Love is....

Not Mere Ethics.

The book of First Corinthians tries to describe the indescribable. What is Love. Love can be seen by its fruits. Love is patient and kind, not boastful, not quick to take offense, not arrogant or rude. It bears all things, believes all things and hopes all things. I add, It operates under the Ignatian
principle of assuming the best intentions of any ambigious statement and giving the person the benefit of an assumption of goodwill. We are all trying to figure it out together.

Yes, it says, if you love me you will do my commandments. Obedience follows from Love, but it is not Love, it is a fruit of love. Following the law and doing obedience can also be done compulsorily with the meanest of hearts not in love just because it pays to be good out of a sense of self interest.

Love is much deeper, much grander, much higher, much holier, because God is Love. Love does not condemn anyone because Jesus didn't come to condemn but to save.
I loved the Bertolini movie I saw at the Italian Embassy this week, Pinocchio in which the good 'Fairy' who is a sort of Blessed Mother analogous figure keeps getting the foppish Pinocchio out of trouble by saving him time and again as he struggles on his journey to become a good real boy rather than a wooden puppet. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have everlasting life-God saves and this is Love. God wishes no one should perish.

And yet, the church in parts, usually doctrinaire ideological hardliners want to subsume and reduce Love to a set of canon law moral maxims that must be adhered to or else- perish even, we don't care. Bye Bye. This is not an accurate reflection of who God is. It is not representative of why Jesus came. It is a pathetically puny understanding of the heart of
God, which is found in real people not the stone statues that centrally form a diminished idolization of commandments over their creator. Love is a creative Fire.

Resting in Peace

In his homeland.

correction: The originally announced funeral date for Archbishop Sambi has been changed as a
result of his family requesting his body return for burial in Italy so instead, a memorial Mass
will be held at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC on September 14. See the Shrine website for more details www.nationalshrine.com

The False Prophets

of BAAL.

I was speaking to a proudly Jewish man who didn't realize the False Prophets of Baal were in the service of the King of Israel's Court. Ahab was king of Israel after the split of the two kingdoms, Judah and Israel, and was married to Jezebel who consulted foreign false gods and hired false prophets called the prophets of Baal- because Baal is sort of short for Bealzebub, or Satan.
Satanic worship in the King of Israels court when Ahab was king.

This is where famously Elijiah enters the scene with his famous Mount Carmel showdown with the false prophets where he calls the Lord who calls down fire all over a sacrifice while the Prophets of Baal couldnt call down anything from their fake gods but the slashing of their own selves in a deluded frenzy. Elijiah slew ALL the prophets of Baal -some 400 of them, who were in sort of a guild in the employ of the palace of the then King of Israel.

This should tell you that historically being Jewish is no guarantee necessarily that the state is always going to get it right and not go off the rails. It should say that there is something higher than just jewishness that one needs to evaluate in determining goodness- because the test is
whether one is Faithful to the one true God. That is what defines righteousness-
and for a Christian, they see no contradiction in Jesus as trinitarian one with the father and holy spirit being part of the triune God.

Jezebel was a sleazy piece of work. She wanted her neighbors land- classic coveting against one of the top ten commandments. So does she try to buy the guy out for a good price? No, she just plots to kill off the owner.

Was there any emminent domain price paid for expropriated land formerly owned, farmed or occupied by the Palestinians that became the state of Israel?
Was there ever a truth and reconciliation commission that valued land and gave price for it?

The truest most righteous people in Israel are saying- look. To covet land and get it by just killing off the owner is not righteous. Its what Jezebel and Ahab did. And look what happened to them.

Repent

Make a Way Clear for the Lord

Repent has two components. The realization and the amendment. The realization you did something wrong and the amending of the ways. The change will do you good.

There has to be a commitment
to Change or amend the ways.

AA has a 12 step program for people who chronically mis-act. They chronically engage in behavior that is destructive to themself or others. They say the first step is acknowledging the problem. Hi, I am John and I am an alcoholic. The second part is committing to just stop it. Making amends.
Making amends also has two components. Changing the behavior so it does not stop and making it right with anyone hurt by paying back anyone you wronged to try to fix it. If you are an addict who robbed your parents, admit it and pay them back. If you bet the farm and lost the farm on an illegal bet, pay the money back and stop gambling.

When people and societies only do the first part they are not fully repentant and they don't reap the reward of atonement.
If Assad says, gee that was bad, I shouldn't have gunned down a
park full of protesters, and does it again day two, then clearly he isn't repentant. He is what we call blowing smoke.

This translates nicely in personal life also. Folks who blow smoke might get the guilt but don't do anything to change the behavior. They let the Jezebels glare at them for the ego high and don't tell them to shove off so it goes on and on for years. This makes for very strange bedfellows. Their fancy falls for everything their ego needs for a night.
Guilt might make them regretful but repentance is something different. It is a true changing of the ways and making amends. That is the fullness of repentance. And if you are not there yet, why should anyone trust you?

A Good Ruling

Of Course Rumsfeld should be liable for Torture.

So should Darth Cheney and Bush.
Violating international law, geneva conventions, human rights standards and laws everywhere and US law. Why is there any immunity for suspending habeus corpus without basis or probable cause.
Look, half the people or more than half rounded up were innocents ratted on by their neighbors for their land or the $25,000 bounty loot. Do you know how much money $25,000 is to a starving family of Afghanis trying to make a living off land overridden with mines? They could turn in their
cousin for that.
Doesn't give us any right to torture anyone. OBSCENE. Governmental abuse does not end unless
people make it end. The ruling reported by Huffpost below allows Rumsfeld to be personally
liable for Torture---and its about time. Republicans won't clear their collective name and gain the trust of the majority of Americans ever again unless they start holding some people accountable for all of this mess. OBSCENE.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/04/donald-rumsfeld-torture-lawsuit_n_917966.html

About Time

Good News

The JPII center will not be sold to make condominiums or dormitories for dominican sisters.
Hallelujiah.
It will be a Shrine for JPII- now blessed and likely sainted soon-

The Knights of Columbus have the funds and should turn more of the space into prayer spaces with beautiful internal stained glass like the chapel that is there. There should be places to go and light candles. And of course round the clock movies shown from the DVDs at the CIC.

http://www.kofc.org/un/en/news/releases/detail/jpii_shrine.html

They should get one of those vials of blood- what's a Shrine without a relic.
I am elated at this news- because I love the place. That is where I went to watch his beatification fittingly.

They should hold symposia there on interfaith dialogue from around the world.
They should feature all amazing interfaith peace work he has done. There should be an Asissi room where all the interfaith peace work he did is displayed.

JPII Pray for Us.

"If you don't have anything nice to say....call Rachel Maddow, she needs material."

Here We Go Again

Dueling Marches around Abortion

reported in todays Washington Post. Campaign season heating up already.
Given that the best way to be pro-life is to actually have a baby, or be a guy who supports in a
consistent loving monogamous relationship (lets call it marriage) a woman having a child, I have only so much patience with the pontifications of people who would rather have intimate plural relationships with men. Life, if you are missing the oestrogen you might not get the impulse to propel yourself under an ongoing sixteen wheeler if your man slapped you silly and ran off with your best friend. Or---you may not appreciate housing something that makes you vomit daily only to learn that it is missing half its brain and has all of its major organs swimming somewhere near your spleen. That said---both sides have a point, and if they could sit down long enough to talk to each other they might discover what the point is. If we enter another season of idiotic unkind demonization of the other viewpoint (like how ridiculous that anyone would not appreciate that lack of a basic salary, job or educational opportunity might disincline someone from having a pregnancy to term---throw in your are only 15) I am going to take up watercolors again in the South of France. Because I can't stand it. If you don't look at what A-holes men can be you have totally missed why lots of women have abortions in the first place. No one gets pregnant alone. (or if they did, they did it on purpose and probably want it.)

Equal Time

GOP has perverts also.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/louis-magazzu-nj-politici_n_916602.html

Another politician bites the dust before biting someone else.
Note to file: its really really stupid to take nude photos of yourself and send them out on line.
Don't do anything you wouldn't want your mother seeing (forget that if you have a creepy mother)-
Don't do anything you wouldn't want your constituents seeing.

You have to be crazy to do something like this ---so crazy I would plead incapacity to legislate by virtue of insanity. In todays world of hackery and malicious viruses (have you not heard of a guy named Murdock and his sidekick Brooke?) you never know who for sure is actually getting your emails. ...or on the receiving end, who really sent it-there is so much 'spoofing- going on now, which looks like- Hi friend, I just landed in London and my wallet was stolen OMG! I don't even have funds to pay the hotel bill please wire immediately !!!
I just got spam of four different phone companies allegedly telling me someone took out a cell phone referenced to my email account and if i only click here and put in my social security number i can find out where the bill is going....riiiiiight.

You send nude pictures into cyberspace and it goes through a server that someone can print out, it goes to a mailbox which may or may not be the person actually intended-and that's if you actually did know the privacy controls and if the person intended actually is real and not some con set up.

So crazy people.

UPDATE

And Thank You Arcbishop Dolan

  The white supremacist gets finally fired. There is an old defunct boarded Wonderbread factory in DC he might like to make his next abode.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/01/frank-borzellieri-fired_n_915456.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk2%7C82971

TSA to be bucked in Michigan

TSA- Touch Someone else's Arse  ....pretty please officer.

    TSA is being called out for what it does- it molests people without cause. Searches them without a warrant. 

Touches body parts that would rather not be touched. The TSA has been cited for ripping out colostomy bags flooding

passengers with their own urine, and other aggressive acts that make you wonder if they do any basic IQ testing on these louts. 

Texas calls it molestation and is legislating criminal prohibitions. MIchigan looks like it is following suit:

http://www.NaturalNews.com/032788_Michigan_TSA_molestation.html

   Here is a hint for the guide manuals: A  "C" or "D" cup is not probable  cause for anything but perhaps an 

invitation to dinner. 

You don't get to get to first base just by wearing a TSA badge  (well, maybe if you look like brad pitt or rock hudson or that funny french actor who always plays with juliette binoche). The underwire sends off sensors which is no excuse to

pat me down or get frisky with the frisking. If I slap you I am going to argue self defense. 

      see, the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. 

It's unreasonable to believe I can stuff an explosive and my jessica rabbit figure into the same bra.

Dear Google Blogspot

I've stepped on an anthill apparently

  someone has spliced a bug into my design template features so the letters come out

monstrously large posted when I am typing in tiny type. Please invent an anti bug anti virus thing

to function in your blog designer. Please forgive me if you are getting a version that looks like type for the blind or aged magnified a thousand fold. I don't know how to wipe out the stinkbug.

And another thing....

Where Catholics Go Bad

     With regard to the below story wherein a latino loudly accused the church or a priest of

hiring someone who is clearly a racist, there is a lesson learned here. 

He was criminalized essentially for voicing under his First Amendment right to Free Speech 

contrary views to the church party line- he was hit with charges of disturbing the peace unlawfully (disrupting the brain dead coma that allowed this principal to be hired in the first place) and apparently had a knife on his possession- not that he brandished it and maybe it was a pocket switchblade he always carried and forgot he had in his pocket. 

     Let me express here the deepest outrage at the DISGUSTING posture the church took for

someone expressing what apparently everyone was too spineless to either see or confront. 

     It is DISGUSTING to criminalize free speech or dissent with views held. In the Quaker world

this sort of thing is called "a move of the Spirit" and everyone is invited to voice their concerns. 

    One guy taking it upon himself to tell the truth to a congregation is not 

disturbing the peace- he is making a clear path for the way of the Lord, just like John the Baptist who got arrested for nothing. 

   If this gets even papered for prosecution I will be appalled.

The Good, The Bad and the Blind

Blind Loyalties and Bad Judgments

     All Catholics are not a like. The split in the catholic world over those who think O'bama is the 

second coming and those who think he is satan is a pretty sharp divide with all shades of "whatever, who cares" in between. 

    All Catholics in the paid service of the church are not a like either. Some are republicans, some democrats in leanings, some with very poor judgment, some with angelic dispositions. 

Take for instance this principal in New York who is clearly what anyone would call a racist:

http://gothamist.com/2011/08/01/outraged_man_disrupts_mass_at_churc.php

He apparently passed the radar--and clearly holds views regarding darker skinned people

and all latinos generally that anyone in their right mind would consider racist.

You cannot blame all of catholicism on that because there are very fine black and

latino priests and workers who would strongly disagree with him. Just because he

is a principal in a catholic school does not make him right about anything.

The same can be said about some catholic judges, catholic lawyers, catholic priests

and catholic bloggers. Just because someone calls themselves in the service of the church

or is paid running a business catering to catholics, that does not make them sacred

definitionally. They could be whackier than a three dollar bill. Their decisionmaking

might be just wrong. It has happened time and again. Some are downright harmful

or take actions or make decisions that are downright harmful. They are all human.

For example, I do not know how to make much sense of the fact that in the Archbishop

of Washington, DC's main cathedral seat church there is a eucharistic minister that

he commissioned who is openly gay, wears a wedding ring on his wedding finger and

is living with his partner while at the same time blasting gay marriage and spending a

fortune on attorneys fighting litigation and lobbying against gay marriage. There are a number

of openly gay people serving in the DC Dupont Circle parish where the Cathedral seat

is, as it is an area with a concentration of gay people second only to San Francisco. I

am not complaining about the gays in service of the church, I love my gay priest friends

and everyone I ever met gay.

I wonder about the people being paid to blast gay marriage while taking communion from

a married gay guy who looks them in the eye and says "Body of Christ"

I also don't know how to make sense of people who call themselves conservative

republicans who would castrate a priest or drive him out of a parish for falling for a woman while spending

millions of dollars lobbying for 'pro life' pro preborn baby causes while killing potential for

progeny in their priesthood. Not only does it not make sense, it strikes one as

totally evil. Not that I think the pro preborn baby lobbying is wrong, and I fully agree

with it. I wonder about the people who think making eunichs of priests is pro life.

So to be Catholic is not to be brain dead or not to be noncognizant of these

paradoxes. Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism, it is said. I dissent.

And I don't care if you wish to call me Protestant. I would rather be conscious than

blindly loyal to irrationality.

Stunningly touching; Giffords votes

Shot in the head and back to work after some brain surgery. All in a days....

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/08/01/20110801giffords-casting-debt-vote-washington.html

Tale of Two Addicts

Betty Ford and Amy Winehouse.

Betty Ford of course led the nation in bringing addiction, especially that of the pill popping bored suburban housewives, to the attention of the nation and founded one of the first comprehensive rehab clinics named after her. It was a national epidemic. She died in her 90s surrounded by a loving family.

    Amy Winehouse died also- it seems even before hitting puberty. And we can't get away from the press about it while Betty Ford who died in dignity got a passing obit and no one seems really preoccupied by it.

The attention paid to one death seems disproportionate to the massive slaughter we are doing in far away lands to preserve our 'national interests.' One rocker chic, with an act laden with 

herion dazed psychobabble reminiscent of keith richards on a binge gets more press than all the dead people in Afghanistan and Iraq put together. Something very perverse about that.

   While no one should malign the dead, one should draw a few lessons. It's not good to teach your kids that it is all right to get high. They could die. No, Auntie Em. we are not in Kansas anymore. Real drugs wreak real havoc on people's bodies. Sometimes there is a tipping point. 

Drugs are slow suicide. Address the underlying malaise.

   http://www.spinner.com/2011/08/01/amy-winehouse-drugs/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%7C82626

Wonder Why

Michele O'Bama 

   is on the health kick?

  If you have never seen this movie, you need to now and can watch it for free

right on your computer.  If you care about kids, watch this. 

Frightening. 

     (I think they found the one overweight french woman on the planet for this...french people eat much healthier than we do and are much slimmer generally as a rule-they balance their diet better and eat smaller portions.)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/63283/super-size-me

Arrested for What??? In the "I Hope She Sues" corner.....

The Gardening Mother Gardener Busted

   Next to police harassment for praying while female in conservative crackpot catholic churches this has to be the most insane story of police over-reaching I have read recently. A woman was arrested and fined, with threat of jail time for planting a vegetable garden in her own yard.

http://www.naturalnews.com/033175_Julie_Bass_Oak_Park.html

They used to give people awards for that sort of thing, and people loved things

called Garden Clubs. Now they are arresting people? I hope she sues.

Just For Fun

Lavender Fields Forever

    And you thought lavender only grew in the South of France. Well, the heat in DC might remind

you of it, minus the Mediterranean breeze.  Lavender it turns out grows quite nicely in abundance in Virginia and I have even spotted it in a few gardens in DC. A family farm in Virginia is capitalizing nicely on it and features everything Lavender at their booth at the DC Farmers Market every Sunday morning (8:30-3:00pm). 

   www.THEWELSHGARDEN.com  

There is no end to their creativity of what one can do with Lavender. Infuse it in chocolate chip cookies-no problem. Grind it with other 'herbs de provence'- sweet. How about on that hot day a cool lavender lemonade!  Yes, please.

   You can eat it, put it in soaps, make sachets, and bake it in a cake. 

You are only limited by your imagination when it comes to lavender. 

Stop by their booth tomorrow- see what i mean, and maybe you will get a few entrepreneurial ideas of your own.

info@thewelshgarden.com

Fighting Entrenched

Nihilism

     In the beginning God created.....and it was all GOOD. So good, God couldn't help admiring his own work. Like an artist looking back over a painting- Nice Work if I don't say so myself.  Times a thousand is what he thinks when looking upon you- Man, created after his own image. Wow- brilliant. Looks a bit like me. 

   So one wonders why this appreciation is lost sometimes on the emphasis to focus exclusively on heaven to the oversight of things earthly. One often hears, and I did even this morning, shallow 

understandings of the brilliance and beauty of creation, by some priests who say things like, the eucharist is to help us detach from all earthly things to focus on heaven....

   

Well, detachment is a spiritual art but so is appreciation, and demonstrated appreciation for creation- so is taking care of creation, the earth and everything in it that is God's-that is called Stewardship.  This 'so heavenly minded you are no earthly good' maxim is reflected in a nihilism, as though the people and things God created are not worth celebrating and cherishing.

Because it is all better in heaven--in a utopian sort of vision.  The ends-justified means based theology easy flows from such a nihilism. And it can be used to justify cruelty if in the service of all that is deemed in service of heaven. 

  Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is within you- here. Another sage philosopher said 'heaven is a state of consciousness' (John Paul II) and yet others have surmised as if they know "heaven is more intensely the love you live on earth and you take it with you."  --sort of a 401k matching fund concept of heaven.  You bring a little and God magnifies it. 

     The church has had a strain of nihilism in its teachings that is not biblically accurate. It has also perverted the evangelical mission by demeaning creation. You know where I am going with this so I don't need to. 

     God is Love. Dieu est Amour. 

Si tu vie en moins d'amour tu vie en moins de Dieu.

Nietzche is Dead, Love God.