The arrival of another Christmas season fills me with welcome feelings. It’s a time of being with people important in my life. That means those at hand: family members, and friends old and new.

This time also stirs those far away to remember me. They send greetings and share what is happening in their lives. It makes me glad to think about them, something that may not happen at other times in the year.

I welcome the reception of gifts that have marked most of the Christmases in my life.  These are tokens of people caring about me, and I feel glad to see renewed the reality of that caring.

However, those who make gifts to the poor, rather than give gifts to the likes of me, have my special respect.

About Christmas, a friend in Kalamazoo says of this season: “It’s so bare, so humble; it gives me hope each year at a time of year when I am sometimes unhopeful.”

Seeing people at large come together to celebrate this holy time in music and song, and festive decoration, may have a welcome impact on the psyche in other ways too.

But often, it’s hard to see Christmas as a spiritual event. Since the approach to this day in American society often seems entirely devoted to commerce, the spirituality can easily get lost.

Yet, given reflection, Christmas spirituality retains its power. It can transport us into a new sphere of being. And its time can even make us feel holy.

Those from non-Christian spiritual traditions may find value in contemplating Christmas.  So too, may people not related to any organized spiritual practice whatever.

From early in life, Christmas has given me a palpable sense of God’s goodness. I learned feelings of awe, reverence, and love, qualities that mark true religion.

Even the abundance and variety of food at the Christmas table drew me closer to a deeper world. If only it had been available to the poor of the world. This compassion for those in need deserves a special place in Christmas.

Another teaching among the great spiritual traditions has always taught the same message: there can be no foolproof security on earth. At this point in history no one needs to be convinced of this fact.

What we do need is light on how to live in an insecure world. We want to know how to adjust to a new situation marked by threats that cannot be identified in advance.

For those of us now old, Christmas time can seem remote.  Coping with society’s disdain of age can make us feel lost.  So can dealing with pain so often. Such issues can make us think ourselves forgotten by God and the community.

I relish the Christmas tradition that brings me visions of the divine taking on the human.  Yes, human beings can rise to becoming better than often seems possible.

Christmas, seen deeply, can lead a person to recognize oneself as a gifted person.  This can mean seeing ourselves as of infinite value.

It can also lead us toward accepting our life. If you are old like me, it can mean taking on age as a kind of calling, a vocation.

Forgiving oneself for past offenses can also rank as vital for establishing peace in one’s heart.

Aging, of course, is a mystery: it has more reality than we can grasp.  Its depth requires some contemplation not mere action.

“The mystery deepens” is the mantra that I formed to guide my own spiritual life.  It applies to the events of this special time. That’s because of the way the divine and the human come together in the spiritual mystery that is Christmas.