QotD: Wretchedness of Affluence

There is no poverty so great
as that of the prosperous,
no wrechedness so dismal
as affluence.
Wealth is poison.
There is no misery to compare
with that which exists
where technology has been
a total success.
--Thomas Merton, Catholic monk

Sunday Sermonette: Putting the Christ Back In Christmas

Originally posted by bill_sheehan at Sunday Sermonette: Putting the Christ Back In Christmas

I’ve written about restoring the ancient traditions of Saturnalia to this blessed time of year (Io, Saturnalia!), but some people just have no sense of tradition. They just want me to put the Christ back in Christmas. Fine, I don’t want to cause offense by wishing anyone “Happy Holidays” when all they want is for me to validate their personal piety. So let’s get Christ into our celebrations.

Just who is this Christ anyway? Christians say he’s a person named Jesus, and we can learn all about him in the Gospels. Sure enough, in the first chapter of the Gospel attributed to Matthew, we find a lengthy (17 verses!) section of begats tracing Jesus’ lineage back to the ur-patriarch, Abraham. In the third chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we find fifteen verses of a reverse genealogy tracing Jesus back to Adam, and ultimately, God.

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