Black Friday is the feast day of the god of Mammon. Millions of people go to worship at his temples where one finds the altars and the gifts of this god, for a price. All the idolaters get up early to worship at the small altars of the registers, fighting over the gifts of this god.
There is a real god of Mammon, and he is a demon. He grabs the imagination of men, women, and children on this day and forces them to buy useless things while meditating on money and the stuff of consumerism.
This demon is the same one worshiped in the Bible as Beelzebub, the god, the demon who demanded child sacrifice, according to at least one ancient father, Gregory of Nyssa. The name, Mammon, in the Hebrew, literally means "riches" and "the one in which one trusts". Horrid. He is mentioned in both the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew as Mammon.
This god brings many people to hell with this preoccupation of buying and selling. In ancient times, perhaps he was like Moloch, personified as a furnace, with a long shaft like a sliding board, on which the small urns with the live first-born sons would be put and rolled into the fire of Moloch's mouth or stomach.
Does this sound familiar? Both Mammon and Moloch are gods of abortion, demanding the sacrifice of children for wealth and things. Prosperity instead of offspring.....
Can you imagine if all those people lined up outside of Walmart or any other store were lining up to go to Mass? Can you imagine them loving the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost?
Here is my daring suggestion. Never shop on Black Friday. Instead, go to Mass as a family, as an individual, and go out of your way to visit the sick, the housebound, the needy instead.
Do something opposite of the worship of Mammon. Show Mammon that you do not worship him, and that you have no intention of doing so.
Say the rosary with others on this day. Find Adoration somewhere and go. Be quiet and read the Scriptures.
Read the Divine Office. Praise the God of Life. Sing hymns of joy and love. Be simple.
I challenge you to do the opposite of Mammon's followers and praise the One True God in deeds, in your heart, mind, soul.
Can you do this? The god Mammon needs to be ignored, not fed.
Go to Jesus and ask Him for the grace not to worship at the temples of Mammon on Black Friday. Go worship the Trinity at a Catholic church, and ask for strength and courage to fight the idolatry of Mammon.
