By Father P. A. Dora

Children. An angel and a shepherd. Children in the traditional roles of the Christmas pageant.

"Christmas is for children," we say, "it is for the young."

There's no doubt that the little people do indeed know what it 's all about. After all, they are not far removed in time from their own birth and they naturally identify with the Nativity. Children have an instinct for the other miracles of this celebration as well.

Among these miracles is that of simplicity. There is absolutely no display or pretension in the historical circumstances of the birth of Jesus. As children, we once understood this reality and accepted it. As adults, we have an urge to embellish the experience -- to make it all a little nicer.

It should come as no surprise, then, if the Christmas of adults seems somewhat cluttered. Like an over-decorated living room, we fill this season with too many good things and get lost in the complexity of it all.

Take any child anywhere; read the scriptural account of the birth of Jesus to him; dress him up in an appropriate costume and let him go. He will begin immediately to express his natural ability to dramatize the sacred event.

In our world, children are expected to learn from adults. Of course, adults realize that they don't know everything there is to know; but they hate to admit the fact to children -- it just isn't done.

Nevertheless, children do have a lot to teach us about the important things in life: how to love and trust in simplicity.

If Christmas is for children, it is because they are best able to understand and accept it all.

If we are to begin looking to children for the lessons they can teach us, we won't find a better time than Christmas. Right now is the ideal opportunity to begin watching and listening to them. It is our chance as adults to learn all over again what this celebration is all about.

The purpose of all this is not to turn the adult into a child; that would be simply a cowardly retreat into the past. It is rather an attempt to rediscover some of the lost powers of youth -- to set aside some of the cynical attitudes we acquire during the process of growing up.

The adult must learn to accept himself as a true adult and not be just an "old child" pretending to be grown up. He must be himself as naturally as is the child. The children can teach us to be ourselves, then, and we can bring this personal triumph to our own celebration of the Christmas miracle.

Christmas will always be for children, but if we adults learn our lesson well, Christmas can be for us too.