Random Thoughts

Schadenfreude alert: I'm feeling it for all the young people who voted for Obama who are going to have to pony up for health care. Let them make t-shirts: "I voted for Obama and all I got was higher health care premiums and a surge in Afghanistan". A bit wordy, I know. Would only fit on obese youngsters who no doubt will eventually be taxed punitively for their weight. Rue the irony. Sucks to be around when the empire's fallin' 'eh? (On the other hand, it may be better to be young than old when it's falling.)
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Only in the la-la land of Big Gov't would it be logical to extend a huge government program (Medicare) via cuts in that huge federal program (i.e. the famous 'waste, fraud and abuse').
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Proof that people my age are coming into media power arrives in dribs and drabs, like the fact that Fox & Friends played Cold as Ice by Foreigner and had the lead singer on the show. Two of the shows hosts are in their mid-40s. Then there's also the fact that there are two new best-selling books about the 1975 baseball season: Game Six, which is about the sixth game of the World Series, and The Machine about the Big Red Machine of that year. I'm figuring the two writers are in their mid-40s.
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One of the things the Internet gives us is the ability to look at personal phrases and see if anybody else ever thought them. Such as the alliterative phrase if non-standard English "scrimping and scraving". Indeed they have.
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Amy Welborn tweets/twitters: "Going to B&N for change of scenery." Ahh... I can picture retirement now: a netbook, Bob Evans, free Wi/Fi, and me writing and reading away while eating pumpkin pie*. Or at Barnes & Noble sipping a civilized cup of coffee and drinking in the bookish atmosphere.
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Michelle Malkin called Ariana Huffington a "provocateur", which seems a bit like Bob Marley calling someone a pothead. Although in fairness to Michelle she's no Ann Coulter. I have to give credit to Ariana and some of the others on the left who are criticizing Obama for staying in Afghanistan. I figured the Left's anti-war talk would dry up like eczematic skin after Obama got elected.
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I always recall Jeff Culbreath of "Stony Creek" linking to an article about how women wearing pants leads to more lust in men than those wearing skirts. I thought that was crazy talk - it seemed counterintuitive considering that skirts show more skin and the old saying goes "skin to win!". Certainly if the skirt is above the knees then they are more lust-inducing, but personal empirical evidence shows that indeed females wearing form-fitting pants (and what other kind are there?) are 57.2% more likely to induce lust.
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* which reminds me of the ol' song John Anderson song (speaking of those in their mid-40s) Swingin':

There's a little girl, in our neighborhood.
Her name is Charlotte Johnson, and she's really lookin' good.
I had to go and see her, so I called her on the phone.
I walked over to her house, and this was goin' on.

Her brother was on the sofa, eatin' chocolate pie.
Momma was in the kitchen, cuttin' chicken up to fry.
Daddy was in the backyard, rollin' up a garden hose.
I was on the porch with Charlotte, feelin' love down to my toes.
and we were swingin' (swingin')
yes we were swingin' (swingin')

Little Charlotte she's as pretty as the angels when they sing.
I can't believe I'm out here on her front porch in this swing,
Just a swingin' (swingin')

PSA on Energy

Open letter to Sen. Sherrod Brown from a deacon (and geologist) at our church:

Dear Senator Brown,

I am writing you as a concerned constituent with over 20 years experience as an environmental scientist to express my opposition to H.R. 2454, the Markey-Waxman “cap & trade” climate bill.

In my opinion, H.R. 2454 (if passed) will result in significant damage to the U.S. economy while providing little (if any) reduction in the worldwide generation of greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide.

First, H.R. 2454 will place an additional regulatory burden (i.e., the price of carbon permits) on domestic energy producers, which will be passed directly to consumers through higher energy prices. For example, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) estimates that by 2015,this bill would increase the price of gasoline by 6 to 8%, the price of electricity by 2 to 5%, and the price of natural gas by 17 to 26%. By 2030 these increased energy costs rise even higher.

The added burden of such an “energy tax” on top of the local, state and federal taxes (that are virtually guaranteed to increase under the fiscal policies being promoted by the Obama administration) will stifle future economic growth and reduce the average American’s standard of living. Unfortunately, the increased energy costs will adversely impact the poorest Americans the hardest.

Second, the deleterious economic effects of H.R. 2454 will result in significant net job losses throughout the U.S. In Ohio alone, between 79,700 and 108,600 jobs may be lost due to lower industrial output, the costs of complying with required emissions costs, and greater competition from overseas manufacturers (with lower energy costs) associated with this bill (NAM). Further, credible sources indicate that the creation of so-called “green jobs” will not provide an adequate counterbalance to the job losses which will occur under H.R. 2454. Based on Spain’s attempt at creating “green jobs” through government funding (cited by President Obama as a model) an average of nine private-sector jobs will likely be lost for every four government-supported green jobs created in the United States (Study of the effects of employment on public aid to renewable energy sources, March 2009, G.C. Álvarez et al., Universidad Rey Juan Carlos).

Third, other major industrial countries including China, India and Russia appear to have no intention of cooperating with the United States in H.R. 2454’s effort to reduce carbon emissions.

If the United States Senate passes H.R. 2454 and other major industrial countries refuse or fail to reduce their carbon emissions, then as Americans all we will have achieved is placing yet another onerous regulatory burden on ourselves and our children. I agree that the U.S. should put forth an effort to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the environment. However, if any effort is to be successful, it must accommodate economic reality and be based on sound scientific reasoning and be grounded in common sense. There are far better alternatives to H.R. 2454. For example, if we increased our use of natural gas and nuclear power (both domestically available) to generate electricity while reducing our use of coal-generated electricity, we would significantly reduce future carbon dioxide emissions.

In closing, I urge you to vote against H.R. 2454. Thank you for your time and your consideration of my concerns as your constituent.

Sincerely,
Rev. Jeffrey W. Martin
B.S. Geology, M.S. Geology/Geophysics
Licensed Professional Geologist in Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania

UPDATE: Reply to our deacon from Sen. Brown:

Dear Reverend Martin:

Thank you for sharing your views about clean energy legislation.

Effective clean energy legislation will reduce climate pollution and promote the production of renewable energy—but most importantly it will ensure the creation of new clean energy jobs and industries. Clean energy legislation must also ensure the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers and protect consumers by keeping utility rates affordable. We must work to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by making America a global leader in clean energy manufacturing.

For this reason, I recently announced legislation called the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act. This legislation, which was included in the House energy bill, would support manufacturers' transition to the clean energy economy and ensure clean energy jobs are created here in the U.S. This legislation would create a revolving loan fund for small and medium size manufacturers to retool and expand facilities to produce clean energy technology and energy efficient products. It is estimated this measure will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

I appreciate hearing your input on this important topic. As clean energy legislation continues to be discussed in Congress, I will work to ensure that an unfair burden is not placed on Ohio families and businesses. I will only support legislation that creates new jobs and economic opportunities across Ohio .

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown
United States Senator

List Thursday

From the Ray Bradbury book, his favorite writers:

Dickens, Twain, Wolfe, Peacock, Shaw, Moliere, Jonson, Wycherly, Sam Johnson

Favorite Poets:

Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dylan Thomas, Pope

Favorite Painters:

El Greco, Tintoretto

Favorite Musicians:

Mozart, Hayden, Ravel, Johann Strauss

Pretty decent lists...

Obama Prize

Word has it that Obama won the peace prize so that the Committee could preemptively tie his hands with respect to what he might do in Iraq and Afghanistan. But if that strategy worked then infant Baptism would've made a lot more saints.

Henry D. Thoreau's Rep

I read with surprise the charge of 19th century convert/intellectual Fr. Hecker that Thoreau was an egotistical popinjay. (Okay, I added the latter for sound effect; Hecker wrote in a letter to a friend of Thoreau's supreme arrogance and pridefulness.)

But when I read HDT, back some twenty years ago, I noticed no such thing. Of course I was faithfully reading the Sunday New York Times back then, so I was pretty much immune to arrogance and self-absorption, especially given my own similar traits.

I happened across the book Thoreau as Seen by His Contemporaries, opened at random and found these quotes:

"The lecture on Wednesday evening, was by H.D. Thoreau, Esq. of Concord, Mass. The subject announced in the papers as 'Home, or domestic economy,' but the real topic was 'Myself - I.'"

Hilarious.

A few months later another writes of another Thoreau lecture:

"[it] was a mingled web of sage conclusions and puerility - wit and egotistical effusions - bright scintillations and narrow criticisms and low comparisons."

But is this a case where no prophet is honored in his home country? If Thoreau was seen as arrogant then, history seems to have proven Thoreau's self-opinion as true given his place in the canon of American literature. Or perhaps it's merely that we're all self-absorbed and arrogant now, it's in the air we breathe, and so we don't notice it in Thoreau like his contemporaries did. Or perhaps most people in our age do think he's an arrogant eccentric cuss and I just wasn't aware of it.

Dumb Person's Guide to the Orchestra

So all these music players are sitting around in a half-oval, as if around an imaginary campfire that gives heat in one direction, and then all of a sudden another player comes out and sits way up in the middle front. And everyone applauds! I'm thinking geesh what a great gig - you show up late and everyone claps!

But he wasn't even the latest. This tall feller all dressed up like a penguin with a long black tail, he comes up and everyone claps even louder. Then he rushes off-stage, as if he forgot to go to the bathroom, and then re-appears quick-like and everyone claps all the more! I think he run off just because he wanted to get more applause so I withhold me own. Funniest thing is he didn't play no instrument! He was up there the whole time taking up space and waving a pretend magic wand.

After half-time, which I might add they had no entertainment whatever, no marching band, no cheerleaders, they rolled out this big piano for what they called a "soloist". And this itsy bitsy girl comes out and man do her fingers fly 'cross that keyboard! She could flat out play! Then she hushes the orchestra and plays a couple of tunes I ain't heard of but I thought it rude to make the orchestra just sit there while she goes on and on. I don't rightly know if she cleared it beforehand. Seemed like she was improvisin'.

She quit and everyone stood up to cheer her quittin', which I thought rude. I got out my lighter and held the flame aloft...

Spanning the Globe to Bring You the Constant Variety of Posts

Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize... this farce is not worthy of comment so instead I'll concentrate on the beautiful and the true. - Dymphna of "Dymphna's Road"

The Jesus Prayer [is] a tradition that goes back to the earliest days of the Church. This is typically my choice of meditation style... By using the Jesus Prayer, on the inhalation one says silently, "Oh my Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me," and on the long exhalation, "a sinner." Keep this constant rhythm of inhalation and exhalation, connecting word to breath. The mind will still wander, but when it does, return the focus back to the Jesus Prayer. Again, over time, the mind will begin to experience stillness. - Michael at Psalm 46:11

Choice is a tyrannical master, and my habitual choice to remain comfortable usually leaves me paddling my boat in inefficient circles. This is why I have ultimately become a struggling music appreciator rather than a struggling musician... I find recently that my faith in music, my faith in the written word—this idea that it is a matter of life and death for some people, including myself—is at times subject to doubt. I’m glad Fulton Sheen says [that it is a matter of life and death], and that you say so too, so I’m going to rest on the side of faith tonight. - Betty Duffy

Writers and poets are famous for loving to be in motion. If not running, hiking; if not hiking, walking. (Walking, even fast, is a poor second to running, as all runner know, that we'll resort to when our knees go, but at least it's an option.) The great English Romantic poets were clearly inspired by their long walks in all weather: Wordsworth and Coleridge in the idyllic Lake District, for instance; Shelley ("I always go until I am stopped and I never am stopped") in his four intense years in Italy...Both running and writing are highly addictive activities; both are, for me inextricably bound up consciousness. I can't recall a time when I wasn't running, and I can't recall a time when I wasn't writing. - from "The Faith of a Writer" by Joyce Carol Oates via Steven at "A Momentary Taste of Being"

In response to their question, “What is going to happen to my child? The child didn’t get baptized,” St. Bernard said, “Your faith spoke for this child. Baptism for this child was only delayed by time. Your faith suffices. The waters of your womb — were they not the waters of life for this child? Look at your tears. Are they not like the waters of baptism? Do not fear this. God’s ability to love is greater than our fears. Surrender everything to God.” - Darwin Catholic on miscarriage

[Early] Christian sages were fiercely dogmatic by any modern standard. They were not fundamentalists, reading every line of Scripture literally, and they were, as [Karen] Armstrong says, “inventive, fearless and confident in their interpretation of faith.” But their inventiveness was grounded in shared doctrines and constrained by shared assumptions. Their theology was reticent in its claims about the ultimate nature of God but very specific about how God had revealed himself on earth. It’s true that Augustine, for instance, did not interpret the early books of Genesis literally. But he certainly endorsed a literal reading of Jesus’ resurrection — and he wouldn’t have been much of a Christian theologian if he hadn’t. Which is to say that it’s considerably more difficult than Armstrong allows to separate thought from action, teaching from conduct, and dogma from practice in religious history. The dogmas tend to sustain the practices, and vice versa...a spiritually inclined person can no doubt draw nourishment from the Roman Catholic Mass without believing that the Eucharist literally becomes the body and blood of Christ. But without the doctrine of transubstantiation, the Mass would not exist to provide that nourishment. Not every churchgoer will share Flannery O’Connor’s opinion that if the Eucharist is “a symbol, to hell with it.” But the Catholic faith has endured for 2,000 years because of Flannery O’Connors, not Karen Armstrongs. - Ross Douthat in the New York Times on Karen Armstrong's new book "The Case for God"

[Douthat] makes a fine point when he remarks that the early Fathers were dogmatic, but not Fundamentalist. Armstrong's Episcopalianified squishiness attempts to preserve theism from the hostile onslaughts of Dawkins and Co by shrouding the whole thing in a fog of non-committal niceness and PC pieties. Douthat blows the fog away by noting that actual Catholic faith, while lithe and supple and ossified by the stupid categories of ideology, is nonetheless possessed of a definite skeletal structure (which is what allows it to be lithe and supple). The difference between Catholic faith and current ideologies is that ideologues on the Right want only the skeleton (dismissing everything else as touchy feely) and ideologues on the Left tend to want only the breath without having the body attached. - Mark Shea

Our sermon reading this morning was from Ephesians 4. My mind got bogged down on the wording of the first verse of the sermon passage: "Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. (NRSV)"...Say what? Did any stylist or proofreader or English scholar check whether or not “live in the futility of their minds” is English? What possibly could “the futility of their minds” mean?...Are there any versions that make sense in their translation of this verse? Thankfully, yes: "So this I say to you and attest to you in the Lord, do not go on living the empty-headed life that the gentiles live." (NJB)...Isn’t it actually more accurate to convey the meaning of the original Greek text in such a way that the reader can understand precisely what Paul was writing in Eph. 4:17? What do you think can be done to help English Bible translation teams from including odd English word sequences, which are meaningless to many people, from appearing in their published translations? - - Wayne living up to his blog's name, "Better Bibles blog"

I love the feel of books, the look of books, and even the smell of books... I couldn't see myself reading a book in not-a-book form...Then I got sick (reading is the only thing that makes me feel better), too sick to get to the bookstore... And so I bought a Kindle. I read every day, for as many hours as I liked, and without restraint. I couldn't work; I couldn't go out much, and I didn't need to: there was always another book waiting in line (and on line) for my reading pleasure. I read like a madwoman. I would get drowsy, and on those long reading afternoons when the Kindle slipped from my hand, it fell silently on the pillow and I slept. I found myself talking to it, wishing it a good morning, explaining my time away from it. My Kindle was my constant, quiet, light, and refillable companion. Bliss. But.. I was, however, hurting my beloved bookstores. If they don't have people paying full price for books made of paper, they will perish. I could not give up my Kindle, so I made a bargain with myself. For every book I download on Kindle, I now go to my local independent bookseller and buy a book in hardcover. - Jane Isay

Spiritual childhood is the leavening agent in Marian devotion. Any Christian can come to grasp Mary's unique role in Salvation History, emulate her response to God, meditate on her Fiat and Magnificat on a daily basis, and yet not really love her... one would first have to become a child in spirit...The more one becomes like a little child before God, the more one is drawn to His Mother. - Sancta Sanctis

Perception

Email received, relating an event which according to Snopes.com is true:

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

Findings:

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.

He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the Metro Station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and people's priorities.

The questions raised: "In a common place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

Do we stop to appreciate it?

Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?"

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?.......

Zen & the Art of Writing

Oh I forget how much I miss being slathered in the sensate print, the binding and glue, instead of the olfactory-challenged Kindle e-reader. Oh do I recall that lack when I go to a bookstore, as I did yesterday, to a bookstore pregnant with the most volumes in Columbus.

The real find, the one that got the blood rushing, was Ray Bradbury's Zen and the Art of Writing. Bradbury's style always keeps me slightly off-balance even though I usually know what he's getting at. He writes about how writing eliminates the poisons that congeal in our system over the course of a day and thus we need to write.

Ever since reading about that monk who burned his baskets I've been more appreciative of writing just to write, of not having the goal of being published. It's very freeing to no longer think of writing as a "waste of time" simply because it's has no utility.

In the introduction he asks what writing teaches us:

"it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege and not a right....while our writing cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, or death, it can revitalize us amidst it all. Second, writing is survival. Any art, any good work, of course, is that. Not to write is for many of us to die. [If you don't write] what would happen is that the world would catch up with you and try to sicken you. If you did not write every day, the poisons would accumulate and you would begin to die, or act crazy, or both. You must stay drunk on writing so reality can't destroy you."

"I have learned," he says, "that if I go a day without writing I grow uneasy. Two days and I am in a tremor. Three and I suspect lunacy. Four and I might as well be a hog, suffering the flux in a wallow. An hour's writing is a tonic. I'm on my feet..."

On the Hunt...

...and Buddy after:

Yesterday's Homiletic

At Mass the next day we had a substitute priest, the pastor from St. Pius, and I experienced a bit of "pastor envy". Gave homily about the rich young man who went away sad. Said that this is a depressing gospel for legalists, who find that doing the law isn't enough. It's also depressing for lovers, since Christ's look of love wasn't enough to convert the man. It's also depressing for rich people, for obvious reasons. It's depressing for those who think they've already "arrived" because Jesus asks of us "one more thing". A real bummer, he says, until the very last line: "what is impossible for man, is possible for God." He said that that's why his favorite prayer at Mass is "Lord, have mercy". Ultimately that's all we have. He said that all we have to worry about is today, and that each day Jesus asks us "just one more thing" and that that will be different for every person and that we have to focus on simply what "one more thing" Jesus is asking of us today.

The thing the rich always ask, he said, is "why me and not them? Why am I so blessed?" And indeed one rich woman went to see Mother Teresa and asked her why she was so "blessed" compared to all the poor, and Mother Teresa said she wasn't "found worthy". Again a timely reminder that the poor and the suffering are the superstars in the Kingdom.

This Just In...

...and the Nobel goes to... a sleeping President Obama!

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

Jonah as Satire

We have a friendly, enthusiastic new preacher at the downtown parish. The other day he talked about one of his favorite books in the Bible, the Book of Jonah, and how it could be read two ways: one as the literal truth, in which case the message is that some prophets are reluctant and that all are capable of repentance. But he sees it as a satire, written to poke at the Chosen People for being given so much and yet griping and sinning and being unrepentant. He said this is especially applicable to us as Catholics, having been given so much in terms of the Eucharist and strong and true doctrine and yet we are so often so lukewarm. He said it was likely satirical because of the over-the-top way they repented, with even their animals wearing ashes. Funny, I always liked to think of it as literal if only because it's so hopeful to see a people repent and avoid punishment enmasse. My cyncism shows when I say that that alone is what shows it's satire. But all things are possible with God and the example of the saints shows that.

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

The petite young blond fitness center worker was curled up next to the hearth of a computer in an office just a couple yards from the running track.

"Do you have a shirt I can borrow?" I ask, since I wanted to run but had somehow forgotten to pack a t-shirt.

"Oh, we had extras but I gave them all out. You could borrow one of mine but I don't think it'd fit."

I said fit didn't matter but that idea didn't seem to have legs.

She said I likely wouldn't want to wear some of the things in the Lost & Found, and I readily agreed, imagining the advanced state of decay they'd likely be in.

So I ran around the oval track in a dress shirt and shorts, feeling slightly self-conscious. But who would know it but I felt full of running as if I'd been in running arrears. I felt lke I could run forever and it felt even better knowing that at that moment I'd given my all at work, satisfied one of my main customers and that at the same time my own 'puter was running too, running a long-running job, fighting the good fight against a mountain of data.

On the way home I cranked up the country song "Between Jennings and Jones", the clever lyrics made me want to write.

Somewhere Between Jennings & Jones

I left Montgomery on North 65
I was restless and ready to give Nashville a try
I rolled into town with a sound of my own
Somewhere between Jennings and Jones

Well, the day job I landed felt just like a jail
I couldn't seem to break out with that hammer and nails
And I spent all my nights in some old honky-tonk
Somewhere between Jennings and Jones

Hanging out in the bars with the drunks and the stars
I found a few good ole boys just like me
Started burning our candles both ends and the middle
a bunch of roaring outlaws at high speed
And they said that the end of that road I was on
was somewhere between Jennings and Jones

Well, some record executives found me on night
I was singing half-lit, they said it sounded just right (right)
They put my name on an album but shelved all my songs
Said I was somewhere between Jennings and Jones

Hanging out in the bars with the drunks and the stars
And a few good ole boys just like me
Started burning our candles both ends and the middle
a bunch of roaring outlaws at high speed
And they said that the end of that road I was on
somewhere between Jennings and Jones

Now to find me in a record store won't take you long
I'm right there between Jennings and Jones

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Thru the magic of wi-fi, set up my writing office in my car with the sunroof open to the clouds and fine mist of rain and the outlaw country station playing Merle Haggard's "Workin' Man's Blues". Tell me about it Merle. Earlier that day had tussled with computer programs, corralled errant details, fought thru the occasional film of ennui, had a hot chocolate chip cookie for lunch's dessert for medicinal purposes only. "It was sooooo good." (say like Kevin of "The Office"). The cookie reminded me that our priest asked us to fast for him this week as he goes on a retreat in Nowhere, MN, where the monks wake at 4am to start the day, after going to bed at 9. (Did I mention the pièce de résistance? They wake up at midnight for prayers then too. Wow.)

I drank pseudo-beer (O'Doul's) and took a real walk, gazing at the pulchritude of our house amid foliage made shiny by rain. The two gigantic maples frame it and in between the landscaping is of a maturity that both displays and obscures, making for a very pleasing presentation especially with all the lights on. I flitted from the front porch to the back porch and back, tasted a bit of wine, enjoyed the solitude and quiet, read Dickens in the bookroom, and found a used copy of Michael Chabon's adventure novel on the 'net...

_______

The thing about magical evenings is that they rarely lead to greater devotion to God; indeed happiness does not make us better people & vice-versa. The next morn was a long slog on the minutiae train. Then Lucy from long ago, from Retirement Land, comes out of nowhere and tweaks my ear and I'm momentarily annoyed, both by her excessive familiarity and by the fact that I'm not excessively familiar with her, which is to say: why does everybody have work friends but me? Since Hambone left it's not been the same. For someone to come back to work after they're retired is not something I'd have thought to do.

Felt a need to say the ancient prayers in the Lit o' the Hours. It's uncanny how often a line or two will resonate with so much hope. The Psalms are like distilled 100-proof hope. Often a single word is so suffused with hope that you can scarcely believe it were it not in the Word of God.. And that makes a certain sense because the Psalms are about Christ and Christ is Hope personified.

Yesterday's moment of zen occurred in the Communion line when I suddenly noticed the Baby Jesus looking right at me, held in the arms by St. Joseph. "You've never looked at me before!" and indeed I hadn't, I'd always looked at and prayed to St. Joseph when coming to the Communion line, as if St. Joseph was more interesting figure due to him being closer to my age. Funny how the wise men knew what they were doing when they bowed before the infant. All of this seemed St. Joseph's way of saying, "here is where I get my power and influence".

A blog friend sent me a note obviously not meant for me since it was about me, asking basically what my problem was in arguing with him on his post. I never seem capable of leaving sleeping posts (and dogs) lie. I've never been able to disagree in a thread without seeming disagreeable. My point, presumably poorly proposed (that last 'p' was strictly for alliterative purposes), was less about whether animals go to Heaven then the principle of it, which is that we are allowed to believe speculative things. This is very important in my daily life, because I'm often believing speculative things (like the fact that it's not a coincidence when something happens such that I think God is behind it - in other words, that God speaks to us in the little daily coincidences for which there is no direct proof of His action).

The CTS Bible

This sounds like a magnificent Bible translation - the best of the Jerusalem Bible (i.e. everything but the Psalms) with the Grail Psalms.

Timothy at Catholic Bibles writes, "Most of you in the United States who pray the Liturgy of the Hours will be familiar with them." And indeed I love the Pslams in the LoH.

For a long time I've had my eye on the Ignatius Bible but now am leaning toward the CTS.