-or-
WHEN THE SCAM PAYS TOO WELL TO QUIT
This is a tale of two delusions and deceptions-and it is a tale of today. Pay attention
In the book of Daniel there is an account of the prophet Daniel who lived during the
Babylonian exile during the reign of the Persian King Cyrus about 500 years before the birth of Christ (in 550 bc)-around 2,500 years ago. At the time the Persians
had some loopy alleged “Gods”- one of which was called “Bel.” Bel was a supposed God that was completely man made- just a huge gigantic statue made of wood and bronzed on the outside sitting on an altar of sorts in a Temple of sorts .
People actually worshipped this “God” Bel. They paid tribute to it. They had liturgical ceremonies around it (maybe an entire liturgy committee and a temple council), they prayed to it and they believed it had power and was alive. Not less than seventy (70) priests serviced the temple of Bel.
Every week it was “fed” by a deposit of a huge amount of sacrifices of food – six barrels of fine flour, forty sheep and six “measures” (large jugs no doubt) of wine.
This just cracked Daniel up. It made him laugh. Hysterical. Ridiculous. So utterly stupid. Are these people crazy? An entire empire off its collective gord.
Well, if you are a devotee of Bell, you are going to be extremely outraged by this insolence, as apparently the townsfolk were as they were up in arms at Daniel’s sacrilege to Bel.
So King Cyrus, who was actually rather fond of Daniel, and a fair minded man, decided to get to the bottom of it. The King decides that he is going to lock the doors to the Temple, with the food inside and cleverly lays ashes around the altar on the floor. He put the seal of his ring on the lock outside so he will be able to tell if someone picked the lock or otherwise opened the door. Then lets see….
If Bel is really a God and really eating all this stuff he is alive and a true God and Daniel will be put to death, if there is some foul play and something else is happening to the food, Daniel will live. Bring it on- says Daniel.
The next morning Daniel and the King open the doors and see all the food is missing.
Oh no. Looks like Bel is really eating this massive quantity of food- he must be alive!.He must be a true god! But wait- look closer- remember the ashes on the floor? Look at all the footsteps of people-and kids footsteps even! Turns out that the 70 priests and their wives and children made a weekly feast of Bel’s “sacrifices” by sneaking into an underground tunnel and trap door by the altar .What a scam!! How ridiculous. What a joke. The entire kingdom was hoodwinked by the
Crooked pagan priests who snuck up from the basement- so King Cyrus put them all to death. Daniel lives another day.
Fast forward five hundred fifty years or so.
Another delusion which hoodwinked an entire kingdom that found it too profitable to
Give up is found in Ephesus, now part of Turkey, then a thriving port town. When Paul of Tarsus went to Ephesus
he found a Temple there twice the size of the Greek Parthenon in Athens devoted to the Greek Fertility Warrier Princess God Artemis (called “Diana” elsewhere.) This Artemis was widely worshipped in the Greek world and Ephesus was a pilgrimage site because it is where the Temple –like a huge Basilica -housed an image of Artemis believed to have fallen out of the sky. Artemis was so famous that
The silversmiths who were carving replicas of the shrine of Artemis created an industry of it and sold them all over the world. If you think “Lourdes” is czhatchki heaven for every kind of religious bobble-headed trinket, it is dwarfed in comparison to the silversmiths of Artemis whose idols were sent from the port town in ships all over the known world.
Trades in idolatrous images of Artemis and the Shrine of Artemis we read about in Acts 19 were so lucrative that the very presence of Paul threatened them. There was a financial motive in protecting the delusion that Artemis was a great God.
It fed practically the entire town of Ephesus. When the little band of Jewish upstarts led by Paul came to town the town became so threatened that it gathered and for two solid hours tried to shout them down and out with loud cries of “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
It was not as easy for Paul to crack the deceptions of the worship of the false God Artemis as it was for Daniel to reveal the absurdity of the false God Bel worship in one night. Paul nevertheless stayed for two years, rented a hall in a theatre of sorts and determinedly taught in the hall every day for two solid years in Ephesus. He nearly caused a riot of the silversmiths and idol makers that threatened to bring the wrath of the Roman army down on the town. They were threatened with their very livelihoods. How were they going to feed themselves and their children if this is all a crock? Who will buy this crap then?. They created an industry out of a false worship. Paul was literally run out of town and high tailed it for Macedonia.
Thereafter, we know that Paul remembered the town lovingly even after he was sent to prison as he penned there his great letter to the “Ephesians” correcting their theological error; some bad habits die hard and Paul knew they didn’t completely get it. He tells them this: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with The Word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands, should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes It, even as Christ does the church because we are members of his body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery…” So also, indeed.
God did not give up on Ephesus- the principle place of pilgrimage to all Artemis worshippers at the Basilica of Artemis- he sent Paul there to tell them this is a crock people. This is not a true God, this Artemis is not the Way, the Life and the Truth as is the One True God.
What do we know about false beliefs from the tales of Bel and Artemis? We know
Entire kingdoms were off the ranch in worshipping something completely nonsense because it paid too well to question it. The system worked. The Silversmiths had a good business, the pagan priests of Bel fed their families.
So listen- what have you made for yourself and placed it on the alter of your making to worship when it is really not of the one true God but you worship it as though it were-because it pays too well and works fine? What have you bowed to at the altar of your own making or that was institutionally presented as truth, and affirmed only because it profits you or the institution to a point where you refuse to listen to the truth?
Jesus promises us (and all his promises are sure and true) that Truth will set you free.
Worshipping false idols makes you captive to illusion and deceptions that keep you in bondage to a lie- the greater the profit from the lie the greater the hold that the bondage has on you because it seems self-affirmed by the profit. The more money the silversmiths made the angrier they were at Paul because the more they were threatened.
But Jesus, you see, came to set ALL the captives free. The very point of his coming to Preach is that he came to communicate TRUTH- because Truth sets the captives free from the bondage of their illusions and false worship into LIFE. Jesus didn't come just to Preach- it's WHAT he came to Preach that he came for.
Jesus, the author of all life, came to free you from the oppression of your delusions and to be the exclusive atoning sacrifice for your otherwise inexcusable unacceptable depravity. Jesus, is the greatest emancipator- a gazillion- fold greater than Lincoln. An eternity greater than Lincoln.
Living a lie is painful- and this is not “acceptable sacrifice.” Just because it hurts doesn’t make it noble. Love is greater than sacrifice and Jesus is Love. To insist on keeping yourself in bondage to false idols, false illusions, and false teachings completely denies Jesus himself.
Eventually the truth took hold in Ephesus, and three hundred years or so after Paul left
Ephesus, the great pillars of the Temple of Artemis were carted off to the Magnificent
Haggia Sophia church in Constantinople, the first city where the truth of Jesus was allowed to be worshipped in full in public-where what was known in secret saw the light of day and was acknowledged as true publically.
Bad habits die hard; the more you profit off a lie the more you will believe it true.
The Artemis worshippers who denied Jesus you won’t find in heaven. The seventy Bel priests and their family of worshippers killed by King Cyrus you won’t find in Heaven.
A lie is always just and still a lie and Jesus is the Truth and the Life. The truth will set you free. Jesus promises. Do you believe him- really! Sacrifice into the bondage of illusion is just another word for oppression. Oppression doesn’t create Life, it denies it, and to those watching who live in the light- well, we try not to laugh too loud, because it just looks too ridiculous. Do you REALLY believe JESUS of NAZARETH, or are you feeding too well
off bowing to the big lie.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
wondering who saint valentine actually was? Joyeaux Fete de St. Valentine!
Remember you can pray to these characters.
http://www.h2onews.org/_page_videoview.php?id_news=1547&lang=en
When he celebrated the marriage of a Christian to a Pagan against the law at the time, he
affirmed the supremacy of LOVE over law, rule and edict. LOVE--it's higher than all the
theological virtues, higher than all the laws, because it is the fulfillment of them all. LOVE
with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, first God AND your neighbor as yourself. The former does not preclude the latter but must compel it.
For this principle, a foundational one of Christianity, that the Saint refused to denounce--This Saint lost his head.
And another Saint who Knew Love and loved to cook:
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Catholic/Saints/G/Giles-Mary-Of-St-Joseph.aspx?source=NEWSLETTER
The Consoler of Naples.
He should be the Patron Saint of the Food Channel.
http://www.h2onews.org/_page_videoview.php?id_news=1547&lang=en
When he celebrated the marriage of a Christian to a Pagan against the law at the time, he
affirmed the supremacy of LOVE over law, rule and edict. LOVE--it's higher than all the
theological virtues, higher than all the laws, because it is the fulfillment of them all. LOVE
with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, first God AND your neighbor as yourself. The former does not preclude the latter but must compel it.
For this principle, a foundational one of Christianity, that the Saint refused to denounce--This Saint lost his head.
And another Saint who Knew Love and loved to cook:
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Catholic/Saints/G/Giles-Mary-Of-St-Joseph.aspx?source=NEWSLETTER
The Consoler of Naples.
He should be the Patron Saint of the Food Channel.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
I asked of you, and you refused. I asked of God and he granted it to me.
A STORY OF TWINS
St. Scholastica (480-542?)
(thanks to beliefnet.com)
Twins often share the same interests and ideas with an equal intensity. Therefore, it is no surprise that Scholastica and her twin brother, Benedict, both established religious communities within a few miles from each other.
Born in 480 of wealthy parents, Scholastica and Benedict were brought up together until he left for Rome to continue his studies.
Little is known of Scholastica’s early life. She founded a religious community for women near Monte Cassino at Plombariola, five miles from where her brother governed a monastery.
The twins visited each other once a year in a farmhouse because Scholastica was not permitted inside the monastery. They spent these times discussing spiritual matters.
According to the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, the brother and sister spent their last day together in prayer and conversation. Scholastica sensed her death was close at hand and she begged Benedict to stay with her until the next day.
He refused her request because he did not want to spend a night outside the monastery, thus breaking his own Rule. Scholastica asked God to let her brother remain and a severe thunderstorm broke out, preventing Benedict and his monks from returning to the abbey.
Benedict cried out, “God forgive you, Sister. What have you done?” Scholastica replied, “I asked a favor of you and you refused. I asked it of God and he granted it.”
Brother and sister parted the next morning after their long discussion. Three days later, Benedict was praying in his monastery and saw the soul of his sister rising heavenward in the form of a white dove. Benedict then announced the death of his sister to the monks and later buried her in the tomb he had prepared for himself.
St. Scholastica (480-542?)
(thanks to beliefnet.com)
Twins often share the same interests and ideas with an equal intensity. Therefore, it is no surprise that Scholastica and her twin brother, Benedict, both established religious communities within a few miles from each other.
Born in 480 of wealthy parents, Scholastica and Benedict were brought up together until he left for Rome to continue his studies.
Little is known of Scholastica’s early life. She founded a religious community for women near Monte Cassino at Plombariola, five miles from where her brother governed a monastery.
The twins visited each other once a year in a farmhouse because Scholastica was not permitted inside the monastery. They spent these times discussing spiritual matters.
According to the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, the brother and sister spent their last day together in prayer and conversation. Scholastica sensed her death was close at hand and she begged Benedict to stay with her until the next day.
He refused her request because he did not want to spend a night outside the monastery, thus breaking his own Rule. Scholastica asked God to let her brother remain and a severe thunderstorm broke out, preventing Benedict and his monks from returning to the abbey.
Benedict cried out, “God forgive you, Sister. What have you done?” Scholastica replied, “I asked a favor of you and you refused. I asked it of God and he granted it.”
Brother and sister parted the next morning after their long discussion. Three days later, Benedict was praying in his monastery and saw the soul of his sister rising heavenward in the form of a white dove. Benedict then announced the death of his sister to the monks and later buried her in the tomb he had prepared for himself.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
think your condo is too small?
TAKE IT UP WITH St. COLETTE (1381-1447)
Colette did not seek the limelight, but in doing God’s will she certainly attracted a lot of attention.
Colette was born in Corbie, France. At 21 she began to follow the Third Order Rule and became an anchoress, a woman walled into a room whose only opening was a window into a church.
After four years of prayer and penance in this cell, she left it. With the approval and encouragement of the pope, she joined the Poor Clares and reintroduced the primitive Rule of St. Clare in the 17 monasteries she established. Her sisters were known for their poverty—they rejected any fixed income—and for their perpetual fast. Colette’s reform movement spread to other countries and is still thriving today. Colette was canonized in 1807.
Colette did not seek the limelight, but in doing God’s will she certainly attracted a lot of attention.
Colette was born in Corbie, France. At 21 she began to follow the Third Order Rule and became an anchoress, a woman walled into a room whose only opening was a window into a church.
After four years of prayer and penance in this cell, she left it. With the approval and encouragement of the pope, she joined the Poor Clares and reintroduced the primitive Rule of St. Clare in the 17 monasteries she established. Her sisters were known for their poverty—they rejected any fixed income—and for their perpetual fast. Colette’s reform movement spread to other countries and is still thriving today. Colette was canonized in 1807.
Friday, February 06, 2009
IRAN TODAY-----CONFLICT SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL EVENT NEXT WEDNESDAY.
A Special Event with Conflict Solutions International
Wednesday, February11, 2009, 6:30 PM to 9 PM
*Must RSVP to attend this event*
Anniversary of a Revolution:
*Must RSVP to attend this event*
Anniversary of a Revolution:
Perspectives on Iran
On the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, this program will present
A distinguished panel of speakers with original views seldom heard on the American media.
They will represent and discuss the perspectives of Iran, the West and the Arab World.
The speakers' presentation will be followed by a reception featuring delicious hors d'oeuvres and desserts.
All Souls Unitarian Church, Main Sanctuary
1500 Harvard St., NW., Washington, DC 20009
Entrance is at the corner of 16th and Harvard Streets in Washington, DC. Closest Metro Station: Columbia Heights (Green Line) MapQuest Directions (Copy and Paste the following link into your browser): http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?city=Washington&state=DC&address=1500+Harvard+Street+NW&zip=20009&country=US&level=5
All Souls Church, Unitarian is a progressive religious community located in the heart of Washington, DC, at the intersection of the Mt. Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and Columbia Heights neighborhoods. CSI has no affiliation with All Souls or any other religious organization. We thank All Souls Unitarian for graciously hosting this special event.
Free of Cost
However Voluntary Donation Accepted
However Voluntary Donation Accepted
All proceeds will go to CSI, a 501(C) (3) non-profit. Donations
are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law.
For more information on the foundation please visit our website at
http://www.csiorg.org/
are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law.
For more information on the foundation please visit our website at
http://www.csiorg.org/
MUST RSVP by Monday, February 9th to
CSIEVENT@AOL.COM
With your full name, number of guests, phone number and email
CSIEVENT@AOL.COM
With your full name, number of guests, phone number and email
A Class Apart- FEBRUARY 23, 9:00 pm WETA, PBS Special; Don't Miss It.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/class/
The untold story of how Mexican Americans helped forge the civil rights evolution in America.
I saw a preview of this movie and it is fantastic. It tells of a little known Supreme Court case involving the right of Latinos to have a jury of their peers defined as something other than an "all white" jury at a time when Mexican Americans were defined as "white" but treated as another class alltogether. It tells of the historic creative lawyering that made the argument that established equal protection 14th Amendment protections for Mexican Americans and all Latinos. It is a great American story of brave Mexican American lawyers- fighting for their community and the Constitutional principle that all people are created equal in this great land.
DON'T MISS THIS SPECIAL. You didn't learn about this case in law school.
The untold story of how Mexican Americans helped forge the civil rights evolution in America.
I saw a preview of this movie and it is fantastic. It tells of a little known Supreme Court case involving the right of Latinos to have a jury of their peers defined as something other than an "all white" jury at a time when Mexican Americans were defined as "white" but treated as another class alltogether. It tells of the historic creative lawyering that made the argument that established equal protection 14th Amendment protections for Mexican Americans and all Latinos. It is a great American story of brave Mexican American lawyers- fighting for their community and the Constitutional principle that all people are created equal in this great land.
DON'T MISS THIS SPECIAL. You didn't learn about this case in law school.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Airing Dirty Family Laundry
Regnum Schmegnum
There is a "crisis" brewing in the Catholic church they say. Another one? It has again to do with the secretive sexual dalliances of an esteemed leader, and founder of an entire order who sired a daughter and was long believed to have sexual encounters with males. It was reported recently in the New York Times that this founder and leader indeed had a mistress, had a daughter while leading this order masquarading as a celibate. The Catholic world is spinning, canon laws mobilizing, and calls for the healing to begin as people try to make sense of this and recover from the deception and illusions.
Two scripture verses come to mind- I will leave it to you to find them.
Paul ripped up a congregation once in one of his letters for people calling themselves disciples or followers of the Apostles. He said basically--why are you calling yourselves Peter's disciples (Cephas' disciples) or John's disciples, etc... Did Peter or John die for you on the cross? Call yourselves Jesus' disciples.
This is a good lesson today- keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. Jesus will manifest in a body when two or more are gathered in his name, in spite of the sins of the fathers- and there are many. Priests are just people in collars with more training and hopefully earnestness in seeking G0d. Jesus, however, is your salvation- not any religious order by itself.
Seek the Lord while he may be found. Who cares about a dodgy incontinent preacher too charismatic for his shirt who is dead already. Just take him off your litany of saints list and start praying to Jesus.
The second verse is 1 Timothy 4.
There is indeed something not biblical about any religious order forbidding marriage. Re-read Timothy 4. Forbidding marriage means making celibacy, regardless of the actual gifting of a person toward celibacy or not, mandatory. That is flatly anti-biblical and I would argue evil.
It is done as an institutional "discipline" or accommodation. The scriptural approach however is that some "choose" eunich-hood for the kingdom when so called--not that it is imposed by a castrating religious authority. However, all are more or less called to try to continue to preach and teach. So the gifting or calling by God to preaching and teaching and the gifting or calling by God to celibacy are not mutually co-existent definitionally. JPII made it clear that celibacy is not an essential qualification of the priesthood- were that so the entire byzantine rite and eastern orders would have no priests.
Thus, those who forbid marriage to clergy, even when they may have no such special gifting of celibacy by God, will frustrate them into sin. It is totally predictable. We now have more than enough empiricle evidence to support if not prove it and it is folly to ignore it.
This is why it is such an evil doctrine. It is not just biblical error- it is flatly evil. It's the devil's work.
This is why the entire Christian world, outside the Roman variety of Catholicism has long rejected it. This is why it only came into the Catholic church after centuries of allowing clergy to marry only after internal persecution by the church of itself and the wives of priests.
This doctrine needs to be modified. It subverts the purposes of God and tends some toward sin.
Note that it will not cause huge numbers of priests to all of a sudden want to marry if changed any more than legalizing homosexual marriage will all of a sudden cause heterosexuals to want to become gay to marry their same sex. There are huge numbers, probably by far the majority of priests who are indeed gifted by the Holy Spirit to a life of celibacy, contemplation, prayer and service. But there are others who are amazingly good preachers and teachers who can be wonderful priests and be married. One might argue that a world of wierdness in pastoral relations with women would be made much holier for some awkward priests if allowed to marry one of them.
A married monogamous priest is by far a more honorable truthful person than a wag- about run- around adulterous ac/dc filandering incontinent priest. A Presbyterian minister and a married teacher of Sunday school is a far more honorable truthful person than a wag-about run-around adulterous AC/DC filandering Priest.
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. The author and finisher of your Faith. The Source of your Salvation. And do not be misled by false teachings or teachers and those who would forbid marriage.
There is a "crisis" brewing in the Catholic church they say. Another one? It has again to do with the secretive sexual dalliances of an esteemed leader, and founder of an entire order who sired a daughter and was long believed to have sexual encounters with males. It was reported recently in the New York Times that this founder and leader indeed had a mistress, had a daughter while leading this order masquarading as a celibate. The Catholic world is spinning, canon laws mobilizing, and calls for the healing to begin as people try to make sense of this and recover from the deception and illusions.
Two scripture verses come to mind- I will leave it to you to find them.
Paul ripped up a congregation once in one of his letters for people calling themselves disciples or followers of the Apostles. He said basically--why are you calling yourselves Peter's disciples (Cephas' disciples) or John's disciples, etc... Did Peter or John die for you on the cross? Call yourselves Jesus' disciples.
This is a good lesson today- keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. Jesus will manifest in a body when two or more are gathered in his name, in spite of the sins of the fathers- and there are many. Priests are just people in collars with more training and hopefully earnestness in seeking G0d. Jesus, however, is your salvation- not any religious order by itself.
Seek the Lord while he may be found. Who cares about a dodgy incontinent preacher too charismatic for his shirt who is dead already. Just take him off your litany of saints list and start praying to Jesus.
The second verse is 1 Timothy 4.
There is indeed something not biblical about any religious order forbidding marriage. Re-read Timothy 4. Forbidding marriage means making celibacy, regardless of the actual gifting of a person toward celibacy or not, mandatory. That is flatly anti-biblical and I would argue evil.
It is done as an institutional "discipline" or accommodation. The scriptural approach however is that some "choose" eunich-hood for the kingdom when so called--not that it is imposed by a castrating religious authority. However, all are more or less called to try to continue to preach and teach. So the gifting or calling by God to preaching and teaching and the gifting or calling by God to celibacy are not mutually co-existent definitionally. JPII made it clear that celibacy is not an essential qualification of the priesthood- were that so the entire byzantine rite and eastern orders would have no priests.
Thus, those who forbid marriage to clergy, even when they may have no such special gifting of celibacy by God, will frustrate them into sin. It is totally predictable. We now have more than enough empiricle evidence to support if not prove it and it is folly to ignore it.
This is why it is such an evil doctrine. It is not just biblical error- it is flatly evil. It's the devil's work.
This is why the entire Christian world, outside the Roman variety of Catholicism has long rejected it. This is why it only came into the Catholic church after centuries of allowing clergy to marry only after internal persecution by the church of itself and the wives of priests.
This doctrine needs to be modified. It subverts the purposes of God and tends some toward sin.
Note that it will not cause huge numbers of priests to all of a sudden want to marry if changed any more than legalizing homosexual marriage will all of a sudden cause heterosexuals to want to become gay to marry their same sex. There are huge numbers, probably by far the majority of priests who are indeed gifted by the Holy Spirit to a life of celibacy, contemplation, prayer and service. But there are others who are amazingly good preachers and teachers who can be wonderful priests and be married. One might argue that a world of wierdness in pastoral relations with women would be made much holier for some awkward priests if allowed to marry one of them.
A married monogamous priest is by far a more honorable truthful person than a wag- about run- around adulterous ac/dc filandering incontinent priest. A Presbyterian minister and a married teacher of Sunday school is a far more honorable truthful person than a wag-about run-around adulterous AC/DC filandering Priest.
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. The author and finisher of your Faith. The Source of your Salvation. And do not be misled by false teachings or teachers and those who would forbid marriage.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Mother May I
Constitutional Amendment For the Right to Cut off Your Nose To Spite Your Face.
Come again? Repeat Please. Tomorrow on the Mall will be a Protest Rally and March on Washington for Congress to make a Constitutional Amendment to establish the Right to Cut Off Your Nose To Spite Your Face.
OK. That sounds ridiculous. But not as ridiculous as the Constitutional Right to kill your offspring in utero. Imagine such a Protest Rally. Let's amend the US Constitution so that there is a "Right" to kill your offspring in utero. What does the bill look like ---- "it being universally understood that there is an intrisic right to kill your offspring in utero, after neglecting to "choose" to exercise all reasonable precaution to avoid an unwanted pregnancy, after neglecting to "choose" to not take your clothes off in the presence of a man, after neglecting to "choose" to not engage in intimate behavior with said male, after neglecting to "choose" not to drink half a bottle of red, after neglecting to not "choose" to taxi to his place, after neglecting to "choose" not to answer the phone and neglecting to "choose" to say "no thanks" to the evening, we now find that there is a Constitutional Right to "choose" to bear the natural totally predictable consequences of every previous wrong or bad choice---why?? because women are just too dumb to know better? You are insulting my intelligence.
Get Serious. Why don't they just call the bill the "Constitutional Right to be too drunk to know what I was doing" or the "Constitutional Right to not figure out how not to have sex" or the "Constitutional Right to not be smart enough to figure out how to leave my husband before getting knocked up again" or the "Constitutional Right to have conjugal sex and forget the birth control" or the "Constitutional Right to be as horny and dumb as I want to be." I like this one "The Constitutional Right to actually believe the guy when he said he loves me when followed immediately by the grope for my brastrap."
Because that is what we want to do- create an entire country and culture of really dumb women with the sexual and relational smarts of a labrador.
Oh- and we want to encourage the male sex drive to function without any reality checks. Because the wilder men can behave badly helps society? Sexploitation alleviates aggressive behaviors? Better they are screwing around rampantly than shooting people in the streets?
An abortion "Right" pretty much makes it alternative birth control doesn't it?
No worries- screw around all you want and all you have to do is butcher the woman if she conceives---as many times as you need to.
There used to be a rule in basic tort law that says your right to swing your fist ends at your neighbor's nose-right? The neighbor in this case is living inside your uterus. Swing all you want but don't cut off the life support.
The "my body my business" mantra would make sense, only, the fetus thing is/was actually NOT your body. It's a completely different DNA composition than your body that will have totally different fingerprints than yours. It could have a totally different blood type, and even not be your same gender. The "my body my business" boast would make sense, except it's NOT! It's just not your body. You don't own it, and it isn't "you." You just house it.
The discussion isn't about whether you are entitled to kill an experiment in taking a few of your cells to clone you- it's about whether you have a right to kill something living and growing inside you that IS NOT YOU. It is a completely new different human being that you only half participated in making in the physical dimension. On the spiritual dimension you had no say at all in it's soul attribution. So, no- it's not about "your body your business" its about that OTHER BODY that is growing inside you.
Please people. Really. Seriously. There is no Constitutional Right to have an abortion.
The "privacy" doctrine assumes you are alone! The "privacy" doctrine penumbrally assumed if not overtly found in the Constitution presumes that there is no one else there- the thing sucking its thumb inside your belly is there. You already have a guest with you sleeping close to your heart in bed with you.
If we make up a Constitutional right to an abortion the entire country has landed on the Jerry Springer show. Seriously. There is no Constitutional Right to kill your offspring in utero.
[If we did it to a litter of pre-born puppies it would be felonious animal cruelty- but we can do it to little pre-born people and it's a Constitutional Right? Are you kidding?]
Here's a better idea:
Why don't we get a Presidential website together and list the best "get over" lines.
Women can describe the best pick up lines they have received and the best strategies for nailing them- they can be put into school curriculum to the extent that people are not told by their brothers that males in heat would if allowed have sex with any and everything in a skirt and their couch if the cushions were tight enough.
Then you might start seeing the unwanted pregnancy stats go down.
Couple that with some free higher degrees/education for women/girls and free field trips to anywhere but the inner city and you might find dreams expanding beyond "all that she wants is another baby."
Then put in every McDonalds playland a free ultrasound machine and in every office a lactation room next to the kitchen and the abortion stats would plummet.
We don't need a Constitutional Amendment to create a new "Right" to kill your offspring- we need creative strategies to encourage creation of Life we want to nurture.
Come again? Repeat Please. Tomorrow on the Mall will be a Protest Rally and March on Washington for Congress to make a Constitutional Amendment to establish the Right to Cut Off Your Nose To Spite Your Face.
OK. That sounds ridiculous. But not as ridiculous as the Constitutional Right to kill your offspring in utero. Imagine such a Protest Rally. Let's amend the US Constitution so that there is a "Right" to kill your offspring in utero. What does the bill look like ---- "it being universally understood that there is an intrisic right to kill your offspring in utero, after neglecting to "choose" to exercise all reasonable precaution to avoid an unwanted pregnancy, after neglecting to "choose" to not take your clothes off in the presence of a man, after neglecting to "choose" to not engage in intimate behavior with said male, after neglecting to "choose" not to drink half a bottle of red, after neglecting to not "choose" to taxi to his place, after neglecting to "choose" not to answer the phone and neglecting to "choose" to say "no thanks" to the evening, we now find that there is a Constitutional Right to "choose" to bear the natural totally predictable consequences of every previous wrong or bad choice---why?? because women are just too dumb to know better? You are insulting my intelligence.
Get Serious. Why don't they just call the bill the "Constitutional Right to be too drunk to know what I was doing" or the "Constitutional Right to not figure out how not to have sex" or the "Constitutional Right to not be smart enough to figure out how to leave my husband before getting knocked up again" or the "Constitutional Right to have conjugal sex and forget the birth control" or the "Constitutional Right to be as horny and dumb as I want to be." I like this one "The Constitutional Right to actually believe the guy when he said he loves me when followed immediately by the grope for my brastrap."
Because that is what we want to do- create an entire country and culture of really dumb women with the sexual and relational smarts of a labrador.
Oh- and we want to encourage the male sex drive to function without any reality checks. Because the wilder men can behave badly helps society? Sexploitation alleviates aggressive behaviors? Better they are screwing around rampantly than shooting people in the streets?
An abortion "Right" pretty much makes it alternative birth control doesn't it?
No worries- screw around all you want and all you have to do is butcher the woman if she conceives---as many times as you need to.
There used to be a rule in basic tort law that says your right to swing your fist ends at your neighbor's nose-right? The neighbor in this case is living inside your uterus. Swing all you want but don't cut off the life support.
The "my body my business" mantra would make sense, only, the fetus thing is/was actually NOT your body. It's a completely different DNA composition than your body that will have totally different fingerprints than yours. It could have a totally different blood type, and even not be your same gender. The "my body my business" boast would make sense, except it's NOT! It's just not your body. You don't own it, and it isn't "you." You just house it.
The discussion isn't about whether you are entitled to kill an experiment in taking a few of your cells to clone you- it's about whether you have a right to kill something living and growing inside you that IS NOT YOU. It is a completely new different human being that you only half participated in making in the physical dimension. On the spiritual dimension you had no say at all in it's soul attribution. So, no- it's not about "your body your business" its about that OTHER BODY that is growing inside you.
Please people. Really. Seriously. There is no Constitutional Right to have an abortion.
The "privacy" doctrine assumes you are alone! The "privacy" doctrine penumbrally assumed if not overtly found in the Constitution presumes that there is no one else there- the thing sucking its thumb inside your belly is there. You already have a guest with you sleeping close to your heart in bed with you.
If we make up a Constitutional right to an abortion the entire country has landed on the Jerry Springer show. Seriously. There is no Constitutional Right to kill your offspring in utero.
[If we did it to a litter of pre-born puppies it would be felonious animal cruelty- but we can do it to little pre-born people and it's a Constitutional Right? Are you kidding?]
Here's a better idea:
Why don't we get a Presidential website together and list the best "get over" lines.
Women can describe the best pick up lines they have received and the best strategies for nailing them- they can be put into school curriculum to the extent that people are not told by their brothers that males in heat would if allowed have sex with any and everything in a skirt and their couch if the cushions were tight enough.
Then you might start seeing the unwanted pregnancy stats go down.
Couple that with some free higher degrees/education for women/girls and free field trips to anywhere but the inner city and you might find dreams expanding beyond "all that she wants is another baby."
Then put in every McDonalds playland a free ultrasound machine and in every office a lactation room next to the kitchen and the abortion stats would plummet.
We don't need a Constitutional Amendment to create a new "Right" to kill your offspring- we need creative strategies to encourage creation of Life we want to nurture.
Friday, January 30, 2009
This land is your land, this land is my land, from California, to the New York Island
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou, who has brought us thus far along the way,
Thou, who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray…
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
true to our native land.
God of our silent tears,
Thou, who has brought us thus far along the way,
Thou, who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray…
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
true to our native land.
I nearly cried- Who is playing Ledbetter in the Movie?
OBAMA-
HE IS
MORE PRO-LIFE THAN YOU UNDERSTAND
The First Presidential Bill signed was not some act repealing all the abortion restrictions as the conservatives hysterically postured prior to the election, putting up Palin to drum up the hysterical nonsense to appeal to the mindless republican base. Your cartoon character assassination attempt to sqewer Obama as a baby-killing monster didn't work. You just look ridiculous.
The First Presidential Bill signed was one that will save more babies from abortion than anyone realizes and solidify family life for half the country.
Yesterday, if you missed it while others of us sat at our desks nearly crying in gratitude
OBAMA signed a bill which ameneded the Civil Rights Act. If you are not a lawyer you might not get how important this little act of clarifying the reach of the 180 day rule for reporting discrimination actually is, but trust me- it is a very big deal.
Ms. Ledbetter, who no doubt spent a career working at a Goodyear rubber tire facility because of the deep psychic wage (NOT) sued and was awarded originally several million dollars for a career wherein she was systematically discriminated against over years- almost a lifetime, by getting a fraction of what the other good old boys got paid-just for being a woman. Goodyear took it to the Supreme Court and won a shallow unjust victory wherein the Court restricted discrimination claims to only those within the 180 day reporting period - and not those prior to those 180 days- imposing a rigid statute of limitations interpretation that was never intended by Congress in the first place. The effect of the new law is that the discrimination experienced prior to the 180 days may be tacked on with the last act occuring within 180 days such that all of this is now actionable-and compensable. I have yet to read the whole act in full but will soon-more later. That is the gist as I understand it.
Why is this more Pro-Life than a million people marching on the mall carrying signs saying "we choose life?"- Because this makes life more possible. It means companies may not, under threat of serious monetary damage, engage in institutional discrimination against women- just because they are women. (or blacks just because they are black, or hispanics just because they are hispanic, etc...) This is faith in action not just a crowd shouting at tilted windmills.
Half the country is divorced. Many women are out there single on their own. Many women are raising children on their own or helping other women who have to raise them on their own. It is unjust and unjustifiable for women to make a penny less than a man for doing exactly the same job just because the guy is presumed to have greater financial responsibility (or a worse golf habbit). I had a widowed grandmother lose her husband and go back to work and eventually got a graduate degree at age 50 or so. I have a widowed godmother/aunt who lost her husband with two small children when she was in her early 40s. None of that was because they were sinful or bad women. They needed every penny that their labor could earn while raising children.
Obama struck a beautiful tone with this first Bill signing. He had bipartisan support of the Senator from Maine and other women- because this is a non-partisan issue. It is a decency and fairness issue.
What could Alito possibly have been thinking when making that Ledbetter ruling? That the slick class action plaintiff's attorneys were going to ruin these good solid hardworking companies? Ridiculous- the only companies who would be ruined would be those ignorant enough to institutionalize discrimination policies that they implemented over years- and believe me- some of them should be whacked hard on their bottom line.
I love this President. This is a man who is obviously so brilliant and so secure in his manhood that a strong professional woman does not threaten him in the slightest --he views it as an asset to him. He doesn't need to cut her or any woman off at the knees, because he understands that the stronger you empower women, the stronger you empower children, and the stronger you empower families, and the stronger a Life Force are you. Obama understands that we have to have a society where we RESPECT women, rather than undermining their dignity.
A very large factor in women's psychology for those who have had abortions is a feeling of loss of complete power and control after the male who got them pregnant emotionally abandoned or betrayed them. This is a respect and dignity issue. If you address that, you will stop a multitude of abortions. Instead of teaching men how not to commit emotional or physical adultery with women, men continue to exploit and use them in myriad ways- even men of the cloth.
Emotional adultery is as deep a betrayal as a physical one.
Respect and Dignity of women translates directly into Life- more life, new life and fuller life.
When the Republicans finally get how far off the ranch they are on this, then we will see a country where Life is truly flourishing in abundance.
THANK YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA- THANK YOU LILLY LEDBETTER.
HE IS
MORE PRO-LIFE THAN YOU UNDERSTAND
The First Presidential Bill signed was not some act repealing all the abortion restrictions as the conservatives hysterically postured prior to the election, putting up Palin to drum up the hysterical nonsense to appeal to the mindless republican base. Your cartoon character assassination attempt to sqewer Obama as a baby-killing monster didn't work. You just look ridiculous.
The First Presidential Bill signed was one that will save more babies from abortion than anyone realizes and solidify family life for half the country.
Yesterday, if you missed it while others of us sat at our desks nearly crying in gratitude
OBAMA signed a bill which ameneded the Civil Rights Act. If you are not a lawyer you might not get how important this little act of clarifying the reach of the 180 day rule for reporting discrimination actually is, but trust me- it is a very big deal.
Ms. Ledbetter, who no doubt spent a career working at a Goodyear rubber tire facility because of the deep psychic wage (NOT) sued and was awarded originally several million dollars for a career wherein she was systematically discriminated against over years- almost a lifetime, by getting a fraction of what the other good old boys got paid-just for being a woman. Goodyear took it to the Supreme Court and won a shallow unjust victory wherein the Court restricted discrimination claims to only those within the 180 day reporting period - and not those prior to those 180 days- imposing a rigid statute of limitations interpretation that was never intended by Congress in the first place. The effect of the new law is that the discrimination experienced prior to the 180 days may be tacked on with the last act occuring within 180 days such that all of this is now actionable-and compensable. I have yet to read the whole act in full but will soon-more later. That is the gist as I understand it.
Why is this more Pro-Life than a million people marching on the mall carrying signs saying "we choose life?"- Because this makes life more possible. It means companies may not, under threat of serious monetary damage, engage in institutional discrimination against women- just because they are women. (or blacks just because they are black, or hispanics just because they are hispanic, etc...) This is faith in action not just a crowd shouting at tilted windmills.
Half the country is divorced. Many women are out there single on their own. Many women are raising children on their own or helping other women who have to raise them on their own. It is unjust and unjustifiable for women to make a penny less than a man for doing exactly the same job just because the guy is presumed to have greater financial responsibility (or a worse golf habbit). I had a widowed grandmother lose her husband and go back to work and eventually got a graduate degree at age 50 or so. I have a widowed godmother/aunt who lost her husband with two small children when she was in her early 40s. None of that was because they were sinful or bad women. They needed every penny that their labor could earn while raising children.
Obama struck a beautiful tone with this first Bill signing. He had bipartisan support of the Senator from Maine and other women- because this is a non-partisan issue. It is a decency and fairness issue.
What could Alito possibly have been thinking when making that Ledbetter ruling? That the slick class action plaintiff's attorneys were going to ruin these good solid hardworking companies? Ridiculous- the only companies who would be ruined would be those ignorant enough to institutionalize discrimination policies that they implemented over years- and believe me- some of them should be whacked hard on their bottom line.
I love this President. This is a man who is obviously so brilliant and so secure in his manhood that a strong professional woman does not threaten him in the slightest --he views it as an asset to him. He doesn't need to cut her or any woman off at the knees, because he understands that the stronger you empower women, the stronger you empower children, and the stronger you empower families, and the stronger a Life Force are you. Obama understands that we have to have a society where we RESPECT women, rather than undermining their dignity.
A very large factor in women's psychology for those who have had abortions is a feeling of loss of complete power and control after the male who got them pregnant emotionally abandoned or betrayed them. This is a respect and dignity issue. If you address that, you will stop a multitude of abortions. Instead of teaching men how not to commit emotional or physical adultery with women, men continue to exploit and use them in myriad ways- even men of the cloth.
Emotional adultery is as deep a betrayal as a physical one.
Respect and Dignity of women translates directly into Life- more life, new life and fuller life.
When the Republicans finally get how far off the ranch they are on this, then we will see a country where Life is truly flourishing in abundance.
THANK YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA- THANK YOU LILLY LEDBETTER.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Glory Glory Hallelujiah
HIS TRUTH IS MARCHING ON
Look at the Crowds even back here!
What a day.
I got to see most of it from the jumbatrons with my sister and her niece-in-law. Then my poor sister landed in the medical tent from the cold combined with a stomach virus.
The Medical Tent was a testimony to the determination of a people to see change happen-with the FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW. Mothers with small children braved the cold, a five month old pregnant woman went into early contractions in the medical tent and was first in line for the ambulance (lots of luck, the roads were blocked for miles). Men of all ages who stood for four hours in dress socks and work shoes dethawed their toes under the round superspace heater, a diabetic started shivering, and the effects of people who partied hardy the previous night combined with the cold that dehydrated them into exhaustion found solace on an army cot under tin foil "space blankets." Nothing was stopping these people from witnessing History.
Glory Glory Hallelujiah, his truth is marching on.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Blessed and Beloved Sister Ann (Society of Saint Joseph) at Holy Trinity in Georgetown got a surprise treat today when Joe Biden's secret service sprung on her that yes, indeed, Joe and Jill Biden were coming to Sunday Mass this morning. The nice Secret Service guy gave her a pin of the US with the Secret Service insignia on it.
All in a day's work for Sister Ann.
Obama- Do you remember this baby?
On the campaign trail Obama did some baby kissing- and the Baby came to Washington!! (she has more hair now a year older)
O.N.E: One Nation Empowered [Under God]
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN WASHINGTON
The demons ran for cover from the Capital today and the fog was blown away by the music.
Joe Biden standing in front of Abe Lincoln telling the country that "Honey, it's going to be all right" made me feel once again that this country is a safe place to live, work, love, play and grow--a feeling I lost over the last 8 years. Sounding and looking like the "Every-grandfather" his tone and comportment were completely comforting. Jill's smile couldn't be brighter. Goodness came home. You could cut the happiness in the air with a whistle. In every hotel lobby in the city people are hugging each other and taking each other's pictures in their Sunday best.
Obama echoed on the Mall the now familiar theme that if we see ourselves in each other we can perfect this Union--and fully realize that American dream, encouraging the amazing spirit of joy and hope that is flooding the capital with the feeling of universal brotherhood that has people high-fiving, back slapping and holding multi-colored hands all over the place in public, bundled scarves flapping in the wind under every variety of furr, felt and wool hat. Ladies from the choir are walzing around the Mall in Mink Coats y'all. It' amazing.
I'll tell you, it's a GREAT DAY TO BE AN AMERICAN.
THANK YOU
To Archbishop Donald Wuerl and the family of clergy at Saint Matthews Cathedral in Washington for the blessing on the Administration and the reminder that we are all called to
help create a just society for the common good. Thanks for also reminding us that a good society has to be a virtuous one and the notion of "good" without "virtue" is oxymoronic and risks being self-serving. (The Inaugural will be followed the next day with an enormous Mass at the Verizon Center to kick off the March for Life in which hundreds of thousands of people converge on the Mall in remembrance of the need to protect the still most vulnerable of our pre-born citizens whose common good has been servile to fear and other venial interests.)
THANK YOU ALSO to the dynamic woman preacher the Schullers had on the Crystal Cathedral from a Methodist Church in Texas (http://www.prayerinstitute.com/) who led the congregation in this prayer of Hope:
A PRAYER OF HOPE
O.N.E,(One Nation Empowered) Prayer
PRAYING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Letter of Invitation
A Prayer for O.N.E. (One Nation Empowered)
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance. Psalm 33:12
Almighty Father, God, You merely spoke and the heavens were created. You breathed the Word, and all the stars were born. You assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. We praise Your name forever and ever, for You possess all wisdom and power. Father, thank You for blessing the United States of America with abundance and prosperity. Thank You for surrounding our nation with Your favor, grace, and mercy. Jesus, thank You for shedding Your blood for our redemption. Holy Spirit, thank You for Your guidance and power. You are an awesome God!
Heavenly Father, let Your kingdom come and Your will be done in our nation. Your Word states that we are to pray for kings and all people who are in authority, so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives that are marked by godliness and dignity. We know that this is good and acceptable in Your sight. Today, we pray for our new President, Barack Obama, and his presidential administration. We declare that as they prepare to lead our nation, they will trust in You with all of their hearts. They will not depend on their own understanding, but they will seek Your will in all they do and we expect that You, Lord, will show them which path to take when making decisions for the American people.
We decree that our local, state, and national leaders will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful; but their delight will be in the law of the Lord and in His law they will meditate day and night. They will be like trees planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf will not wither and whatever they do will prosper. Gracious Father, some nations boast of their chariots and horses; but we boast in the Name of the Lord, our God.
We submit to Your care,
President Barack Obama,
Vice President Joe Biden,
Nancy Pelosi,
Harry Reid,
Hillary Clinton,
Timothy Geithner,
Robert Gates,
Eric Holder,
Ken Salazar,
Thomas Vilsack,
Hilda Solis,
Tom Daschle,
Shaun Donovan,
Ray LaHood,
Steven Chu,
Arne Duncan,
Eric Shinseki,
Janet Napolitano,
Leon Panetta,
Dennis Blair,
Lisa Jackson,
Robert Mueller,
Lawrence Summers,
James Jones,
Susan Rice,
Peter Orszag,
Ron Kirk,
Robert Gibbs,
Rahm Emanuel,
the U.S. Congress and all governmental officials.
Holy Spirit, unite this new administration and remind all of our leaders that they are working for the good of the nation and not for the advancement of self. Please help our leaders to put aside “politics” and operate in the best interest of the American people. Heal the wounds that negative politics, fear and ignorance have created within our nation. Empower us, the Body of Christ, to lead the effort in the healing process. Eternal God, Lord of Heaven’s Armies, we ask You to bless and protect our leaders’ families. Please continue to protect our troops and our borders. Increase the courage and strength of our servicemen and women as they fight courageously for our country.
Merciful Father, we repent on behalf of our nation for our many sins. We acknowledge that our actions have created problems that only You can solve. Forgive us for all sin, including greed, arrogance, selfish ambition, disobedience, rebellion, hypocrisy, injustice, jealousy, hatred, violence, ageism, sexism, racism, and dissension. Father, forgive us for shedding innocent blood and denying Your power. We confess that we have not loved the world as You love the world. We ask You to heal our land and make us one, even as You and Jesus are One. Please have mercy upon all of us and help us! As a nation, show us those we need to forgive and help us to forgive.
Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from the evil one.
Now, unto You, the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Scripture References for the Written Text: Psalm 33:6-7, Daniel 2:20, Matthew 6:10, I Timothy 2:1-3, Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 11:14, Proverbs 4:6, Proverbs 22:4, Psalm 1:1-3 (NKJV), Psalm 20:7, Philippians 4:19, Matthew 6:13, I Timothy 1:17
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The demons ran for cover from the Capital today and the fog was blown away by the music.
Joe Biden standing in front of Abe Lincoln telling the country that "Honey, it's going to be all right" made me feel once again that this country is a safe place to live, work, love, play and grow--a feeling I lost over the last 8 years. Sounding and looking like the "Every-grandfather" his tone and comportment were completely comforting. Jill's smile couldn't be brighter. Goodness came home. You could cut the happiness in the air with a whistle. In every hotel lobby in the city people are hugging each other and taking each other's pictures in their Sunday best.
Obama echoed on the Mall the now familiar theme that if we see ourselves in each other we can perfect this Union--and fully realize that American dream, encouraging the amazing spirit of joy and hope that is flooding the capital with the feeling of universal brotherhood that has people high-fiving, back slapping and holding multi-colored hands all over the place in public, bundled scarves flapping in the wind under every variety of furr, felt and wool hat. Ladies from the choir are walzing around the Mall in Mink Coats y'all. It' amazing.
I'll tell you, it's a GREAT DAY TO BE AN AMERICAN.
THANK YOU
To Archbishop Donald Wuerl and the family of clergy at Saint Matthews Cathedral in Washington for the blessing on the Administration and the reminder that we are all called to
help create a just society for the common good. Thanks for also reminding us that a good society has to be a virtuous one and the notion of "good" without "virtue" is oxymoronic and risks being self-serving. (The Inaugural will be followed the next day with an enormous Mass at the Verizon Center to kick off the March for Life in which hundreds of thousands of people converge on the Mall in remembrance of the need to protect the still most vulnerable of our pre-born citizens whose common good has been servile to fear and other venial interests.)
THANK YOU ALSO to the dynamic woman preacher the Schullers had on the Crystal Cathedral from a Methodist Church in Texas (http://www.prayerinstitute.com/) who led the congregation in this prayer of Hope:
A PRAYER OF HOPE
O.N.E,(One Nation Empowered) Prayer
PRAYING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Letter of Invitation
A Prayer for O.N.E. (One Nation Empowered)
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance. Psalm 33:12
Almighty Father, God, You merely spoke and the heavens were created. You breathed the Word, and all the stars were born. You assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. We praise Your name forever and ever, for You possess all wisdom and power. Father, thank You for blessing the United States of America with abundance and prosperity. Thank You for surrounding our nation with Your favor, grace, and mercy. Jesus, thank You for shedding Your blood for our redemption. Holy Spirit, thank You for Your guidance and power. You are an awesome God!
Heavenly Father, let Your kingdom come and Your will be done in our nation. Your Word states that we are to pray for kings and all people who are in authority, so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives that are marked by godliness and dignity. We know that this is good and acceptable in Your sight. Today, we pray for our new President, Barack Obama, and his presidential administration. We declare that as they prepare to lead our nation, they will trust in You with all of their hearts. They will not depend on their own understanding, but they will seek Your will in all they do and we expect that You, Lord, will show them which path to take when making decisions for the American people.
We decree that our local, state, and national leaders will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful; but their delight will be in the law of the Lord and in His law they will meditate day and night. They will be like trees planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf will not wither and whatever they do will prosper. Gracious Father, some nations boast of their chariots and horses; but we boast in the Name of the Lord, our God.
We submit to Your care,
President Barack Obama,
Vice President Joe Biden,
Nancy Pelosi,
Harry Reid,
Hillary Clinton,
Timothy Geithner,
Robert Gates,
Eric Holder,
Ken Salazar,
Thomas Vilsack,
Hilda Solis,
Tom Daschle,
Shaun Donovan,
Ray LaHood,
Steven Chu,
Arne Duncan,
Eric Shinseki,
Janet Napolitano,
Leon Panetta,
Dennis Blair,
Lisa Jackson,
Robert Mueller,
Lawrence Summers,
James Jones,
Susan Rice,
Peter Orszag,
Ron Kirk,
Robert Gibbs,
Rahm Emanuel,
the U.S. Congress and all governmental officials.
Holy Spirit, unite this new administration and remind all of our leaders that they are working for the good of the nation and not for the advancement of self. Please help our leaders to put aside “politics” and operate in the best interest of the American people. Heal the wounds that negative politics, fear and ignorance have created within our nation. Empower us, the Body of Christ, to lead the effort in the healing process. Eternal God, Lord of Heaven’s Armies, we ask You to bless and protect our leaders’ families. Please continue to protect our troops and our borders. Increase the courage and strength of our servicemen and women as they fight courageously for our country.
Merciful Father, we repent on behalf of our nation for our many sins. We acknowledge that our actions have created problems that only You can solve. Forgive us for all sin, including greed, arrogance, selfish ambition, disobedience, rebellion, hypocrisy, injustice, jealousy, hatred, violence, ageism, sexism, racism, and dissension. Father, forgive us for shedding innocent blood and denying Your power. We confess that we have not loved the world as You love the world. We ask You to heal our land and make us one, even as You and Jesus are One. Please have mercy upon all of us and help us! As a nation, show us those we need to forgive and help us to forgive.
Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from the evil one.
Now, unto You, the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Scripture References for the Written Text: Psalm 33:6-7, Daniel 2:20, Matthew 6:10, I Timothy 2:1-3, Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 11:14, Proverbs 4:6, Proverbs 22:4, Psalm 1:1-3 (NKJV), Psalm 20:7, Philippians 4:19, Matthew 6:13, I Timothy 1:17
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Saturday, January 17, 2009
Barach Lands- Whistle Stop ends at Union Station
After a few brilliant speeches not heard by enough people because it's freezing out there.
A more memorable line ---
If we could just recognize ourselves in each other..... we could make a more perfect Union (liberally paraphrased by a liberal)
A more memorable line ---
If we could just recognize ourselves in each other..... we could make a more perfect Union (liberally paraphrased by a liberal)
Friday, January 16, 2009
Love is Higher Than All The Theological Virtues
And Real Love Creates Real Life as God is the Great Creator. Immitations look like vain works and hanging on to status through works.
I thought I would give a Sermon a crack based on today's reading (to see if I can do better than the local Pastor)[Malachai 2]:
Today's reading is the following:
When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home.
Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them.
They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,“Child, your sins are forgiven.”Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming.
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,‘Your sins are forgiven,’or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”–he said to the paralytic,“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone.
They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
The SON OF MAN has authority to forgive sins. The SON OF MAN- JESUS. He has the authority to forgive sins. Thus the chest pounding Pastor who may or may not be more sinful in fact than the people he is looking at (no comment) has according to scripture no more authority to forgive sins than the Son of Man---- and no one else sitting in the pew has any more authority to forgive sins than than the Son of Man.
God and the Christ Jesus have authority to forgive sins. Because "I and the Father are ONE" said Jesus.
Jesus is a person/third part of the triune God, who forgives sins in the name of the Father- because He and the Father are ONE (hear oh Israel) Thus, our sins are forgiven by virtue of the sacrificial act that Jesus performed on the cross in atonement redemptively for all our sins (more perfect and pure than an unblemished lamb and the only acceptable sacrifice). And there is something more that Jesus tells us operates as the catalyst- it says "when Jesus saw their faith" he said your sins have been forgiven.
FAITH then is the operating catalyst to forgiveness of sins. It also seems like the faith of the community carried some weight- it was the entire crowd who opened the roof and lowered the guy for the healing. Scripture notes that it was after viewing their faith collectively that sins were forgiven.
Jesus who is alive and active, really sitting in Heaven with God, demands that we all have a direct individual personal real relationship with Him-where we read his love letters (the bible) and talk to him daily and call on him and perform works in his name-because it is that direct relationship, love of him and calling on his name, and doing the Matthew 25 things on earth that create in us the love that is Him that bridges us to heaven.
Mary does not serve this purpose- because Mary did not die on a cross in redemptive substitute sacrifice. Praying to Mary won't get you to heaven--it should point you to her son. Her value is in her motherhood as the Theotokas (Mother of God) [Another reason it's completely whacked that the Catholic church views barenness and childlessness in women as a defining feature of advanced spirituality]
The power is in the blood and name of Jesus of Nazareth. The redemption is in the blood and name of Jesus. The forgiveness is through Jesus of Nazareth. The life eternal is through Jesus of Nazareth. Blessed be the Name of the Lord. All who Call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.
It is by God's Grace that you have been saved, however, not of any good work of yours, least any of you should boast. And it is the Faith that draws you into the Grace, because you cannot believe without Faith. So the interaction of the catalyzing Faith moves you into Grace which is the free undeserved gift of God's forgiveness.
You cannot get to heaven on a budget. You cannot get to heaven because you ran a church with a surplus (while managing to deceive all the sugar mommas that you actually are in love with all of them--here's a news flash- Jesus sells himself ). You cannot get to heaven because you are such a nice looking guy, or because you delivered a few meals on wheels or even because you cracked up the crowd in a Sermon.
You can't even get to heaven because you think you are consecrating a eucharist because you are used to doing it whether Jesus wants to come to you or not -or is not listening to your prayers because of your sin or not. I truly believe that there are more than a few times when the Priest said the consecration when Jesus said back "HUH? Are you kidding me? Who are you really?"
You get to heaven because you respond appropriately to God's love, and acknowledge what he did for you that you could never do for yourself-and step up to the plate and reciprocate. You get to heaven because you practice his supreme love with all your heart, mind soul and strength. You get to heaven because your love of him compels the deepest love of people possible-- people in particular and people in general.
If the Pastor paid more attention to studying theology or talking directly to God in prayer and less attention to pathetically sucking up to the emotionally starved sugar momma crushing on him he might find more than six people in the pews (because that is just embarassing). People might actually find a semblance of Jesus in the church rather than a pompous pietistic ritual with a lot of nice embroidery and candles.
But that's just one church--- don't mind me- Some priests think that they have authority to forgive sins and are themselves forgiven for having little Love and Less Faith.
There are going to be more than a few priests who will wonder why they didn't make it to heaven-(I think I know one) and are stuck in the same pathetic ritualistic purgatory they created for themselves on earth worshiping buildings and their own image in their self delusion- when they looked so nice in the robes and recited all the stuff so perfectly. Jesus is going to say to some of these people "get the Hell away from me----I don't know who you are." Some of these people who are more lukewarm in their Faith than those who get spewed out of his mouth are in for a big shock. They had such puny little love, in such fine embroidered robes.
Love that seeks to elevate itself above its humanity isn't real love-it's love at half mast. Jesus became MAN for a reason.
The last impression I note is that Jesus must have had a house at Capernaum- because they found him at home. His parents lived in Nazareth (when exactly Joseph died isn't stated but that was where the home he grew up in was.) The house must have been fairly large to have housed such a crowd. It was a proper house with at least a "roof." It wasn't a mud hut carved in a stone wall. Jesus was a townsperson at Capernaum at one point in his life.
By the way- I did better than the local Pastor- and I am just a girl- so clearly women can preach. Blame my presybterian upbringing and Saint Ignatius of Loyola for giving me a few exercises.
If you think I am too tough on priests re-read the books of Joel and Hosea.
COMMENT:
Malachi 2
1And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
2If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
3Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
4And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
5My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
6The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
7For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
8But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
9Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
10Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
11Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
12The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
13And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
14Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
15And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
17Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
(yes, it's frustrating when the priest is a male whore)
All Comments are moderated on this site. If I don't care for what you have to say, or if it is supremely stupid (or both) it doesn't get posted.
I thought I would give a Sermon a crack based on today's reading (to see if I can do better than the local Pastor)[Malachai 2]:
Today's reading is the following:
When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home.
Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them.
They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,“Child, your sins are forgiven.”Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming.
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,‘Your sins are forgiven,’or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”–he said to the paralytic,“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone.
They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
The SON OF MAN has authority to forgive sins. The SON OF MAN- JESUS. He has the authority to forgive sins. Thus the chest pounding Pastor who may or may not be more sinful in fact than the people he is looking at (no comment) has according to scripture no more authority to forgive sins than the Son of Man---- and no one else sitting in the pew has any more authority to forgive sins than than the Son of Man.
God and the Christ Jesus have authority to forgive sins. Because "I and the Father are ONE" said Jesus.
Jesus is a person/third part of the triune God, who forgives sins in the name of the Father- because He and the Father are ONE (hear oh Israel) Thus, our sins are forgiven by virtue of the sacrificial act that Jesus performed on the cross in atonement redemptively for all our sins (more perfect and pure than an unblemished lamb and the only acceptable sacrifice). And there is something more that Jesus tells us operates as the catalyst- it says "when Jesus saw their faith" he said your sins have been forgiven.
FAITH then is the operating catalyst to forgiveness of sins. It also seems like the faith of the community carried some weight- it was the entire crowd who opened the roof and lowered the guy for the healing. Scripture notes that it was after viewing their faith collectively that sins were forgiven.
Jesus who is alive and active, really sitting in Heaven with God, demands that we all have a direct individual personal real relationship with Him-where we read his love letters (the bible) and talk to him daily and call on him and perform works in his name-because it is that direct relationship, love of him and calling on his name, and doing the Matthew 25 things on earth that create in us the love that is Him that bridges us to heaven.
Mary does not serve this purpose- because Mary did not die on a cross in redemptive substitute sacrifice. Praying to Mary won't get you to heaven--it should point you to her son. Her value is in her motherhood as the Theotokas (Mother of God) [Another reason it's completely whacked that the Catholic church views barenness and childlessness in women as a defining feature of advanced spirituality]
The power is in the blood and name of Jesus of Nazareth. The redemption is in the blood and name of Jesus. The forgiveness is through Jesus of Nazareth. The life eternal is through Jesus of Nazareth. Blessed be the Name of the Lord. All who Call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.
It is by God's Grace that you have been saved, however, not of any good work of yours, least any of you should boast. And it is the Faith that draws you into the Grace, because you cannot believe without Faith. So the interaction of the catalyzing Faith moves you into Grace which is the free undeserved gift of God's forgiveness.
You cannot get to heaven on a budget. You cannot get to heaven because you ran a church with a surplus (while managing to deceive all the sugar mommas that you actually are in love with all of them--here's a news flash- Jesus sells himself ). You cannot get to heaven because you are such a nice looking guy, or because you delivered a few meals on wheels or even because you cracked up the crowd in a Sermon.
You can't even get to heaven because you think you are consecrating a eucharist because you are used to doing it whether Jesus wants to come to you or not -or is not listening to your prayers because of your sin or not. I truly believe that there are more than a few times when the Priest said the consecration when Jesus said back "HUH? Are you kidding me? Who are you really?"
You get to heaven because you respond appropriately to God's love, and acknowledge what he did for you that you could never do for yourself-and step up to the plate and reciprocate. You get to heaven because you practice his supreme love with all your heart, mind soul and strength. You get to heaven because your love of him compels the deepest love of people possible-- people in particular and people in general.
If the Pastor paid more attention to studying theology or talking directly to God in prayer and less attention to pathetically sucking up to the emotionally starved sugar momma crushing on him he might find more than six people in the pews (because that is just embarassing). People might actually find a semblance of Jesus in the church rather than a pompous pietistic ritual with a lot of nice embroidery and candles.
But that's just one church--- don't mind me- Some priests think that they have authority to forgive sins and are themselves forgiven for having little Love and Less Faith.
There are going to be more than a few priests who will wonder why they didn't make it to heaven-(I think I know one) and are stuck in the same pathetic ritualistic purgatory they created for themselves on earth worshiping buildings and their own image in their self delusion- when they looked so nice in the robes and recited all the stuff so perfectly. Jesus is going to say to some of these people "get the Hell away from me----I don't know who you are." Some of these people who are more lukewarm in their Faith than those who get spewed out of his mouth are in for a big shock. They had such puny little love, in such fine embroidered robes.
Love that seeks to elevate itself above its humanity isn't real love-it's love at half mast. Jesus became MAN for a reason.
The last impression I note is that Jesus must have had a house at Capernaum- because they found him at home. His parents lived in Nazareth (when exactly Joseph died isn't stated but that was where the home he grew up in was.) The house must have been fairly large to have housed such a crowd. It was a proper house with at least a "roof." It wasn't a mud hut carved in a stone wall. Jesus was a townsperson at Capernaum at one point in his life.
By the way- I did better than the local Pastor- and I am just a girl- so clearly women can preach. Blame my presybterian upbringing and Saint Ignatius of Loyola for giving me a few exercises.
If you think I am too tough on priests re-read the books of Joel and Hosea.
COMMENT:
Malachi 2
1And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
2If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
3Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
4And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
5My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
6The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
7For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
8But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
9Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
10Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
11Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
12The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
13And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
14Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
15And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
17Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
(yes, it's frustrating when the priest is a male whore)
All Comments are moderated on this site. If I don't care for what you have to say, or if it is supremely stupid (or both) it doesn't get posted.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Theme of the New Era: Can We Talk?
Diplomacy means Engagement
If the Hillary confirmation Senate hearings are any bellweather, the New Era of American Foreign Policy will be one of constructive engagement; in other words - actual real diplomacy
(not bunker hiding while spear tossing).
The belief that someone's behavior will only get better if only we give them the "talk to the hand" treatment will be replaced with a more detente-ish tete-a-tete. How can you walk a mile in your neighbor's moccassins if you don't take your shoes off?
This new administration doesn't appear to be drawing lines in the sand so much as inviting everyone to the sandcastle building party. If we all play nice together maybe we can actually build something helpful and useful ---for all concerned, not just a few oil moguls and their secret
deferred stockholders.
This approach to Peace through Dialogue is one that has been mirrored in the open-hearted religious communities of all religious spectrum. Today, in Washington, DC at the RUMI FORUM (www.rumiforum.org) (founded by a Muslim Professor at Georgetown from Turkey) the Director of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington Clark Lobenstine gave an address on the importance of approaching differing faiths with more than tolerance but with respect and admiration. Tolerance basically says "I'll put up with you" while respect and admiration applauds the glorious diversity that God made us all and cherishes the godly drive in all to worship their creator as god-inspired. He was introduced by a staff member of the Georgetown Jewish chaplains office.
Beyond "tolerance" indeed is "Love" which is more than "don't do to another what you don't want done to you" and goes beyond the positive "do to your neighbor what you want done to you." Love is creative, tolerance is static. The commandment and call is to aggressively "Love" the neighbor, not just tolerate the neighbor. The Rumi Forum, a Muslim founded organization devoted to peace and dialogue, invited all faiths to this, hosted a luncheon of homemake turkish delicacies and created a wonderul environment to respectfully explore questions of faith and policy.
Last Sunday, a similar theme was echoed by the Jesuit Father Thomas Michel who addressed the John Carroll Society, a Catholic organization, and who just left to go live in Turkey after a stint as a Woodstock Theological Fellow at Georgetown University. If ever there were a hidden saint....He is a Jesuit from the American Midwest but operating out of the Indonesian Province of the Jesuits because he spent many years working in the area of Muslim-Christian cooperation in Indonesia. He didn't just tolerate his neighbors, he loved them. He noted that while living in a Muslim country, sometimes as the only Christian for miles and miles around, he was always warmly received and cared for. He recalled a touching encounter where someone noted that they love it when he comes to speak because "it's like a visit from the Prophet Jesus." He noted that this is what Christians have an obligation to be to the Muslim world- and the Prophet Jesus, we recall, came to bless, love, heal, drive out demons, and raise the dead. He didn't kill a soul, and wishes that none should perish but that all should have eternal life with him.
These people, Fr. Michel and Reverend Lobenstine, who combined have over half a century of experience in building interfaith bridges are true heros of the Faith- they are the Five Star Generals in the Christian Army marching as to War. The new "War" should be the non-violent resistence against those who would kill in the name of a God who is the Prince of Peace.
And that brings us to Martin Luther King day next Monday. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that
the call of the true Christian is to non-violently resist intolerance and evil with Love.
He caused a revolution without calling for bloodshed, and 40 years later- we are witnessing the fruit in Inagurating our first African American President.
God moves in mysterious ways- and on the move He is.
Happy Martin Luther King day to one and all.
If the Hillary confirmation Senate hearings are any bellweather, the New Era of American Foreign Policy will be one of constructive engagement; in other words - actual real diplomacy
(not bunker hiding while spear tossing).
The belief that someone's behavior will only get better if only we give them the "talk to the hand" treatment will be replaced with a more detente-ish tete-a-tete. How can you walk a mile in your neighbor's moccassins if you don't take your shoes off?
This new administration doesn't appear to be drawing lines in the sand so much as inviting everyone to the sandcastle building party. If we all play nice together maybe we can actually build something helpful and useful ---for all concerned, not just a few oil moguls and their secret
deferred stockholders.
This approach to Peace through Dialogue is one that has been mirrored in the open-hearted religious communities of all religious spectrum. Today, in Washington, DC at the RUMI FORUM (www.rumiforum.org) (founded by a Muslim Professor at Georgetown from Turkey) the Director of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington Clark Lobenstine gave an address on the importance of approaching differing faiths with more than tolerance but with respect and admiration. Tolerance basically says "I'll put up with you" while respect and admiration applauds the glorious diversity that God made us all and cherishes the godly drive in all to worship their creator as god-inspired. He was introduced by a staff member of the Georgetown Jewish chaplains office.
Beyond "tolerance" indeed is "Love" which is more than "don't do to another what you don't want done to you" and goes beyond the positive "do to your neighbor what you want done to you." Love is creative, tolerance is static. The commandment and call is to aggressively "Love" the neighbor, not just tolerate the neighbor. The Rumi Forum, a Muslim founded organization devoted to peace and dialogue, invited all faiths to this, hosted a luncheon of homemake turkish delicacies and created a wonderul environment to respectfully explore questions of faith and policy.
Last Sunday, a similar theme was echoed by the Jesuit Father Thomas Michel who addressed the John Carroll Society, a Catholic organization, and who just left to go live in Turkey after a stint as a Woodstock Theological Fellow at Georgetown University. If ever there were a hidden saint....He is a Jesuit from the American Midwest but operating out of the Indonesian Province of the Jesuits because he spent many years working in the area of Muslim-Christian cooperation in Indonesia. He didn't just tolerate his neighbors, he loved them. He noted that while living in a Muslim country, sometimes as the only Christian for miles and miles around, he was always warmly received and cared for. He recalled a touching encounter where someone noted that they love it when he comes to speak because "it's like a visit from the Prophet Jesus." He noted that this is what Christians have an obligation to be to the Muslim world- and the Prophet Jesus, we recall, came to bless, love, heal, drive out demons, and raise the dead. He didn't kill a soul, and wishes that none should perish but that all should have eternal life with him.
These people, Fr. Michel and Reverend Lobenstine, who combined have over half a century of experience in building interfaith bridges are true heros of the Faith- they are the Five Star Generals in the Christian Army marching as to War. The new "War" should be the non-violent resistence against those who would kill in the name of a God who is the Prince of Peace.
And that brings us to Martin Luther King day next Monday. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that
the call of the true Christian is to non-violently resist intolerance and evil with Love.
He caused a revolution without calling for bloodshed, and 40 years later- we are witnessing the fruit in Inagurating our first African American President.
God moves in mysterious ways- and on the move He is.
Happy Martin Luther King day to one and all.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
BLESSING OF THE ADMINISTRATION
PRE-INAUGURATION MASS NEXT SUNDAY-
SAINT MATTHEWS CATHEDRAL
http://www.stmatthewscathedral.org/
Come to Washington, DC's main downtown CATHEDRAL, Saint Matthews for a Mass and Blessing on the Inauguration and New Administration this Sunday at 5:30 pm.
You are invited to gather with your parish community and friends to pray for our country and its elected officials at the 5:30pm Mass next Sunday, January 18, to be celebrated by the Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl.
A reception will be held immediately after the Mass in the North Conference Room.
All are welcome. That Means You.
On inauguration day there will be only one Mass in the Cathedral at Noon.
SAINT MATTHEWS CATHEDRAL
http://www.stmatthewscathedral.org/
Come to Washington, DC's main downtown CATHEDRAL, Saint Matthews for a Mass and Blessing on the Inauguration and New Administration this Sunday at 5:30 pm.
You are invited to gather with your parish community and friends to pray for our country and its elected officials at the 5:30pm Mass next Sunday, January 18, to be celebrated by the Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl.
A reception will be held immediately after the Mass in the North Conference Room.
All are welcome. That Means You.
On inauguration day there will be only one Mass in the Cathedral at Noon.
(images on top are of the mosaic from the Saint Anthony of Padua chapel; they depict scenes from the life of Saint Francis of Assissi in Assissi- probably one of the most beautiful mosaics in the country- worth going to the church just to pray there.)
Saint Who?
St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 330-395)
When two saints marry- they make more Saints....
The son of two saints, Basil and Emmilia, young Gregory was raised by his older brother, St. Basil the Great, and his sister, Macrina, in modern-day Turkey. Gregory's success in his studies suggested great things were ahead for him. After becoming a professor of rhetoric, he was persuaded to devote his learning and efforts to the Church. By then married, Gregory went on to study for the priesthood and become ordained (this at a time when celibacy was not a matter of law for priests).
He was elected Bishop of Nyssa (in Lower Armenia) in 372, a period of great tension over the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. Briefly arrested after being falsely accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory was restored to his see in 378, an act met with great joy by his people.
It was after the death of his beloved brother, Basil, that Gregory really came into his own. He wrote with great effectiveness against Arianism and other questionable doctrines, gaining a reputation as a defender of orthodoxy. He was sent on missions to counter other heresies and held a position of prominence at the Council of Constantinople. His fine reputation stayed with him for the remainder of his life, but over the centuries it gradually declined as the authorship of his writings became less and less certain. But, thanks to the work of scholars in the 20th century, his stature is once again appreciated. Indeed, St. Gregory of Nyssa is seen not simply as a pillar of orthodoxy but as one of the great contributors to the mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism itself.
From the blog http://blog.beliefnet.com/pontifications/
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07016a.htm
When two saints marry- they make more Saints....
The son of two saints, Basil and Emmilia, young Gregory was raised by his older brother, St. Basil the Great, and his sister, Macrina, in modern-day Turkey. Gregory's success in his studies suggested great things were ahead for him. After becoming a professor of rhetoric, he was persuaded to devote his learning and efforts to the Church. By then married, Gregory went on to study for the priesthood and become ordained (this at a time when celibacy was not a matter of law for priests).
He was elected Bishop of Nyssa (in Lower Armenia) in 372, a period of great tension over the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. Briefly arrested after being falsely accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory was restored to his see in 378, an act met with great joy by his people.
It was after the death of his beloved brother, Basil, that Gregory really came into his own. He wrote with great effectiveness against Arianism and other questionable doctrines, gaining a reputation as a defender of orthodoxy. He was sent on missions to counter other heresies and held a position of prominence at the Council of Constantinople. His fine reputation stayed with him for the remainder of his life, but over the centuries it gradually declined as the authorship of his writings became less and less certain. But, thanks to the work of scholars in the 20th century, his stature is once again appreciated. Indeed, St. Gregory of Nyssa is seen not simply as a pillar of orthodoxy but as one of the great contributors to the mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism itself.
From the blog http://blog.beliefnet.com/pontifications/
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07016a.htm
A Priest, a Rabbi and a Baptist Minister Walked into a Bar
The Bartender said: is this some kind of joke?
.....................................
A new pastor moved into town and went out one Saturday to visit his parishioners. All went well until he came to one house. It was obvious that someone was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times.
Finally, he took out his card, wrote on the back:
"Revelation 3:20" and stuck it in the door.
(Revelation 3:20 reads: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he will with me.")
The next day, as he was counting the offering he found a card in the collection plate of the man whom he tried to visit. Below his message was a notation "Genesis 3:10" ("And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked.").
.....................................
A new pastor moved into town and went out one Saturday to visit his parishioners. All went well until he came to one house. It was obvious that someone was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times.
Finally, he took out his card, wrote on the back:
"Revelation 3:20" and stuck it in the door.
(Revelation 3:20 reads: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he will with me.")
The next day, as he was counting the offering he found a card in the collection plate of the man whom he tried to visit. Below his message was a notation "Genesis 3:10" ("And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked.").
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Inaguration Day- Open For Business
If you find yourself by around Noon on Inaguration Day looking for a warm place to stop after the parade, Saint Matthews CATHEDRAL on 17th and Rhode Island (by the M St. intersection) is open for business in the heart of downtown DC for Noon Mass (and hopefully a blessing on the festivities). Yours truly will be the lector reading the scripture that day (everyone else will be stuck in Virginia)- so if you are curious about who edits this mess, go to Saint Matthews Cathedral on January 20th at Noon. They'll leave the light on for you.
Monday, January 12, 2009
What is this? A Rose By Any Other Name.......
Dialogue between the Skeptic (“S”) and Faithist (“F”).
S- What is it exactly?
-it’s mere tissue, a few cells. Protoplasmic blob. My body, my business.
F-No, It’s a person.
S-So what makes it a person?
F-It isn’t a dog, monkey, lamb or turtle is it?
S-No but neither can it ride a bike, drive a car, yell at its mother or eat its vegetables.
F-So functionality and functional ability defines “human?-What about a disabled person, they are still a person-right? Which functions define personhood?”
S- Well, if they look like a person they are a person, not a monkey, dog, turtle or lamb.
F-So looking like a person is what makes a person? Phenotype defines personhood ?
S- Perhaps. You know it when you see it, hear it or run into it on the metro.
F-So a robot that looks like a person is a person?
S-No, silly- a robot isn’t human, it’s man made.
F-OK, so a person is what- man made with woman? Anything man made with women is a person? What about man made with a testtube? Let’s say phenotype plus functionality that looks like a person is a person.
Is that it?
S- OK, so if it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, quacks like a duck- functionality plus physicality or phenotype-that makes a person? What about a really good robot- doesn’t it have to have person cells, differentiated human cells?.
- a tissue looks like a tissue, a few cells look like just a few cells- I don’t see a face. If I don’t see a face, it can’t be a person.
F-But what if it has at the microcellular level human memory capability and coding such that it will be a fully formed human eventually. It has a full complement of human DNA shouldn’t we call it then a person?.
S-nice theory, but it has to be born; an acorn is not a tree, a caterpillar is not a butterfly and a
a chicken is not an egg and an egg is not a chicken.
Were that the case we could make egg frickasee, egg kiev and scrambled chicken.
Their physical properties are different. One takes up more space than the other – one clucks and struts. The other fries in under five minutes.
If an acorn were a tree we would be strapping hammocks between acorns, and lounging underneath them for shade. The "born" part is the metamorphasis that vests legal rights of personhood. If "born" isn't the defining line then I will settle for "viable."
F- Yes, but isn't "born" a bit of an arbitrary line in the sand when the thing looks exactly the same five minutes after birth as it did before birth? Why that line? Why any line? Isn't "viable" just a circular definition that begs itself? Even a newborn needs others to exist. If no one feeds it or shelters it a newborn isn't viable-it will die. It needs another person more capable in basic life functions to exist. Aren't we making definitions that serve the argument rather than make it?
If people are coded people by virtue of their full complement of DNA, and their cell capacity for human memory, from the minute of "conception" and in the fullness of time they will become fully people, then all that is missing to make them people is time.
And God’s time is not our time; a thousand years is as a day to him and a day as a thousand years.
Kind of gives new meaning to the term "when two or more are gathered in my name I am there" doesn't it? Because two or more cells gathered in his name, a union of two souls who merge two cells of sperm and egg in his name, into a created likeness of him- make him there in a sense, he is in a sense there-right?
S- So what are you saying? These little people are really already a thousand years old?
F- Perhaps in some other dimension.
In this dimension they are tiny persons. Microscopic persons if you will. Coming to earth for a millisecond of eternity, growing like a time lapsed image of an opening lily- only made in the very image and likeness of God- a chip off the old block or a slice off the big pie. A lily opened and a lily closed is still a lily and a rose by any other name....
We just had Christmas- God came as a baby, and if God was a baby, before that God was an embryo, and before that God was a Zygote. God existed in his full complementarity in a few cells at one point.
You gave your child a name after he saw earth's daylight and was born. But the same being existed before he was born, and a month before he was born, the same child of the same name existed only a month smaller, and a month earlier, a month smaller, until the same child by the same name was but a few cells.
And God said that he gave them all purpose already; he gave them in his mind’s eye more than function, purpose. Purpose is more like Mission than Function.
Each one is unique, each one has a purpose to fulfill. Each one is like a tiny circuit in the puzzle of micro-chips that make up the motherboard of humanity. Each one is designed to produce, create or contribute something unique.
So it’s easy to see that if there are 3 million abortions a year, in a country of 300 million, we are missing one one-hundredth of our citizen circuitry.
S- No wonder the country is a mess.
F- Exactly.
F- Did you know that there was a time when legally a black person was considered only 3/4th a person in America?
S- Yes, absurdly cruel and hard to imagine now, but that was just because society was so bigoted against a group of people that they believed something that looked different in one phenotypical property did not have the full complement of all essential elements of personhood.
F- Exactly.
S- And because the definition of "person" served the ruling powerful class’s interests in depriving the less powerful and easily exploitable vulnerable voiceless of their legal rights to serve the pecuniary interests of the more powerful.
F- Exactly. That’s a good segue to the stem cell debate- for another day.
S- You are starting to sound like one of those religious nutcases.
F- Badge of Honor- Just as long as you don't start sounding like one of those plantation owners who could justify shooting runaway slaves who had no legal right of personhood being only 3/4th human.
S- What is it exactly?
-it’s mere tissue, a few cells. Protoplasmic blob. My body, my business.
F-No, It’s a person.
S-So what makes it a person?
F-It isn’t a dog, monkey, lamb or turtle is it?
S-No but neither can it ride a bike, drive a car, yell at its mother or eat its vegetables.
F-So functionality and functional ability defines “human?-What about a disabled person, they are still a person-right? Which functions define personhood?”
S- Well, if they look like a person they are a person, not a monkey, dog, turtle or lamb.
F-So looking like a person is what makes a person? Phenotype defines personhood ?
S- Perhaps. You know it when you see it, hear it or run into it on the metro.
F-So a robot that looks like a person is a person?
S-No, silly- a robot isn’t human, it’s man made.
F-OK, so a person is what- man made with woman? Anything man made with women is a person? What about man made with a testtube? Let’s say phenotype plus functionality that looks like a person is a person.
Is that it?
S- OK, so if it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, quacks like a duck- functionality plus physicality or phenotype-that makes a person? What about a really good robot- doesn’t it have to have person cells, differentiated human cells?.
- a tissue looks like a tissue, a few cells look like just a few cells- I don’t see a face. If I don’t see a face, it can’t be a person.
F-But what if it has at the microcellular level human memory capability and coding such that it will be a fully formed human eventually. It has a full complement of human DNA shouldn’t we call it then a person?.
S-nice theory, but it has to be born; an acorn is not a tree, a caterpillar is not a butterfly and a
a chicken is not an egg and an egg is not a chicken.
Were that the case we could make egg frickasee, egg kiev and scrambled chicken.
Their physical properties are different. One takes up more space than the other – one clucks and struts. The other fries in under five minutes.
If an acorn were a tree we would be strapping hammocks between acorns, and lounging underneath them for shade. The "born" part is the metamorphasis that vests legal rights of personhood. If "born" isn't the defining line then I will settle for "viable."
F- Yes, but isn't "born" a bit of an arbitrary line in the sand when the thing looks exactly the same five minutes after birth as it did before birth? Why that line? Why any line? Isn't "viable" just a circular definition that begs itself? Even a newborn needs others to exist. If no one feeds it or shelters it a newborn isn't viable-it will die. It needs another person more capable in basic life functions to exist. Aren't we making definitions that serve the argument rather than make it?
If people are coded people by virtue of their full complement of DNA, and their cell capacity for human memory, from the minute of "conception" and in the fullness of time they will become fully people, then all that is missing to make them people is time.
And God’s time is not our time; a thousand years is as a day to him and a day as a thousand years.
Kind of gives new meaning to the term "when two or more are gathered in my name I am there" doesn't it? Because two or more cells gathered in his name, a union of two souls who merge two cells of sperm and egg in his name, into a created likeness of him- make him there in a sense, he is in a sense there-right?
S- So what are you saying? These little people are really already a thousand years old?
F- Perhaps in some other dimension.
In this dimension they are tiny persons. Microscopic persons if you will. Coming to earth for a millisecond of eternity, growing like a time lapsed image of an opening lily- only made in the very image and likeness of God- a chip off the old block or a slice off the big pie. A lily opened and a lily closed is still a lily and a rose by any other name....
We just had Christmas- God came as a baby, and if God was a baby, before that God was an embryo, and before that God was a Zygote. God existed in his full complementarity in a few cells at one point.
You gave your child a name after he saw earth's daylight and was born. But the same being existed before he was born, and a month before he was born, the same child of the same name existed only a month smaller, and a month earlier, a month smaller, until the same child by the same name was but a few cells.
And God said that he gave them all purpose already; he gave them in his mind’s eye more than function, purpose. Purpose is more like Mission than Function.
Each one is unique, each one has a purpose to fulfill. Each one is like a tiny circuit in the puzzle of micro-chips that make up the motherboard of humanity. Each one is designed to produce, create or contribute something unique.
So it’s easy to see that if there are 3 million abortions a year, in a country of 300 million, we are missing one one-hundredth of our citizen circuitry.
S- No wonder the country is a mess.
F- Exactly.
F- Did you know that there was a time when legally a black person was considered only 3/4th a person in America?
S- Yes, absurdly cruel and hard to imagine now, but that was just because society was so bigoted against a group of people that they believed something that looked different in one phenotypical property did not have the full complement of all essential elements of personhood.
F- Exactly.
S- And because the definition of "person" served the ruling powerful class’s interests in depriving the less powerful and easily exploitable vulnerable voiceless of their legal rights to serve the pecuniary interests of the more powerful.
F- Exactly. That’s a good segue to the stem cell debate- for another day.
S- You are starting to sound like one of those religious nutcases.
F- Badge of Honor- Just as long as you don't start sounding like one of those plantation owners who could justify shooting runaway slaves who had no legal right of personhood being only 3/4th human.
Baptism to Heaven
Yesterday morning Rome time, a beloved dear friend of American Catholics and particularly the John Carroll Society in Washington, DC went home to the Lord.
Longtime friend of the John Carroll Society, former Papal Nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Pio Laghi, passed away yesterday on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Our prayers and sympathy go out to his family, to the Church, and to those whose lives were touched by Cardinal Laghi.
His funeral will be held in St. Peter's Basilica on Tuesday.
I was blessed to celebrate a special Mass with him and his special friend at an Airport chapel in Ireland once. Just the three of us. Very special.
I am praying to him for miracles now- he has a better view.
From the official Vatican Information Service
TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF CARDINAL LAGHI
VATICAN CITY, 12 JAN 2009 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has sent a telegram of condolence for the death of Cardinal Pio Laghi, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Catholic Education and patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The cardinal died yesterday at the age of 86.
In the telegram, addressed to the nephews of the deceased, the Pope speaks of Cardinal Laghi's "long and generous service to the Holy See, in particular as pontifical representative in various countries and as prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education. To you and your families I wish to express my sincere participation in the mourning that has afflicted all those who knew and respected the late cardinal and, while raising fervent prayer to God to grant him the prize promised to faithful servants of the Gospel, I send my heartfelt apostolic blessing to all those who grieve his passing".
At the altar of the Cathedra in the Vatican Basilica at 11 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday 13 January, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the funeral Mass with other members of the college.
At the end of the ceremony, the Pope will address those present and administer the rites of "Ultima Commendatio" and of "Valedictio".
Longtime friend of the John Carroll Society, former Papal Nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Pio Laghi, passed away yesterday on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Our prayers and sympathy go out to his family, to the Church, and to those whose lives were touched by Cardinal Laghi.
His funeral will be held in St. Peter's Basilica on Tuesday.
I was blessed to celebrate a special Mass with him and his special friend at an Airport chapel in Ireland once. Just the three of us. Very special.
I am praying to him for miracles now- he has a better view.
From the official Vatican Information Service
TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF CARDINAL LAGHI
VATICAN CITY, 12 JAN 2009 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has sent a telegram of condolence for the death of Cardinal Pio Laghi, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Catholic Education and patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The cardinal died yesterday at the age of 86.
In the telegram, addressed to the nephews of the deceased, the Pope speaks of Cardinal Laghi's "long and generous service to the Holy See, in particular as pontifical representative in various countries and as prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education. To you and your families I wish to express my sincere participation in the mourning that has afflicted all those who knew and respected the late cardinal and, while raising fervent prayer to God to grant him the prize promised to faithful servants of the Gospel, I send my heartfelt apostolic blessing to all those who grieve his passing".
At the altar of the Cathedra in the Vatican Basilica at 11 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday 13 January, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the funeral Mass with other members of the college.
At the end of the ceremony, the Pope will address those present and administer the rites of "Ultima Commendatio" and of "Valedictio".
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Well The Weather Outside is Frightful
But the Church is so Delightful.
This has to be one of the prettiest church altars in DC- and you can still see it in all it's Christmas decor glory, because for Catholics Christmas is not just a day, it's a SEASON to be jolly.
Churchs stay decorated festively for weeks after Christmas.
So lucky for the Obamas they can still pop into Saint Matthews, or Saint Stephens, all in walking distance to the Hay Adams to count their blessings and ask for wisdom, protection, and all good things that good Presidents need.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Dominican Saint of the Day
Saint Ray. The Lawyer.
Raymond of Penyafort. A Lawyer (cannon and civil law) who wrote a bunch of seminal treatises who lived to be 100.
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Catholic/Saints/R/Raymond-Of-Penyafort.aspx?source=NEWSLETTER
Raymond of Penyafort. A Lawyer (cannon and civil law) who wrote a bunch of seminal treatises who lived to be 100.
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Catholic/Saints/R/Raymond-Of-Penyafort.aspx?source=NEWSLETTER
Praying for the Sick-PLEASE!
To all my friends whom I have been ignoring lately: My apologies.
It's for your own good-trust me. I have one of those hideous bronchial yellow-orange phlem heaving infections in my lungs that keep me awake coughing so violently I think they are going to call the fire department. I am sure I am hosting a family of bacterial trapeze flyers in my lungs.
I came out of Mass the Sunday before last and saw the heart melting scene of the Pastor cradling an infant he was about to baptize and had to run for the hills so the poor kid wouldn't be dead before he hit the water by breathing my same air.
I had to suppress all natural baby kissing Pastor hugging tendancies. I have been in hiding ever since next to a crate of Airborne and salt water gargle juice. In its second week it's gone on far too long not to call in the prayer troops. This suffering in silence isn't working so well.
It's going around like wildfires in California- so pray for us all. We live in Washington and we don't want to infect all one million of you coming to DC for the Inagural.
It's for your own good-trust me. I have one of those hideous bronchial yellow-orange phlem heaving infections in my lungs that keep me awake coughing so violently I think they are going to call the fire department. I am sure I am hosting a family of bacterial trapeze flyers in my lungs.
I came out of Mass the Sunday before last and saw the heart melting scene of the Pastor cradling an infant he was about to baptize and had to run for the hills so the poor kid wouldn't be dead before he hit the water by breathing my same air.
I had to suppress all natural baby kissing Pastor hugging tendancies. I have been in hiding ever since next to a crate of Airborne and salt water gargle juice. In its second week it's gone on far too long not to call in the prayer troops. This suffering in silence isn't working so well.
It's going around like wildfires in California- so pray for us all. We live in Washington and we don't want to infect all one million of you coming to DC for the Inagural.
The only upside to this (aside from the jump in the stock price of Kleenex) due to high sales,
is that you can spend half the day in your jammies watching non-stop Food Channel episodes of that adorable character Duff Goldman who lives in Baltimore who makes Cakes at his shop called Charm City Cakes.
He can make you a cake that looks like anything. Did you know that he just won a contest at the Minneapolis Mall of America where you had to make a city skyline sculpture out of Rice Krispie Treats. The entire town made out of Rice krispie treats!! He made the Baltimore Inner Harbor entirely out of edible Krispie Treats! Awesome!
At my wedding (imaginary at this point) I want him to construct for the kids corner an entire village with train tracks so my 2 year old nephew and his friends can play with edible Thomas the Train in a Krispie Treat village (complete with bridges, moats, irish castle and thatched roof krispie cabins.) http://www.charmcitycakes.com/
Somehow a krispie treat edible Notre Dame Cathedral or La Magdalene sounds a bit tacky, so perhaps he can make those out of Marzipan to anchor the krispie village.
I am feeling better already.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Let There Be Peace on Earth. Let It Begin With Me.
WAR AND HATRED DO NOT RESOLVE PROBLEMS
(reprint of the Vatican Information Service)
VATICAN CITY, 4 JAN 2009 (VIS) - After the Angelus the Pope invited all to pray for an end to the war in Gaza, recalling that hatred and war do not resolve problems.
"Today, in all the churches of the Holy Land, the patriarchs and leaders of the Christian churches of Jerusalem invite the faithful to pray for an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip and implore justice and peace for their land. I join with them and ask you to do the same, remembering, as they are saying, 'the victims, the wounded, those with broken hearts, who are living in anguish and fear, that God bless them with consolation, patience, and the peace that proceeds from Him".
The Holy Father affirmed that "the dramatic news that we are receiving from the Gaza Strip shows that the refusal to dialogue leads to situations that weigh unspeakably on the populations who are again victim to hatred and war".
War and hatred are not a solution to problems. Most recent history again confirms this. Let us pray, then, that 'the Baby in the manger ... inspire the authorities and those responsible on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, to act immediately to put an end to this tragic situation".
(reprint of the Vatican Information Service)
VATICAN CITY, 4 JAN 2009 (VIS) - After the Angelus the Pope invited all to pray for an end to the war in Gaza, recalling that hatred and war do not resolve problems.
"Today, in all the churches of the Holy Land, the patriarchs and leaders of the Christian churches of Jerusalem invite the faithful to pray for an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip and implore justice and peace for their land. I join with them and ask you to do the same, remembering, as they are saying, 'the victims, the wounded, those with broken hearts, who are living in anguish and fear, that God bless them with consolation, patience, and the peace that proceeds from Him".
The Holy Father affirmed that "the dramatic news that we are receiving from the Gaza Strip shows that the refusal to dialogue leads to situations that weigh unspeakably on the populations who are again victim to hatred and war".
War and hatred are not a solution to problems. Most recent history again confirms this. Let us pray, then, that 'the Baby in the manger ... inspire the authorities and those responsible on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, to act immediately to put an end to this tragic situation".
(The image above was from the e-Christmas Card sent by the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, http://www.nationalshrine.com/ . It's a daunting inspiring place- should be on the Obama family's
list of things to visit in DC) Pray for Me, I'm Praying for You.
Mr. and Mrs. OBAMA Go To Washington
WELCOME!!
[this isn't the most kid friendly accommodating city-certainly compared to Chicago, New York or Philadelphia; there aren't a lot of outdoor
hoopcourts, or places where adolescents hang- but it's certainly an educational paradise
with the Smithsonian in your back yard.]
Random Citizens of Washington, DC Warmly Welcome Your Whole Family.
Can't Wait till You Walk Through Those Doors.
[this isn't the most kid friendly accommodating city-certainly compared to Chicago, New York or Philadelphia; there aren't a lot of outdoor
hoopcourts, or places where adolescents hang- but it's certainly an educational paradise
with the Smithsonian in your back yard.]
Random Citizens of Washington, DC Warmly Welcome Your Whole Family.
Can't Wait till You Walk Through Those Doors.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Full of Grace
There is no comparison to Palin. Paaaleeeeze.
No one would blink were it John John.
This is a person with a law degree, an accomplished author, a public figure, policy work through philanthropic endeavors, who has lived in the heart of the nation's highest political life by virtue of her family since birth. This is a quality, highly intelligent person
who doesn't need the added publicity - she doesn't need the star sparkle Palin sought by spending 200k to dud herself up. This is a class act. The Real Deal.
Plus she can get along with the President and his mission.
What is Patterson waiting for?
How Proud would we all be if the President (the only Catholic one yet by the way) JFKs daughter sat in the US Senate?
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