The Crazy World We Live In

During Advent last year (2022) Catholic Nuns surprised holiday shoppers in Downtown Boston on Thursday December 8.   They stood outside in the cold singing Christmas carols in front of a Macy’s department store.  They were reminding shoppers of the real reason for the season.

Just three days later, on Sunday, December 11, another story was in the news.  Four members of the European Union parliament were charged and arrested for corruption and money-laundering.

There’s absolutely no connection whatsoever between these two news stories.  They only serve to point out that we live in a crazy world.  Both saints and sinners, good and evil, coexist in the 21^st Century, just as they always have.

There was also the story of the woman in the UK who was arrested on December 6, 2022 for silently praying outside of a closed abortion facility.  “She was charged Dec. 15 with four counts of breaking a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) around the abortion facility.”  The woman was charged with “protesting and engaging in an act that is intimidating to service users.”  Never mind that the facility was closed and there weren’t any “service users” present.  And never mind that when there are service users present they are there to commit murder.

And there was also the story of the priest in Spain who “has been publicly harassed” for talking about Catholic doctrine on homosexuality in a homily on December 16, 2022.

One might be tempted to say these last two stories show craziness taken to a new level.  History says otherwise. The atrocities committed in Communist Russia (such as the Holodomor) and under Hitler (the Holocaust) were pure insanity.  But these were nothing compared to China’s Great Leap Forward.

The Word of God

It’s been over 2,000 years since Our Savior’s birth, and in that time craziness has been on display time and time again.  Apparently mankind is a slow learner because many still seem to prefer to listen to the lies of the devil instead of God’s truth.

Society has been on a downward slide for quite awhile.  It seems the more educated we get the stupider some become.   Who would have thought that in the last 50 years sin, as in sodomy, would be celebrated?  And who could have thought that the murder of babies would be legal?

Of course corruption in government, like in the European Union story, is nothing new.  And it really should not surprise anyone anymore.  Wherever there is a government there is often corruption to some extent.  This is probably why God tells us not to trust in princes (Psalms 146:3).  If the news media was around 2,000 years ago maybe God would have said ‘princes or the news media.’

News or Propaganda?

During the month leading up to Christmas stories that focus on charity are often featured in local newscasts.  These stories are called human interest stories in the news business.  But as soon as we ring in the New Year, it seems that it’s back to regular news stories only.

“The News” is any noteworthy information about recent or important events.  Today, however, opinion is often subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, inserted into news stories.  The days of presenting only the facts are gone.

The result of this slanted news approach is heightened divisiveness.  Today we often get a “here’s the news and why it’s good (or not good)” take on the news.  One might say the mainstream ‘news’ media is not so much interested in the ‘news’ today.  It’s more about propagandizing and forming opinions.

The Left presents the news from a left-leaning perspective while the Right gives it a right-leaning slant.  Either way, the intent is to make sure we have the “correct” perspective when it comes to the news of the day.  Heaven forbid people actually think for themselves.

One of the best classes I ever took was a class on Logic in high school (a  Catholic high school).  I learned how to see through the kind of fallacious and purely emotional arguments being offered up as ‘correct’ thinking today.

I tend to think government run high schools probably do not offer classes in logic.  Heaven forbid people might actually learn how to think clearly and rationally.  Rational thinking is contrary to relativistic thinking.  Most relativistic thought is circular or fallacious in many ways, while rational thinking is logical.

The Christmas Feeling

Advent is here and we will soon be in the Christmas Season.  However, for some time now, Advent and Christmas have overlapped quite a bit.  Retailers start ‘celebrating’ Christmas in early November, and some even sooner.  One radio station here  the Detroit area even starts playing Christmas music starting November 1.

I usually put up our outside Christmas lights during the last week in November.  But I do this only to take advantage of the warmer weather.  It’s no fun freezing your rear end off while putting up lights.  (And a note to  advertisers and their advertising agencies – they are Christmas lights, not ‘holiday’ lights.)  However, I don’t turn our lights on until the start of Advent.  (I also don’t take them down until after the Feast of the Epiphany.)

Of course, some will chide me for turning on our lights at the beginning of Advent.  Christmas does not begin until December 25, they will say.  Advent is a time of preparation.  It’s a time for fasting, prayer, alms giving and repentance.

To this I respond that as with so much that is Catholic, Advent is “both, and.”  Advent is a time of preparation, but it is also a time of hopeful anticipation.  Just as the beauty of so many magnificent cathedrals, Catholic art, and even the beauty of nature and the night sky are constant reminders of the glory of the Kingdom of God, so, too, are Christmas decorations.

Hurry Up and Goodbye

In recent years, however, a number of homes in our subdivision had their Christmas decorations up (and lights turned on!) even before Thanksgiving.  Some homes even had Christmas trees with lights all aglow in their front windows.

I tend to think this is because people are in a hurry to get the ‘Christmas feeling’ going.  They want that feeling of love, joy, and peace that Christmas brings.  Maybe they think getting the decorations up will hurry that feeling along.  And maybe for some it does.

Yet it seems these same people who are so eager for that Christmas feeling seem to lose it as soon as they ring in the New Year.  It’s not uncommon to see Christmas trees on the curb awaiting trash pickup a couple days after January 1.  And even while the Christmas season isn’t over until the Feast of the Epiphany, very few houses have their Christmas lights on after January 4, 5, or 6.

The Reason for the Season

Fortunately, there are still many among us who are like Ebenezer Scrooge at the end of the story “A Christmas Carol.”  Like the reformed Scrooge, these are people who keep the spirit of Christmas in their hearts all year long.  More importantly, they keep Christ in their hearts all year long.

For such people the joy of Christmas is a year-round thing.  They don’t need Christmas lights, Christmas carols, or decorated trees.  It would be nice if there were many more such people in the world.