AND Magazine:
If you have been keeping up on the evolution of America’s celebration of commercialism, once known as Christmas, you will know that Santa Claus is no longer a portly, white-bearded guy in a red suit who drives a sleigh. He is now much more likely to be portrayed as a sharp dressed, distinguished, seemingly self-absorbed fellow who looks like he is about to board his private jet and head off to a climate change conference or perhaps a board meeting of Pfizer directors. It’s kind of sick.
Jesus – We need a lot more of Him.
The image of Santa WE love so much with the red suit and such exists solely because of Coco-Cola’s marketing department selling the hell out of a character they invented for the purposes of wearing the company’s red and white colors and drinking a Coke instead of milk.
Look it up. Links are verboten.
If I was Santa having to live at the North Pole all but one night a year, I would definitely be in favor of climate change!
The Nicholas I knew carried a gun….
Please erase the “…kind of…”
I love Christmas but I can’t stand how commercialized it has become over the past 50 years or so. Christmas is about Jesus’s birth and not about getting an Audi or BMW or other expensive luxury car or jewelry or all sorts of flashy gew gaws etc. that do not last more than little while after Christmas while God’s love for us in sending us Jesus to live amongst us and die for our sins lives forever. American Christmas celebrations have turned into nothing, but a Vanity Fair like in the classic Christian novel The Pilgrim’s Progress. Christmas is about God’s unrequited love for us and not about how much stuff we get from Santa Claus.
There is more to the story of St. Nicholas (from LifeSite):
Bishop Nicholas is said to have participated in the famous Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. where he became so enraged by the arguments of the heretic Arius — who held that Jesus was not truly God since he said he was created by and is therefore subordinate to the Father — that he walked across the room and struck the man in the face (though it is disputed whether he attended the council and if the Arius incident ever happened). Nicholas was allegedly chastised for his actions by his fellow bishops, who stripped him of his episcopal garment and threw him into prison. According to one account, he was freed from prison the following day after the bishops received a report that Nicholas’ chains had been miraculously removed and his bishop’s robe had been restored as a result of a heavenly visit from Jesus and Mary.
The saint who is revered almost globally for his kindness and generosity was really someone who knew how to draw a hard line in the sand and to take a principled stand when it really counted. He would not compromise on his faith in the face of torture and death, nor would he stand by idly when those who should know better spoke falsely about the faith. Nicholas was a man of steadfast principle who made it clear that his “yes” meant “yes” and his “no” meant “no.”
The 2nd-century Church father Tertullian, reflecting on the persecutions that Christians like Bishop Nicholas and thousands of others like him went through, once wrote: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Bishop Nicholas would certainly agree, adding that it is only by living according to the true faith that Christians within the Church will receive the promise of the Christ who said: “I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10).
Let us pray that Bishop St. Nicholas be an inspiration to all bishops who find themselves surrounded by the Diocletians and Ariuses of today who demand that Christians follow the way of man, not the way of God. May Bishop St. Nicholas intercede for all of us before the throne of Our Lord Jesus Christ who is the “way, the truth, and the life.”
@TonyR LOL at the name change before your long post
I kinda liked the Beach Boys St. Nick
We sure do. What does the current nest of vipers give us? Transgender Santa Claus – Saint Dick-a-less. A pox upon them.
Saint Francis has a very nice antique motorcycle collection in Western Kansas….I always thought he just loved animals…..
I can remember when Thanksgiving used to kick off the Holiday season.
DG had Christmas stock on October 1st this year.
What’s with the forehead scrotum? Is he Klingon?
Sadly, leftists lionize St. Nicholas as a socialist because he gave away his wealth.
Note: that is not socialism. Nor did Jesus support socialism when he told the wealthy man to give away all his possessions. Neither Jesus nor Nicholas ever said anything in favor of a government taking money, supposedly in return for providing services. Jesus simply recognized the existing political structure and dealt with it as needed.
LCD,
Yes – there’s a great difference between giving YOUR money away and giving OTHER PEOPLE’s money away.
This is not lost on the greedy maggots who profess “socialism” – it’s disingenuous.
mortem tyrannis
izlamo delenda est …
Guy in the picture has a set of buttocks on his forehead
And then there’s HBO Max’s new movie, Santa Camp, showing nice liberals wanting to be inclusive and promoting all sorts of out of the ordinary Santas. I had to watch it because I help the mother of a developmentally disabled and non-verbal person who is fixated on Santa. What struck me about the movie was the sincere effort the traditional white Santas put in welcoming the newcomers, whereas the trans-Santas and black Santa brought with them a lot of anger and intolerance. I don’t think the movie is going to change anything.
I found out about the real St. Nicholas 30 years ago and have been a super fan since then. He was a true Christian Soldier.