...and on the 25th day of December, Capital rested, though not for very long.

Today, we non-Orthodox Christians* mark the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ, by exchanging material wares and gorging ourselves silly until we're fat and docile. Today marks the end of weeks of complaining, arguing, worrying, scrambling, and trampling over one another and the beginning of our habituation to the aforementioned wares, the fruit of the toil of our kinfolk.

As I stare at a four-and-a-half-inch replica of the Crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ, I curse myself for neglecting to bring my copy of the King James Bible with me, for I wanted to share, with all of you, select passages all too forgotten in the vast, lonely sea of mass consumerism. Alas, I will have to wait until my return from this evening's family dinner in wine country to share them with you.

Blessings to all, especially the down-trodden - come to think of it, despite our ability to temporarily drown our sorrows in all things temporal, we're all among the down-trodden, slaves to that great machine we call "the economy", regardless of the particular income bracket in which we happen to reside: being closer to the top only means being deluded that much more.

Some anticipate the return of this Lord and Saviour of ours, Jesus the Christ, without paying any mind the notion that he (or she, for all we know) never actually left, for he lives through his message, so long as we bother to lend it an ear.

I'll see you again this evening.

* For the record, I was raised Greek Orthodox, but, since I've been alive, we've observed 25 December as the date of birth of the Christ Jesus, and not 7 January, observed by the remainder of Orthodox Christians.

Update - 12/26/07 00:56: Behold the holiday cheer I promised earlier today (bold mine). We can discuss the unfair portrayal of women and goats, if you like, but that's not the point I wish to raise right now.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? - St. Matthew 5:43-47

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to the Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. - St. Matthew 6:5-6

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. - St. Matthew 6:19-20

Then Jesus said unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. - St. Matthew 19:23-24

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when we saw thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when we saw thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer to him, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. - St. Matthew 25:31-46

And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. - St. Mark 11:17