Watching “A Christmas Carol” with Pope Francis

An Annual Tradition

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a perennial tradition in our culture. According to IMDB.com, since the dawn of film, this story has been retold over 100 times, not only in feature films, but teleplays, special sitcom episodes, sketches, and cartoons. Local theatrical productions put on a version of this story on an annual basis.
Furthermore, the book itself is a best seller every year. It has been reformatted in myriad gift editions, and also prepared nicely for eBook reading. Audio versions (including the one recited by the actor Jim Dale) are a great way to immerse yourself into the story, while doing the many menial tasks of the season (like setting up the Christmas tree).
What makes A Christmas Carol particularly relevant is due to the influence of Pope Francis. He has written specifically about the marginalized and downtrodden in society, and it is the Christian’s mission to reach out to the poor, giving them food, shelter, and reigniting their God-given dignity.

Interpretations From Others

When I first heard the story, I thought it was a diatribe against business in general. That every business was likened to Scrooge, interested solely in increasing its profit margins, while also neglecting the needs of the poor.
Indeed, how many times does the term “Scrooge” get thrown around nowadays? Oftentimes it is associated with those neighbors who do not have any Christmas lights up, or government municipalities that choose to not put up any public displays of nativity scenes or Christmas trees.
While my sympathy goes towards those who desire public Christmas displays… this is not an accurate use of the term, at least according to Dickens himself.
As I read and watch this story unfold, multiple times, each Christmas season, a number of themes repeat. What follows are my favorite lessons to be detected from this story.

My Favorite Lessons

1. Government Is Currently Not the Solution

“Are there no prisons? No workhouses?” Such is what Ebenezer Scrooge asks the two gentlemen from a charitable organization who ask him to donate money to help the poor. To Ebenezer Scrooge, the very act of paying one’s taxes ought to be enough to take care of the poor. He had done his duty, and if the government is ineffective in handling this revenue to take care of those unable to help themselves, that is not his problem.
In his own way, Dickens himself is indicting the Victorian government for not being effective in helping those in dire need. But it also serves as a reminder that the government simply cannot bear the load of helping the poor by itself. Our taxes can only do so much. Oftentimes our funds go towards programs that get mired in bureaucracy and inefficient usage, and the poor get less help.
The bottom line is that no matter what approach a government has in trying to help the poor, there will always be those who fall through the cracks. It is our Christian duty to seek these people out and raise them up.
That said, Pope Francis recognizes that even though governments have not provided the solution, we should still fight for changes in government so that more can be helped.

”We are not simply talking about ensuring nourishment or a ‘dignified sustenance’ for all people, but also their ‘general temporal welfare and prosperity.’ This means education, access to health care, and above all employment, for it is through free, creative, participatory and mutually supportive labour that human beings express and enhance the dignity of their lives.” EG 192

2. Business Can Be the Solution (If It Wants To Be)

If the government has proven itself somewhat ineffective towards helping the poor, then the solution is for that other strong arm of a society to help, and that is business. Business creates revenue, and from revenue comes resources. The problem lies in that, sometimes, businesses limit their charitable giving to help those in dire need.
The two gentlemen who ask for donations were not going around to random people, but to business owners themselves, to ask for funds. They did not ask a worker Bob Cratchit, or individuals to give funds, but to the heads of these businesses. It is to be assumed that only businesses were on their list of places to expend their energies.
But that said, even if us laypersons are not heads of our own businesses, we are not disqualified from giving of our own resources to help those in need. The Scriptural prescription is a tithe, 10 % of our income, to those who engage in charitable work. Are you able to do this on a consistent basis?
Pope Francis goes further; it is not enough to give a little of our excess, but to work to ensure a transformation.

”It means working to eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor, as well as small daily acts of solidarity in meeting the real needs which we encounter.”

He then goes on to say:

”The word ‘solidarity’ is a little worn and at times poorly understood, but it refers to something more than a few sporadic acts of generosity. It presumes the creation of a new mindset which thinks in terms of community and the priority of the life of all over the appropriation of goods by a few.” EG 188.

3. A Business Mindset Must Include Love of Neighbor

“Mankind is my business!”
Confession: I have become a big fan of business-related reality television programs (i.e., “Shark Tank”, “The Profit”). One of the lessons I have learned from these shows, is that a good business model always keeps the consumer in mind. A good business involves an exchange of goods—the business gives the consumer what he wants, so to fulfill a desire, provide a need, answer a problem that the consumer has. If a business does not do that, then the business goes bankrupt.
As a business leader becomes more Christ-like, it stays in touch with the core needs of the general public. It doesn’t lose sight of their humanity; it loves them. In much the same way, as a Christian becomes more Christ-like, he does not become more self-centered, but more outward focused. While it is good to be self-centric with your own endeavors (like taking the time to be healthy, so you could retain the stamina to engage in all that you can accomplish), once you are self-sustaining, you need to continually go out of your way to meet others where they are at.

Conversely, if a person does not be attentive to the needs of others, the further he is from God. “A lack of solidarity towards his or her needs will directly affect our relationship with God: ‘For if in bitterness of soul he calls down a curse upon you, his Creator will hear his prayer’ (Sir 4:6)”. EG 187

4. Avoid Ignorance and Want

In a rare scene in the story (it is shown in only a handful of Christmas Carol movies), the Ghost of Christmas Present opens up his cloak, and underneath are two malnourished children, one is called “Ignorance” and the other is “Want.”
Of all the images in this story, this seems to me to be the preeminent image, worthy of reflection. Ebenezer Scrooge was free to live in his own worldview, his own miserly bubble, but he chose to be ignorant of the needs of those around him. If they had needs, the government would take care of them, and he paid his taxes, so he had no need to care anymore. He was ignorant.
Among those issues he was ignorant of, there were those who were in dire need, in his own city, that he chose to ignore. There are hundreds of issues that one can be ignorant of, and increased knowledge of such problems does not put one in a position to aid them; but those in his own vicinity—these he could help! These he could give aid to!
And it wasn’t just the destitute in his neighborhood; it was his own employee, Bob Cratchit, who had a poor salary and a special needs child, Tiny Tim. He chose to be ignorant of the needs that his own employee had. We need to open ourselves up to knowing the needs of those in our own lives.
For us, we need to be cognizant of the misery that others in our own reach are carrying, and do our best to find avenues that our talents and time can be used to assist them.

”[The Gospel] demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid.” – EG 187.

5. We Can Direct our Future

The future that was prophesied for Ebenezer Scrooge ultimately did not come to pass. We cannot change all the circumstances that lead up to our present day, but we can look at our current path and see where we are heading if we were to continue along without any changes.
Many self-help mastery programs use this exact same approach to instill change. They invite the participant to examine their own personal histories, their current states, and what they perceive to be their future if they were to keep things the same. After which, the participant is invited to imagine his ideal future, and what steps must be taken to ensure this.
Our futures are not set in stone. It is a lie to say that we can never change. God changes lives every day. We need to pray and allow God to guide us to be the disciple He wishes us to become.

Evangelii Gaudium

It is in light of reading this that I invite you to read Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). In it, he shares his own thoughts of how the fullness of the Christian Gospel include our mandate to help others around us.

”Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society. “ -EG 187