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Prof. Herman NuDix on the continuity of Christmastide

The Catholic Tradition of Christmastide











Professor Herman NuDix of Continuity College in Rome teaches a course on Christmastide, Everything is different, nothing has changed.

Professor Herman NuDix emailed ABS to try and allay his angst and anger at the obvious rupture in praxis - Christmastide used to always consist of Forty Days beginning with December 25th and ending forty days later on Feb 2, The Feast of Mary's Purification.

Dear ABS, there is no need for you to always be on edge, to always be on alert, to always be on guard, against what you imagine to be any changes in the Liturgical Year for any such "change" is merely superficial and does not really signify change at all but, rather, the very changes that unsettle you are, of course, just additional proof of continuity.

While it is superficially and nominally accurate  (although this is argumentative on your part, I think) to observe that for this year - 2017 - Christmastide consists of just fifteen days - 15- as per the USCCB, and not forty days there is no reason for you to go mental.


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Christmas is one of the most important days of the Church year, second only to Easter itself. It is the feast of the incarnation, the feast of God becoming flesh (the Latin "in carne" means "enfleshment"). It is a uniquely Christian teaching, the Divine choosing to become one of us. Because of this belief,God is not only Transcendent, but also wholly Immanent, Emmanuel (God-with-us). While remaining Transcendent (meaning we must rise above our present condition to reach Him), He is at the same time Immanent (meaning He is with us as we rise toward Him). Every Eucharist is like Christmas where the bread and wine are transformed into His flesh, His Body and Blood, and, in a sense, He is born anew on the altar. 
The liturgical season of Christmas begins with the vigil Masses on Christmas Eve and concludes on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. During this season, we celebrate the birth of Christ into our world and into our hearts, and reflect on the gift of salvation that is born with him…including the fact that he was born to die for us.
The Christmas tree and the Nativity scene are popular symbols of the season and a tradition in many Christian homes. It is also traditional to exchange Christmas gifts with family and friends as a way to honor God the Father's gift of his only son to the world. Having received the gift of Christ, we naturally want to pass that gift along to our loved ones.
Below, you will find links to blessings and other content to help you celebrate this season of joy and hope for salvation.

Now, ABS, I would like you to consider for a 
moment that both fifteen and forty are divisible by
five and what does the traditional song of 

Christmas, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," 

teach about the fifth day of Christmas?


On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

ABS, since the glorious revolution of the early 

1960s, the modern church has reached out with 

open arms to the ever- maturing world and has 

read the signs of the times (and the New York 

Times) and concluded there had to be not only a

dialogue with the world but an accommodation 

with the world and so, in its wisdom, the 

Magisterium has taken the prudential decision to

split the difference between the forty days of 

Christmas and the "Twelve days of Christmas" 

and while some, and no doubt you are one of them 

my recalcitrant friend, may say that is a surrender 

rather than an accommodation, one must not 

judge others because Gospel.



The fact remains that Christmastide is aught but 

another example of the hermeneutics of continuity

in that Christmas does still fall on the 25th of 

December and during this busy time of year, Holy

Mother Church thinks it is important that 

Catholics can join with their non-Catholic, and 

even pagan, friends on the Feast of the 

Groundhog on Feb 2 and talk with them about 

how the  Groundhog is an type of Messias for if 

the Groundhog is not only humble but a recondite 

symbol of Christ born  in a  cave and then exiting

to be the light of the world  then what does the 

Groundhog symbolise to the world?


At this time of year, ABS, we must seek mercy and 

not strife; we must seek mercy and not numerical 

perfection ,for who of us is perfect?



ABS, remember the words of the Good Book;


The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, King 

of Jerusalem.


Continuity  of Continuity, said Ecclesiastes,
Continuity of Continuity, and all is Continuity.