Christmas is here! Can you feel the Christmas Spirit? Can you feel the excitement in celebrating Christmas Day? Why is it that many of us can\u2019t? A lot of netizens in social media are expressing how the “Christmas Spirit” fades as time passes by and emphasized the big difference of celebrating Christmas by comparing it to the way we celebrate Christmas from five to ten years ago. Now, the real question is, did Christmas Spirit fade away or our expectations about Christmas just changed?<\/p>\n
Let’s ask ourselves these questions:<\/p>\n
What are my expectations about Christmas?<\/p>\n
Am I looking for grand Christmas decorations?<\/p>\n
Am I expecting a grand Noche Buena?<\/p>\n
Am I waiting for lots of gifts? Am I wishing for money?<\/p>\n
Because if you are, then how are you going to feel the real Christmas Spirit? Christmas is about the coming of the Promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. It isn’t just about receiving the gifts or money from our Godparents. It isn’t just about the cold season and beautiful decorations. Yes, those are unquestionably exciting but let’s not forget that Christmas day is about Jesus Christ being born in a manger in order for us to be saved from being sinners.<\/p>\n
Like what Mitch Albom wrote in one if his books, \u201cGive as an adult and take as a child.\u201d What does this mean? As an adult, we can give more because we have more resources and abilities than a child. On the other hand, have you seen a child\u2019s face upon receiving a gift? Children are very appreciative regardless of whatever we give them; they do not care about the brand or the price. They will smile and give thanks because all they can understand and see is love. They see everything as beautiful and meaningful. Let us give with all our hearts and receive with gratefulness.<\/p>\n
Let’s not just receive but also give, like how the Father sent His Son in order to save us. Let’s take time to attend the Holy Mass and reflect on the real meaning of Christmas. That way, we’ll be able to feel the real Christmas Spirit in our hearts. May the Lord bless us all. Have a Merry Christmas! (Jazlene Jimenez)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav in_same_term=”off” hide_prev=”off” hide_next=”off” prev_text=”PREVIOUS ARTICLE” next_text=”NEXT ARTICLE” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” show_prev=”on” show_next=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” global_module=”36296″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_team_member admin_label=”Jazlene Jimenez” global_parent=”36296″ _builder_version=”3.17.2″ name=”Jazlene Jimenez” position=”Writer, Content Management Team – Media Ministry” facebook_url=”https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/meneeeeng” image_url=”http:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/profile-jazlene2.jpg” header_font=”|700|||||||” header_font_size=”14″ body_font=”||on||||||” body_font_size=”12″ custom_css_member_image=”padding-top: 30px;||padding-left: 10px;||padding-right: 10px;||padding-bottom: 20px;” custom_css_member_description=”padding-top: 20px;”]\n Jazlene Jimenez<\/b> is a 16-year-old student from Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de Aranzazu Parochial School. She is also an amateur novelist, poet and script writer. She believes that joining Media and Public Information Ministry will help her hone her writing, critiquing and other abilities of the likes. In the present, she’s also an active member of Young Ones for Unity that aims to help those who are in need.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_team_member][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did Christmas Spirit fade away or our expectations about Christmas just changed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" [et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" admin_label=\"section\"][et_pb_row admin_label=\"row\" background_position=\"top_left\" background_repeat=\"repeat\" background_size=\"initial\"][et_pb_column type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_image show_in_lightbox=\"off\" url_new_window=\"off\" use_overlay=\"off\" animation=\"off\" sticky=\"off\" align=\"left\" force_fullwidth=\"on\" always_center_on_mobile=\"on\" use_border_color=\"off\" border_color=\"#ffffff\" border_style=\"solid\" animation_style=\"none\" animation_duration=\"1000ms\" animation_intensity_slide=\"50%\" show_bottom_space=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Image Caption\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\" text_font=\"Arial||||\" text_font_size=\"12\" text_line_height=\"1.3em\" use_border_color=\"off\" border_color=\"#ffffff\" border_style=\"solid\" custom_padding=\"||30px|\" background_position=\"top_left\" background_repeat=\"repeat\" background_size=\"initial\" \/][et_pb_text background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\" use_border_color=\"off\" background_position=\"top_left\" background_repeat=\"repeat\" background_size=\"initial\" _builder_version=\"3.18.4\"]<\/p> Christmas is here! Can you feel the Christmas Spirit? Can you feel the excitement in celebrating Christmas Day? Why is it that many of us can\u2019t?<\/p> A lot of netizens in social media are expressing how the \"Christmas Spirit\" fades as time passes by and emphasized the big difference of celebrating Christmas by comparing it to the way we celebrate Christmas from five to ten years ago.<\/p> Now, the real question is, did Christmas Spirit fade away or our expectations about Christmas just changed?<\/p> Let's ask ourselves these questions:<\/p> What are my expectations about Christmas?<\/p> Am I looking for grand Christmas decorations?<\/p> Am I expecting a grand Noche Buena?<\/p> Am I waiting for lots of gifts?<\/p> Am I wishing for money?<\/p> Am I asking Santa to come for me on Christmas day?<\/p> Because if you are, then how are you going to feel the real Christmas Spirit?<\/p> Christmas is about the coming of the Promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. It isn't just about receiving the gifts or money from our Godparents. It isn't just about the cold season and beautiful decorations. Yes, those are unquestionably exciting but let's not forget that Christmas day is about Jesus Christ being born in a manger in order for us to be saved from being sinners.<\/p> Like what Mitch Albom wrote in one if his books, \u201cGive as an adult and take as a child.\u201d What does this mean? As an adult, we can give more because we have more resources and abilities than a child. On the other hand, have you seen a child\u2019s face upon receiving a gift? Children are very appreciative regardless of whatever we give them; they do not care about the brand or the price. They will smile and give thanks because all they can understand and see is love. They see everything as beautiful and meaningful.<\/p> Let us give with all our hearts and receive with gratefulness. Let's not just receive but also give, like how the Father sent His Son in order to save us. Let's take time to attend the Holy Mass and reflect on the real meaning of Christmas. That way, we'll be able to feel the real Christmas Spirit in our hearts.<\/p> May the Lord bless us all. Have a Merry Christmas! (Jazlene Jimenez)<\/strong><\/em><\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav in_same_term=\"off\" hide_prev=\"off\" hide_next=\"off\" prev_text=\"PREVIOUS ARTICLE\" next_text=\"NEXT ARTICLE\" use_border_color=\"off\" border_color=\"#ffffff\" border_style=\"solid\" show_prev=\"on\" show_next=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aranzazu-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ootw-9zK","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aranzazushrine.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Christmas.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36812"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36871,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36812\/revisions\/36871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}