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The view from here:

EXCUSE THE STRIDENCY, BUT IT'S TIME TO SHUT DOWN THE CORRUPT, LEWD, IMMORAL CULTURE OF CELEBRITIES

You are equal to anyone. Do you know that (really know it)?

If you don't you have been deceived by the "world," which of course creates all these hierarchies and celebrities and "V.I.P.s."

As the Pope said just before Christmas, "The precious gift of Christmas is peace, and Christ is our true peace. And Christ knocks at our hearts to give us peace of mind. We open the doors to Christ! We entrust ourselves to the intercession of our Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph, to live a truly Christian Christmas, free from all worldliness, ready to receive the Lord, the God-for-us."

When you die, God will embrace you with a love that will make you feel not only as anyone's equal but as if you were the only person in Creation.

That's how much He loves every single person.

The world "celebrates" -- and idolizes -- people, often people who are not moral, who are in fact anti-Christian, who corrupt the young, who tempt the old. The world celebrates them; Christians celebrate Jesus.

Actors, actresses, sports stars, politicians, rich people; the world even creates religious mini-celebrities.

Is there still worldliness in your viewpoint? Are you still in its orbit? It is the time of year to purge. Are you still impressed with people based on that person's success and notoriety by worldly standards?

Look to the Manger.

The prince of this world, said Jesus (John 12:31), is the devil. He said he came to break the devil's hold. That was His mission!

There are so many thousands of celebrities that you can't count them anymore. Ironically, we've gotten to the point where we celebrate those who have hoarded money.)

Christmastime and New Years are a time of year to cast out darkness -- a clearinghouse time, during which we reflect on what we need to cleanse -- and key among things that should be purged is partaking of the glory of the world over the glory that comes after this world (for those who prepare for heaven).

It is the otherworldly that we should "celebrate" (or strive for).

If you are self-aggrandizing, if you are still bound to the standards of earthliness, if you are impressed by power, with the societies of men, with what is carnal -- if you seek or exalt status -- you are self-defeating.

It brings to mind the account of an aspiring musician who during a near-death experience was asked by his angel if he had done everything with his music that he wanted to. "I answered that I hadn't, and told him that I had always dreamed of being an opening act for somebody famous. I then said that I would have liked to open up for someone from the Woodstock Festival, like Arlo Guthrie, for instances.

"The voice saw how I have Arlo Guthrie a sort of hero image and explained to me that he was no different from the rest of us on earth, and that if you want something badly enough it can be yours -- as long as you realize that once you get it, you may find that it was not what you were looking for in the first place. He seemed to say if only people could see the importance of love and cooperation instead of competitiveness, the world could be a better place to live."

Love of the world -- of things, of titles, of the sensual, of games, power, and scientism, of gluttony, and glitz, of luxury -- the "glamour of evil" -- leads unto the devil, who promises all things to those who turn their eyes to him.

The Lord wants us to be as a child -- His Child, not the world's.

Relax. Be concerned about being good, not a big shot. Be content with who you are (in God's Eyes).

It is the lesson of Bethlehem.

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