Christmas, which marks the joyful and holy birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ draws near; our hearts begin to be filled with unique kind of an excitement and delight. Yes, it is because the season of Christmas reminds us of God’s unconditional and merciful love for the whole of humankind, because of which we see so much of goodness, love, kindness, generosity and joy being shared and experienced around us. While we can reminisce about so many treasured loving memories about Christmas, we certainly would be joyful about the traditions of sharing gifts, sweets and card to others in a way of proclaiming the joy, peace and love of Christ’s birth.

GIVING: As a child, during the season of Christmas, my parents would send us with Christmas sweets to our neighbours. With excitement in our hearts, we would go door-to-door, knocking, wishing and giving the sweets. This practice would fill our hearts with joy which taught us the value of giving. Later, as a priest, I was introduced to the practice of having a ‘Christ child’, a secret person to whom we had to pray during the season of Advent and on the day of Christmas celebration we were supposed to tell who was the ‘Christ child’ and present him/her the Christmas gift. This experience taught me that it was not just material giving that we were focussing on, but on the spiritual well-being of the person. Praying for the other person is the spiritual work of mercy which would strengthen my spiritual life. The gift we were told to give was supposed to be a simple one. Eventually, I was sent to Chicago to pursue further studies in Pastoral Counselling. I was blessed to be a part of the St. Joseph Parish Community in Wilmette, Illinois. Though, I noticed that the season of Christmas was overly commercialized in the United States, the attitude of giving was predominantly practiced in various forms. However, in the Priestly Community where I was living had a practice of buying a Christmas gift for each of the members of the community and placing it under the decorated Christmas tree. On the day of the celebration of the Christmas dinner night, each one would share the gift by appreciating and thanking each person for his presence in the community by highlighting specific talents and gifts of the person. This practice taught me the value of being generous to appreciate the other person. I shared these few personal experiences to help us reflect on our own experiences of joyful giving which has made us generous in giving to others and reaching out to the poor and the needy, in particular, during the season of Christmas. While we reminisce about our joyful experiences, let us ponder on where these practices have reached in these modern times and how can we revive them to safeguard the spirit of giving. 

STEWARDSHIP: The Christian Family Movement, India held its annual national convention in Andheri, Mumbai from 15th – 17th August, 2025. During this convention there was an important reflection and discussion on understanding ‘the spirituality of stewardship’ in our families.  During, the discussions and evaluations, the families were convinced and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit to mark their family life with actions of stewardship in our families and neighbourhood. We know that at the heart of the Christmas celebration is the story of the birth of Jesus, a divine gift to humanity, underscoring the importance of sharing and using God’s blessings wisely. Therefore, as catholic families we are called to embrace this gift and embody the principles of stewardship in our lives. We should understand that stewardship is not something that is merely limited to financial contributions, but is a way of life rooted in the belief that everything we have, i.e. our time, talent and treasure is a gift of God. The Christmas season gives us the opportunity and encourages us to allocate time, talent and treasure for our families and others in acts of kindness that helps us to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Living out the ethics determining the meaning of stewardship during the season of Christmas can be a personal and joyful experience of deepening our relationship with Jesus and giving a witness of the message because of which He became ‘God Emmanuel’.

CONCLUSION: Today, we are challenged to be a witness of true meaning of Christmas because the focus on consumerism and external celebrations has been overly and powerfully controlling the lives of the people. In some sense, the penitential character of the season of Advent has been overthrown by the extravagant control of materialism by the economic giants of the world. In some ways, we also tend to fall into these traps feeling helpless.  However, by being reminded with the Scripture that ‘hope does not disappoint’ (Rom. 5:5) it would be possible to practice the true meaning of Christmas beginning with each one of us and in our families. If we can strive to get reconnected or remain connected with our family members, relatives and friends in a more personal and human ways rather than merely using digital means, we will be more genuine and humane in promoting the value of ‘giving’. Putting into practice the principles of stewardship in our little ways of sharing the joy of Christ’s birth will help us to promote the true spirit of Christmas. Let us pray for God’s grace to help us to remember the reason for the season of Christmas, which is the redemption of humanity. The Saviour is born to us so that we may accept His salvation and meet God in eternal glory.  

I wish each and every family a blessed, hope-filled and joyful Christmas and a grace-filled New Year 2026