Not the usual Christmas movies

 I like Christmas movies but you know, all those G rated Hallmark Christmas romances seem to be clueless. Doesn't anyone in Hallmark land (or barbie land) go to church? It is all about decorations and happy romances between attractive people who never get their manicured nails dirty.

But there are a few stories out there that seem to remember the meaning of Christmas .

Here is one Anime one with various themes that would be considered PC today except that it is Japanese and made years ago:

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Based on the old movie Three Godfathers

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I read somewhere that LesMis was written because some objected to the evil priest in the Hunchback of Notre Dame: so the author knowing that most priests were good, decided to write a good priest into his plot: and that it is actually based on a bishop in one of the poorer areas of France.

if my fondness for such films seems to go against my screeds against the gay relationship blessing, it is because I suspect Fernandez actions are not about charity but about pushing the gender agenda that certain affluent Europeans have been behind for the last 30 years...i.e. a stealth way to destroy the idea of sin, and along the way will destroy the family (divorce, abortion, euthanasia) and the sacredness of the Mass and the Eucharist (downgrading it from Christ's body and blood to merely a symbol for anyone to take).

So in the midst of a scandal which threatens to break up the Catholic church, why have hope?

Christmas is about hope: About renewal, about family. and how God renews our life, and about the hope in times of despair, and the renewal of life that every child brings into the world.

...

here everyone who can will return to their homes to celebrate Christmas with their families. The roads near Manila are full of traffic, and people are crowding the rail and bus terminals to get home. And not just from the cities to their rural villages:

PhilInquirer headline:

Near 60,000 daily arrivals in PH as holidays approach

some are tourists but most are Philipinos who are OFW working overseas on temporary visas, or who have immigrated overseas to find jobs and live in their new country: Many support their families here but try, like my husband Lolo, to return yearly to keep up family ties.

,,,,

and remember; as you give, so shall you receive:

but remember: there are always second chances in life.

Musical Interlude of the day

Simbang Gabi!
 




Simbang Gabi is nine days of early morning masses before Christmas day. The idea is that the mass is very early in the morning so the farmers and workers could attend mass.

Here, after mass, the young folks go to the center of town and buy food (from vendors or Jolibee) and it is a time for the young men to meet and flirt with girls.

So while the new ager types are meditating to evolve to a higher power to change the world, we Pinoys will be home having a good time: Here, religion is not about power but food and family.

Stuff below the fold

Another day, another typhoon sub tropical cyclone...due to hit south of here next week

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The press distorted what the pope said (so what else is new?). and the blaphemous comments are enough to show you that the comment checker in the Washington Post thinks it's okay to be anti Catholic.

The press distortion gives one impression that the probably fictional parts of the stories were important but ignoring the dogma in his book...more HERE.

But reaffirming Christ was God, and why this is important, was completely ignored.
God is real, God is a person not a force, God cares about us and entered into history as a man, not with a miraculous force, and God didn't change the world by becoming a powerful king to force us to be good, but as a child in a poor family, to identify with ordinary people and to show us how to live.

as the hymn says:

Oh Lord of Earth and sea and sky

How sweet it is to see Thee lie

Upon thy mother's breast.

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Religious headline of the day:

Pentagon Spends $100,000 to Find Out: ‘Did Jesus Die for Klingons Too?’

In addition to $1.5 billion being spent on a plan to invent roll-up beef jerky, an iPhone app that helps people schedule their coffee breaks and scientific research on the swimming patterns of goldfish, was a workshop blending Christianity with the existence of aliens.

The event, entitled “Did Jesus Die for Klingons Too?,” focused on “the implications for Christianity if intelligent life were to be found on other planets.” According to the Global Post, actors such as LeVar Burton and Nichelle Nichols were present, and an “intergalactic gala celebration” was included, at which attendees were urged to don “starship cocktail attire.”

Actually as any CSLewis fan can tell you, if we meet ET's they might be like the CSLewis Martians or Narnians, and either not need a redemption, or maybe Maladil had sent their own redeemer... or maybe they were so fallen that they were not open to redemption (something that Tokien pondered about the orcs).... Since Klingons can do good, I doubt they fit into this last catagory.
 

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Stupid goldfish tricks 


  




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The war against Christmas

ILBlog repeats a Leno joke


Al-Qaida is planning Christmas attacks in the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. government sprang into action and told al-Qaeda, “Hey, you cannot call them Christmas attacks, you have to call them holiday attacks.”

(headsup Instapundit)

actually, even in Japan and China, you say merry christmas.

Here in the Philippines, decorations went up in October.

But some employers, including at our airport, are forbidding staff to say "merry Christmas". Why? Because that greeting will be interprested by visitors as asking for a small tip, and soliciting for money is forbidden.