“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” – John F. Kennedy

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst

25 December

I find the following image profoundly comforting: a baby lying in a manger, on his back, vulnerable as a upturned turtle - yet tranquil for all that. This baby, born in a stable, will end up dying on a cross and, if Scripture is to be believed, as an itinerant [hand-to-mouth] preacher had not whereon to lay his head in the middle. Translation:

• Poverty of the most profound sort was integral to everything about the person this child became.

• He wasn’t stuck with this poverty but instead it seems He actively and willingly embraced it as a kind of liberation from seductive materialism.

• The impact He had on this world was somehow directly related to the immense power inherent in that poverty.

• This poverty bridges the gap between Him and all of us enmeshed, as we are, in a plethora of poverties as distinctive to each as is our retina scan. And finally,

• We too can become strong in our weakness[es] as He Himself apparently was.

Yes, vulnerable as an upturned turtle - yet tranquil for all that.