Thursday, November 23, 2006

Prayer for the Holiday

No, not a prayer for Thanksgiving. That is merely a day to "beef up" for the solemnity that is "The Friday after Thanksgiving." "But, Mr. Sacristan," you say, "tomorrow isn't a solemnity, it isn't even a memorial."

Tomorrow is a solemnity for one of the new modern religions. Some people will RELIGIOUSLY go out to offer sacrifice to their god. Some of them will even OFFER UP time and comfort to be first once they have read their weekly encyclicals which come out in Thursday's papers, so they can know the best places to worship. Some are even willing to be martyrs for their faith.

And so, I present a prayer for all those going out tomorrow:

I believe in one god, consumerism almighty,
the provider of heaven and earth, of all that is sold and unsold.
I believe in one lord, temporary satisfaction,
the only product of consumerism,
greed from greed, want from want,
true addiction from true addiction,
produced not made, one in greed with consumerism.
Through it, all trivialities are bought.
For our addiction and for our distraction,
it came down from prosperity.
By the power of the dollar
it was born of prosperity and became addictive.
For our sake it was scrutinized under Wall Street,
fluctuated, dropped, and hit rock bottom,
in a few days it rose again in fulfillment of the stock holders,
the Dow Jones has risen ever higher and higher,
and is seated at the right hand of consumerism.
It will ever more ensnare the living as it has some of the dead,
and its fleetingness will never end.
I believe in the almighty dollar, the lord of some people's life,
who fuels consumerism and temporary satisfaction.
With consumerism and temporary satisfaction
it is ever sought after and thought to be needed.
It has spoken throught the corporations.
I believe in all the big money making corporations,
I acknowledge a diversified portfolio for more stable money making,
and I look for ultimate satisfaction in this life
rather than in the world to come.
Amen.


A catechism class in the new religion.

(This post was "inspired" by those who waited way too long in line for PS3's.

There is sort of a modern day Saint Boniface who has posted videos on the web. He sat in line for the release of both the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii so he could be first in line to buy one, then he took it outside opened it up in front of all those who waited in line, and smashed the game systems to pieces with a sledgehammer. I can't post a direct link to the videos because some of the reactions contained a bit of profanity and were rather virulent. You'd think he smashed an icon of Allah or Muhammed or something. The videos are on youtube though, just beware there is some profanity.

(In Saxony, Saint Boniface encountered a tribe worshipping a Norse deity in the form of a huge oak tree. Saint Boniface walked up to the tree, removed his shirt, took up an axe, and without a word he hacked down the six foot wide wooden god. Saint Boniface stood on the trunk, and asked, "How stands your mighty god? My God is stronger than he." The crowd's reaction was mixed, but some conversions were begun.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That rings so true for our society.

Anonymous said...

How true is that. My husband last night witnessed folks lining up in Walmart at 9pm to be the first to buy a tv at 5am. These folks are nuts!

dadwithnoisykids said...

AAAAAAAAAAMEN!

Well done!