MANILA, Philippines?Noche buena: it?s not about food; it?s the celebration of Christ?s birth.

Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, media director of the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Wednesday reminded the faithful that the original meaning of noche buena is good night?not good food.

People experiencing difficulties should bear this in mind before they complain of having another sad Christmas.

When times are hard, Christmas becomes more meaningful because people come to realize that they need Christ the Savior, Quitorio said.

He noted how Filipinos get depressed when they are not able to prepare a special feast for noche buena.

?When you equate Christmas with noche buena, you lose the meaning of Christmas,? Quitorio said.

?Christmas is not about noche buena. That?s why Christmas becomes bleak to most people. They say they cannot buy ham, they cannot buy this and that, without realizing that Christmas is not about material things, Christmas is about loving one another,? he said.

It?s not about ham

In the first place, Quitorio stressed, noche buena is not about the feast.

?We have reduced it to ham. [That?s] not noche buena,? he stressed. ?Noche buena was actually the traditional midnight Mass [on Christmas Eve]. We celebrate the Eucharist as a banquet. We celebrate the banquet because Jesus was born.?

?[Because] God loved us and sent his own Son to us, that?s noche buena,? Quitorio said.

?Although there are many depressing events, unlike in past Christmases, we celebrate Christ who gave us light in the midst of darkness,? he added.

In fact, Quitorio said, the world was in worse shape when Jesus was born, as most of the world was under the Roman Empire.

Deeper meaning

He said Christ?s birth took on a deeper meaning because it happened in the middle of the night.

?The darkness experienced by the people [then], in the political and social sense, was even darker than what we experience at this time. God sent us light. Maybe it?s not by accident that Jesus was born at night. It happened at night so it becomes more meaningful. You realize you need a Savior, the Good News,? Quitorio explained.

More important than a noche buena feast was goodwill in the family, he said.

?Even if we have a noche buena [feast, but] if we are not in good terms with our family?what?s the good in that? The love that has been born has not been born in the midst of the family. There are those who have a lot of food to eat but their hearts are empty,? Quitorio said.

From the heart

He also said there were ways to celebrate the tradition of Christmas gift-giving with things other than material.

?You give gifts to express what you have. Do not give gifts if it does not come from your heart. Because if it comes from the heart, it will be gladly received even if it?s a paltry gift. A small, lighted candle is a better gift than a car that comes from jueteng (illegal numbers game) or from someone with an evil heart,? Quitorio said.