Mankind Was My Business!

By Fr. Christopher Foeckler, MJ •  St. Josaphat Formation Center • Phoenix, AZ

While growing up at my family home, the last minute preparations for Christmas Eve each year would always run up to the early evening when finally all the decorations were up, lights were on, gifts wrapped and the scent of fresh baked goodies came from the kitchen. At that point we would gather in the living room to catch our breath, enjoy the fruit of our work and get into the Christmas frame of mind. In the softness of the Christmas lights we would listen to a narration of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” I always loved that story, and still hold it dear as a very meaningful and, above all the material preparations, an important ‘preparation’ for Christmas.

In his terror during the visit of the ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge tried to comfort his life-long partner in business saying, “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob.” “Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing his hands again as he lamented, “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity mercy, forbearance and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

As we make our many preparations this month for the joyous celebration of the birth of our Savior to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bethlehem’s stable, let us take some quiet time to reflect on the import and meaning of this Divine ‘business’: the great work of our Redemption by God the Father Who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16)

We know Dickens had this in mind when the Ghost of Jacob Marley, now so painfully aware of the true business of life, says, “At this time of the rolling year, I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!”

With so much suffering and crisis in our modern world, the Christmas celebration reminds us vividly that God made mankind His business. So while we are fortified by His care for us, let’s make Mankind our Business, too – at least in our small corner of the world.

Merry Christmas to all our readers!

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