The Most Terrible Irony in My Lifetime

     I am shocked that a large number of U.S. Senators and members of Congress who identify themselves as believing Christians would approach the yearly celebration of the birth of Jesus by shamelessly enriching the wealthy of this country while eliminating health care insurance coverage for over thirteen million poor and struggling families.
     Who do they think they are honoring on December 25? It is certainly not Jesus, who identified himself over and over again with the poor and the outcast. It is certainly not Jesus, who time after time railed against the wealthy who enriched themselves at the expense of the human family. One cannot hold a hymnal filled with Christmas carols in one hand while holding this legislation in the other.
     Jesus, following the lead of the Prophets who preceded him, spoke loudly and clearly against the underpinnings and the elements of the "tax reform" bill passed last night. Jesus summed it up in his brief challenge, "You cannot serve both God and Mammon." Our President and the Republican majority in both houses have loudly and clearly chosen Mammon - and as a final insult to the faith they claim to profess, they wanted to accomplish it all "before Christmas." Is that terrible, terrible irony - or simply blasphemy?