Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston delivered an outstanding message on joy, community, and solidarity this Christmas, encouraging us to pursue these and leave behind the selfishness, materialism, and hedonism of an extreme individualism that is truly poisonous:

“Christmas is about joy; so often, people do not know the difference between being happy, and having fun. For some people their whole life is one long pursuit of having fun. The joy of Christmas is not the product of successful shopping sprees, of fantasy or fairy tales, or addictions to entertainment, drugs, or alcohol….

Christmas joy is about discovering that life must be lived in solidarity. The Ayn Rand extreme individualism of our culture is poison, whose antidote is community and solidarity. Christmas joy is about discovering and building solidarity with our families, with our community, with the human beings on the planet, and with our creator.”