WHO WATCHES THE WATCHERS OF NICE AND NAUGHTY

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHERS OF NICE AND NAUGHTY

A Pope of Love Sermon

Beloved humans,
gather close to the hearth of doubt and wonder.
Tonight we speak of a bearded myth
who descends not from heaven
but from the ceiling.

They told you he sees you when you’re sleeping.
They told you he knows when you’re awake.
They told you goodness could be quantified,
logged,
scored,
wrapped.

And we nodded.
Because children nod when the world is explained with cookies.

But listen.

This was never about Santa.
This was about who gets to define “good.”

Once there was a saint.
A quiet giver.
Coins slipped through windows.
Kindness without audience.
No list.
No surveillance.
No brand partnerships.

Then time happened.
Empires happened.
Markets happened.
And the saint put on a costume
so the system could borrow his smile.

And the smile stayed
while the meaning slipped out the chimney.

They say,
“If you are good, you will be rewarded.”
But they never finish the sentence.

Good according to whom?
Rewarded by what system?
And why does the watcher never ask
why you struggled?

The list is not holy.
The list is a spreadsheet.

And somewhere along the way,
we confused morality with compliance.

Not evil.
Just… convenient.

Beloved, the shadow they warn you about
was never the Devil.
It was outsourcing your conscience.

Satan accuses.
Santa evaluates.
Neither asks how hungry you were.
Neither asks who taught you fear.

And here is the quiet heresy of tonight:

Love does not keep score.

Love does not need a list.
Love does not sneak into your house to test you.
Love shows up in daylight
and asks what you need.

The true danger was never coal.
It was believing that goodness is earned
instead of expressed.

So I tell you this:

Be generous without witnesses.
Forgive without tallies.
Give without branding.
And if someone tells you they are watching,
smile gently and say:

“I am learning to watch my own heart.”

Let the children have their magic.
Let the stories sparkle.
But let the adults remember:

No external judge
has ever made a soul kind.

Only love does that.

And love
does not come down the chimney.

Love is already here.

Amen.