That's the Truth
My grandfather, Pat Doyle, 1874-1959, a man of extraordinary goodness and wisdom often said: "Too much of anything is good for nothing." That is surely true today in the overwhelming impact of the mass media upon our world. Human consciousness is pounded into a semi coma by the myriad words and images that are launched in our faces by the technology of relentless communication systems.
In addition, the whole onslaught is funded by mega-merchants marketing their products. Present advertising is, to put it bluntly, the perfection of deception. It is wrecking democracy in this country. Now, elections are not a process of democracy but an extravagant exercise in marketing. The art of deception, which has been perfected in commercial television advertising, has taken over the process of elections. Truth is buried alive under the pace and weight of what is coming at us. News is a market and therefore selected for shallow reasons and interests rather than by its worth in reality. National news is interpreted and read mostly by millionaires. Consider a murder trial in California with a thousand news organizations camped out to cover it while fifty three murders in Camden since January 1, 2004 got about seventy five words of ink apiece. Consider this: on Wednesday morning the Courier Post's top headline was "Eagles fans fear the worst without T.O." Third headline down is: "At least 20 Americans die in attack on mess tent in Iraq". There, at the bottom of the page, you could read, besides that, 42 Americans were wounded, two Iraqi soldiers killed and 24 wounded. At the top, beside a picture, you were given the opportunity to e-mail messages. To the wounded in Iraq? No. To the grieving loved ones of the dead? No. Instead get well messages to T.O. "a flamboyant wide receiver with the Eagles." T.O. could stand for turned off but it doesn't. "Too much of anything is good for nothing."
So, dear friend, God bless the sacred space within your heart that's clear of clutter. Your space for thought, for the quiet lift of gratitude to your Creator. A manger for the birth of truth. A space to know, to realize, to rejoice that the God who could be all shock and awe, is, instead, a baby born in Bethlehem. God the Creator of a million galaxies is six or seven pounds of flesh warm and helpless on the chest of anyone who holds him. The Word, the entirety of all that God is, was made flesh, our bone and brain and the wriggle of tiny toes. Not only God with us, but Christ as us, taking on himself all the evil and the blame that is the story of the human race. His non- violence is the only way to peace.
The word wasn't made money like today's news, but the Word was made flesh to save us. Good news it is. Now that's communication. That's the truth. Ponder it in the manger of a quiet moment and celebrate Christmas.
Michael Doyle