Does God like the celebrations?

I always asked myself whether God likes the celebrations? Does He look favorably on the preparations, the decorations and the shopping that people are engaged in during these celebrations?

For a long time, I myself avoided celebrating like other people as I said to myself that these things are not pleasing to God. I avoided buying new clothes or decorating the house because I thought God does not desire this. I even ignored the fact that these are festive days and with apathy I said that this was a day like any other.

Then, one day I read a verse in the Book of Numbers: “You shall celebrate a festival to the Lord” (Numbers 29:12), where clearly the aim of the celebration is to remember the wondrous deeds of God in favor of His people. The verse relates to the period in the wilderness, when God had brought His people from slavery to freedom and He wanted them to remember what He had done and transmit it from generation to generation. They must remember what a great and wonderful God they worship, especially in the light of the occasions when they abandon God and fall into the worship of idols. In fact, God commands the celebration of the feast for His people and even explains the times and ways to celebrate it.

In the New Testament too, at the Last Supper, Jesus says to his disciples: “Do this in memory of me”, in other words he commands them to celebrate the meal in order to remember how good and loving God is, so much so that He sent us His only begotten Son in order to save us.

True it is that God commands the celebration of the feasts but what has happened is that people have forgotten the goal of the celebration – that is to remember the deeds of God and His love for humanity. Instead, they “waste” all their energy and resources on things that are far removed from the feast and its goal.

Come, let us remember God’s love for us on these feasts, let us meditate the Sacred Scriptures more deeply, let us invest our energies in order to do works of charity, remembering the needy, and let us pray even more intensely. Let us remember that the feast is a time to renew our relationship with God.