December 18: Melancholy Dinner, Sacrifice, Saint John of Kanty

Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern; and having read all the newspapers, and beguiled the rest of the evening with his banker’s book, went home to bed…

Scrooge is not generous with anybody, including himself.  By all indications, he is very wealthy, but he won’t even buy himself a decent dinner.  I don’t know what a “melancholy dinner” consists of, but I’m sure it’s not turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and pecan pie.  I’m thinking the movie adaptations of A Christmas Carol pretty much get it right:  a bowl of gruel and a crust of bread.  I would be pretty melancholy if I had to eat that meal.

Scrooge doesn’t live this way because he’s pious or holy.  He’s not donating food to the poor or going home to pray and fast.  He’s just a stingy bastard with all humankind.  Of course, his lifestyle changes at the end of the novel.  He’s throwing his money at beggars by the time Christmas morning dawns.  I’ve always had this dream of meeting Scrooge on the street on December 25, him walking up to me, shaking my hand, and slipping a bag of gold coins into my jacket pocket.

That’s one thing all good and saintly people have in common:  a complete lack of materialism.  They give away everything they own, including the cloaks off their backs and sandals on their feet.  That’s pretty much the way I imagine Scrooge living the rest of his life.  Saint John of Kanty, whose feast day is December 23, pretty much fits this mold of holiness, as well.

John was born in Kanty, Poland, in the year 1403.  Of course, as a boy, he exhibited the normal, annoying traits of all saints-in-the-making.  Raised by “virtuous” parents, John became a professor at the University of Krakow, where he taught his students science and tried to “instill into their hearts the sentiments of piety with which he was himself animated.”  Then he was ordained.  OK, so he had a full-time job at the college (probably tenure-track), and he was a priest.  

That wasn’t enough.  He was devoted to sacrifice.  He travelled to Jerusalem to preach “Jesus Crucified” to the Turks.  (I think John had a little bit of a death wish.)  Then he walked to Rome four times.  That’s right.  He walked.  He barely slept or ate, and he abstained from meat for the last 30 years of his life.  Then, after giving away everything in his house to the poor, he died in 1473.

When it comes to sacrifice, John of Kanty pretty much has almost all of us non-saint type people beat.  I live frugally, with many melancholy dinners, like Scrooge, but it’s not a matter of choice.  If I could eat lobster and prime rib every night, I would.  For a little while, anyway.  Then I would switch to risotto and shrimp.  

I like to eat.  And I like things.  Too much.  I am a product of my materialistic society.  I don’t beguile my evenings with my banker’s book.  That would be too depressing.  But I do like to dream of a better life.  A life without past-due bills and debt.  A life without financial dread.  Maybe a life with a trip to Disney World every couple of years.

Saint Marty isn’t a very good saint when it comes to sacrifice.

Me having dinner last night