Reflection On A Multicultural Christmas 

By Michele Meny, Affiliate Instructor, Neuhoff Institute for Ministry & Evangelization

“His family doesn’t go to midnight mass”, “her family says the entire rosary on Christmas Eve” or “they eat fish for Christmas!” are just a few of the things I heard regarding Christmas traditions when I was a parish Family Life Minister. I would always encourage the engaged couple not to pass judgement but to seek understanding, especially in regard to cultural differences around Christmas or any holiday. The best way to do this is to experience the tradition, for it is in the lived experience that we see God.

Oftentimes in sacred scripture we see the outsider who actually ‘gets’ what the prophets or Jesus are teaching us. They don’t judge, they seek to understand and respond accordingly. One such example, relevant to today’s Christmas season, are the magi from Matthew’s gospel. In her book Sacred Strangers, Nancy Haught points out that the magi are the first strangers who seek Jesus. Their first gift is actually vision because it is through their eyes that we first see Jesus. The magi are not Jews, they are outsiders but they are open to the birth of a king proclaimed by a star! Further, after visiting and understanding that they are in the presence of the Messiah, they allow their actions to reflect what they experienced—they go home a different route¹.

This model of seeking, understanding and responding will work for us this Christmas season and all year, when faced with differences, especially in our multicultural Church. Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium tells us “In diversity of peoples who experience the gift of God, each in accordance with its own culture, the Church expresses her genuine catholicity and shows forth the beauty of her varied face.”²

This Advent and Christmas season, may our eyes be opened to the beautiful cultural diversity in our
world and Church. May we seek to find unity among diversity and to learn and experience each
other’s traditions so that we see the beauty of the Church and each other and respond as the magi did.

To learn more about different cultural traditions in the Catholic faith check out
catholicsandcultures.org.

______________________________

¹Haught, N. (2017). Sacred Strangers: What the Bible's Outsiders Can Teach Christians. Collegeville, Minnesota:
Liturgical Press.
²Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation, On the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World: Evangelii gaudium
(November 24, 2013), no. 116