An Early Merry Christmas

Before being swept up into the Christmas work week, I want to wish all of my dear readers a Merry Christmas. (May all of you have had a more fruitful Advent than mine. I felt more prepared for Christ’s coming on the first week. Errare est humanum. Whatever readiness I now feel, I credit to the grace and mercy of God.) Since months have passed since my last post, I also wish to confirm the fact that I am still alive. The plague has not taken me down! My reasons for writing so little come down to a lack of inspiration, less free time, more distraction, and plain and simple sloth–or perhaps rather acedia. (Here’s yet another article I wrote on that capital sin.) Speaking of a lack of inspiration, is anyone enjoying the current anime season (Or enjoy the last one for that matter?) all that much? Iwakakeru, Yashahime, Jujustu Kaisen, and Golden Kamuy form my watch list, but I find myself often preferring to read a book or an old manga.

All the images in this post are from the Christmas episode of Gunparade March!

My interests pertinent to this blog are still alive. Deo iuvante, you shall see one more post before Christmas. Anno Domini 2020 has been a crazy year. If the things happening this year occurred in 2000, I might have believed the apocalyptic prophecies abounding at that time. We want pain, difficulty, and complexity to be quickly solved and out of our lives–even problems of which we are only cognizant of because of the news and social media.

Yet, bad times can last for years, and we will have to continue living through it. In the grand scheme of things, however, bad times only account for a small amount of our earthly existence. The Bible says that our lifespans stretch seventy years or eighty if we are strong. (Modern medicine or healthy living with genetic luck of the draw can extend this even further.) The current pandemic will last two more years at most or about 3% of our probable lifespan. Save for those who perished in World War II, an American’s experience of that war would only have accounted for 6% of their life. You’ll find that most periods of intense suffering or inconvenience last for a similarly short period. In those cases where the suffering or loss is permanent, the sufferer adapts to it as the status quo and finds joy outside of this pain or loss. Hope springs eternal in the human heart.

Christmas symbolizes hope more than any other holiday. Consider the state of the human race at that time: doomed to eternal perdition for the sin of Adam, the average man’s life filled with want, violence, and the threat of sudden death, and human life held so cheaply that it could be bought and sold, sacrificed on diabolic altars, or left exposed as an infant to die of the elements or wild beasts. Furthermore, only a very small nation on earth knew the worship of the True God.

Into that rotten and hellbound world, Christ came. As the Creator, He revealed humanity to itself, infusing it with new value. As the Redeemer, He saved all from eternal damnation. The evils present at that time were not suddenly eradicated but slowly improved until we have our present quality of life. If chaos seems to threaten our peace and prosperity, we can only blame ourselves for turning away from our Creator and Redeemer and back to old ways. God even permits wars when the evils present in society starts to overflow.

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At last, people see the horror which comes from following the products of their own imaginings and seek the Sacred Heart of Christ, the Font of Charity and Peace, when they want to learn how to be human. No matter how badly things look, we can always make our lives and those around us better by renewing our Faith and the practice of virtue. Though, I seem to place the burden on us, God Himself will do it if we but open the door of our hearts to Him.

May the God of Peace be with you all this Christmas! Merry Christmas!