The Uninvited Celebrant     

             By Philip S. Chua, M.D.*

Once again the Christmas holiday is upon us. As in the years past, we find ourselves caught in the seemingly inescapable whirlwind of this, the greatest season on earth. Right after Thanksgiving, the business industry and the media, in their “noble” desire to help us better prepare for and celebrate this festivity, masterfully aim their psyche-manipulating advertising rays at the all-too-willing public, and zap all of us. The amazing thing is that they always work. We get programmed, hooked, and hyped-up to yield to the commercials.

On cue, we start to plan and prepare the list of gifts to buy, shops to divest in, decorations to put up, greeting cards to send out, food to serve, attire to wear, parties to attend, loved ones and places to visit, and a thousand other things to do.

However, many of us get so preoccupied with and so distracted by the hustlin’ and the bustlin’ in this highly commercialized ambiance that we forget what Christmas is really all about. Sometimes, we even neglect to consciously remember to include in our festivity the “Honoree” himself, whose birthday we are celebrating in the first place. We party and rejoice to our hearts’ content many times forgetting to give due attention to the “celebrant” and the sacredness of this holy event. The heavenly star is usually eclipsed by the glaring glow of the material and the blinding glitter of the earthly.

As we welcome the Nativity this year, let us regain the proper perspective some of us may have misplaced somewhere along the way, and refocus our thoughts and priorities, and invite the Celebrant into our midst. Let us also remind ourselves that the true meaning of Christmas – love, compassion, peace, and goodwill towards all men - can not really be found in stores, shops, restaurants, movie houses, and hotels, but only in our heart.

Here’s wishing you and your loved ones a fabulous and blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with good health, inner peace, joy, and prosperity.
 

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*Philip S. Chua, M.D., is a retired cardiac surgeon in Northwest Indiana, and the Vice President for Far East of the Cardiovascular Hospitals of America (CHA), a hospital builder based in Wichita Kansas. He is also the Chairman of Cardiovascular Surgery of the Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital in Cebu City, Philippines. His email address is: scalpelpen@gmail.com
 

Articles By Philip S. Chua, M.D.*

The Uninvited Celebrant

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