Merry Christmas

This Christmas night bestowed peace on the whole world;
So let no one threaten;

This is the night of the most gentle one -
Let no one be cruel;

This is the night of the humble one -
Let no one be proud.

Now is the day of joy -
Let us not revenge;

Now is the day of good will -
Let us not be mean.

In this day of peace -
Let us not be conquered by anger.

Today the bountiful impoverished himself for our sake;
So, rich one, invite the poor to your table.

Today we receive a gift for which we did not ask;
So let us give alms to those who implore and beg us.

This present day cast open the heavenly doors to our prayers;
Let us open our door to those who ask our forgiveness.

Today the divine being took upon himself the seal of our humanity,
In order for humanity to be decorated by the seal of divinity.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Go Figure

While this may give some of you the willies, bloggers can gather a whole lot of information about the people that visit our web pages. I use statcounter.com. It's free and invisible.

So get this - over at my (trial balloon) parish blog, Red Eggs For the Emperor, I'm getting more hits from Texas than Manitoba.

Go figure.

William Willimon's Blog: A Very Worthwhile Read

William Willimon has a blog! And it is a very worthwhile read.

He recently posted this, on consumerism:

In the middle of a sermon I said, “If you bring a child into this church, say a child of four or five, that child will have a difficult time during the service. Church does not come naturally. The child will have to be trained to sing this music, to bend his life toward these stories, to pay attention to that which he quite naturally avoids. If you take that same child into Toys R Us, no training is necessary. Greed comes to us quite naturally. After all, this is America.”

But then I caught myself in mid-sentence, and said, “No, that’s not quite fair to Toys R Us. Billions have been spent, and our very best talent expended, in forming that child into the habits of consumption. Barney is not innocent.”

Check it out.

via

Porky Pig's Blue Christmas

For a little holiday cheer, check this out: Porky Pig's Blue Christmas.

Have fun, and merry Christmas!