We are all hurting in every way right now. Everything costs so much, just putting gas in the car, if you have one, is painful. You are not alone. We are all feeling this squeeze right now. You did everything you could. You kept the lights on, you paid the rent. You worked your ass off.
This will be a christmas to remember, not because presents were abundant, but because you fought through it, and provided what you could. It's more than enough. If you are alone this Christmas, you are sadly mistaken. You have all of us here. Just speak out, we are family.
It's only a "dark winter" if we make it so.
The Church has never been "subverted" and the cross is not an idol. It is a powerful symbol from which Christ defeated death on and the devil flees from it.
I am not sure what you mean by this at all, I am not Roman Catholic, I am Oriental Orthodox, I grew up Protestant and was an atheist even dabbled into Satanism at one point then a few years ago God led me to the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Our Church was founded by St. Mark the Evangelist, we have changed very little since he founded us we can say we follow the same faith as the Apostle whom Christ taught (changes that have happened are things like the Nicene Creed where we say what we believe to combat heresies like Arianism). Even our Liturgy is taken from the Bible, which yesterday something even cooler I learned is the Bible is also based around the Liturgy! As in these times there were no printed Bibles (there wasn't even an established canon the one we use is extremely close to the list that St. Athanasius wrote down) so people went to the Church (Liturgy) and we're able to hear the word of God.
So to laugh at this, if you mean so in a mocking way shows you actually know very little about the Christian faith. To say something like the Cross is an idol is a very demonic thing to say, many times the saints have made the sign of the cross and the demons have fled from them.
I am very proud of my faith because I finally have a real relationship with God when previously I was lost in darkness.
Isaiah 9:2
I wasn't going to respond but I see you edited your original post I was responding to so I am going to address that.
Those are not my people as you have put it, they are Protestants. I have already told you I am Coptic Orthodox. Now let me tell you something about the financial aspect of this, my family is incredibly poor, I have been unemployed since the start of the pandemic (June 2020 actually) for a while I tried to get my business to take off but it doesn't make enough money to qualify as meaningful employment and we have been living off the stimulus checks as well as tax return money. For a while now I have been trying to get a job that makes some kind of money just enough to pay our bills which is only 1.2k$ a month something I am grateful for being so low.
In the meantime I have depended much on my church for help, they have programs in my diocese to help those in my situation that people donate to. Not to mention my priest has helped me a great deal, not to long ago our vehicle broke there was a leak in the gas tank and he told me to take it to this mechanic shop. I did this and they fixed it, I couldn't afford this at all but my priest knew this and he took care of it. Last Christmas he asked me what the children needed and the Church gave us a lot of new clothes and shoes as well as a few toys for them. When we needed food Medhat brought us food from the Church's food bank.
I am not the only one who is like this we have many families who are struggling and in need and the Church takes care of them. This is seen much more in places like Egypt with the families over there. We do not just take care of our own either as we have programs to help others in Africa especially children in need of supplies for school. (The reason we focus on Africa is because that is where the Church is established, America would be considered the disporia).
As you have said you will not respond and that is okay, sometimes it isn't about the other person's response but those who are reading it or experiencing the conversation that took place. I can truly say that I am in the Church of God as God is present in all aspects of my faith, my life, and the Church herself.