Category Archives: Current Affairs
Pet Peeve of the Week – Complementary and Complimentary
Did You Know?
A video about technological change. I'm old enough to have spent time in the basement of the university library with a keypunch machine for my programming courses. And as I spend time researching early music and chant online and converse with friends about these topics on the Internet, I'm delighted at the interaction of old and new.
Hadley Arkes
I'm probably the last interested person to find out that Hadley Arkes became a Catholic. But I don't care when I heard the news. It makes me too happy. And if you don't know who he is, go here and find out. He's one smart and principled intellectual.
Just sitting next to him at lunch once probably raised my IQ (temporarily) 25 points.
Pet Peeve Awakens
This afternoon while contemplating some thriving succulents in the garden, I heard a gentle grousing in my Menagerie of Pet Peeves. As the wonderful Feast of Corpus Christi approaches, the peeve of Date Changing awakens once again. (She seems to have slept through Ascension Thursday/Sunday this year.)
Think of the impact on spectators, if a marvelous procession of our most "over the top" doctrine – the Real Presence erupted from the churches onto the everyday streets! Knights of Columbus with plumes and swords, little girls in white with wings and rose petals, a singing and tuneful choir, judicious use of brass instruments, stational stops for Benediction.
What would people think? What might they ask? What would we answer?
(Don't worry, folks. We'll reserve our pieties for the traditional day of the week. Almost everywhere, we promise to keep our extravagence in check by staying on church property.)
He is Risen!
Legal Positivists, Thanks to Sub Tuum
Enjoy a great post from Brother Stephen over at Sub Tuum.
And don't let me catch you smoking with the windows rolled down!
Zachariah and the Rest of Us
The Gospel readings as Christmas draws near focus on the events preceding the Nativity of Christ, especially the conception of John the Baptist and the Visitation.
Zachariah is struck dumb by the annoyed Angel Gabriel because Zachariah doesn't think that God can overcome obstacles, that it's too late for him and Elizabeth. How often do we tell God (and ourselves) that it is just too late? Too late to take a new direction in our lives. Too late to answer the promptings of the Spirit to live the Gospel radically. Too late for reconciliation or even just getting in touch with a friend or family member. Too late to do the work we know we were born to do but somehow were distracted from.
Or simply don't see that path in front of us because we've decided it's too late to even look?
God doesn't know what "too late" means. And neither should we.
Happiness, Anyone?
Today feels very topsy-turvy – strange media headlines ("Psychiatrist Attacks Fort Hood"), lots of unreality – very easy to experience in a tourist town because no matter what's happening in the world, someone is here on vacation.
So why not take a look at The Happiness Project - it's one of the websites that are full of links to problem-solving lists and useful nuggests. And the most recent posting leads you on to more websites as well.
Take a break, refresh and reset. Then figure out what your role in the early 21st century might be.
Of course, I can't do the last until my First Friday gig at the Market on Granada is taken care of. I'll be creating good vibes with my harp from 5 o'clock to 9 (more or less) this evening.