CATHOLIC FAMILIES WITH GAY / LESBIAN MEMBERS

IS STRAIGHT MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN ARCHED?

I promised you my comments.  Here they are.
After the first night of meeting with Spanish speaking community members of the church in Moreno Valley, the priest met with the English speaking faithful.  There were twice as many people there than had attended the previous evening.  There were a lot of parents there and there were a lot of children there whose parents are not yet ready to be there.
I was unable to attend the entire proceedings because of management responsibilities regarding the entire event.  I did make it to small parts of the meeting and was able to make up my own mind about the situation.  I therefore will get a little more detailed with you about my personal take on what the Catholic Church is doing in this area.
1st off, I personally think that if the Catholic church placed more energy into pointing people in the direction of the first commandment, there would be less time lost on the sixth.  It seems that this is all we think about, after abortion, of course (5th commandment)
2nd, I personally think that it is a good idea to place the emphasis on the "human face" of this problem.  This is what was happening during the meetings, and it is effective.  I was disgusted at the way some of the people were treated by their very own parents when they came out.  What I heard was descriptions of the sin of human cruelty committed by parents against their very own children.  Because of this sin of human cruelty by parents and others, many people suffer a lot because of their "life style."  (I hate that expression.)
3rd, I learned that Catholic Homosexuals for the great majority do not turn their backs on God and that most Catholic homosexuals are uncomfortable turning their backs on the Catholic Church.  The most acute problem that they have is finding a "God-place" where they can relate to God in a non-threatening community.  Most seek shelter from the discrimination that is aimed at them in the secular world.  Sadly, in many instances they cannot find shelter from that in church communities either.
4th, I know from personal experience that homosexual co-habitation is a more challenging reality than hetero-sexual co-habitation because of the social stigma attached to homosexuality.  In Catholic moral terms, both are considered to be habitual grave sins.  Priests dedicated to ministering to re-married, divorced Catholics and to homosexuals operate in the same grey area called euphemistically, "an impossible situation."   In both cases, the priests have to preach and teach the truth in a loving and encouraging way by speaking the truth to disturbed consciences that are alone before God.
So, there you have it.  I learned a lot.  I have one final thought.  Through it all I have come away dissatisfied with the words that we use in common discourse to describe heterosexuals, me, among them.  We call ourselves and others, straight.  As compared to what?  Crooked?  Deviated, as in "deviated septum?"  That word was used in the meetings, even by confirmed homosexuals who were proudly wearing rainbow lapel pins.  I find it screwy that we find all kinds of ways find inoffensive words for so many things.  We have even gone to asking people what gender they are, as if they are a grammatical category rather than a human person.  Here we still call heterosexuals "straight" and we snivel and snarl and rail against the Catholic Church when she says that homosexuality is a disorder?  Is that what we mean when we call ourselves straight, without actually verbalizing what we would really say about the "un-straight"?


While you're thinking about that, I was approached the following morning by a person who had attended the previous night's session.  He asked me who was responsible for inviting "that" priest to speak to the faithful of our parish.  I looked him straight in the eye and said, "me."
He bravely asked why.  I simply said that I and the leadership of the parish had decided that it was time to challenge the people in the pews by confronting them with the harsh spiritual and secular realities that some of the members of our parish have to live with.
To his credit, he saw my point.  Agree or disagree, he thanked me and we are still friends.

PAGAN CATHOLICS,PART DEUX

ANNUIT COEPTUS, NOVUS ORDUM AETATUM

 Oops  left you without a definition of PAGAN CATHOLICS.  They are the ones who practice prayer and meditation according to Easter Spiritualities, Greek Mythologies, Western Superstitions and a host of other "cool" spiritual practices.  These include, but are not limited to Yoga, in all of its multitude of branches, Enneagram, Labyrinth, Sacred Geometry, Astrology, Kabbalah, Hinduism and the multifarious members (Gods) of its Pantheon, Polytheism, Ouija, WICCA and other connections to the Age of Aquarius.
The believers and practitioners of this form of Catholicism include, but are not limited to validly ordained bishops of the Catholic Hierarchy and the key members of their staffs, Cardinals who vote for the Pope, Priests, including, perhaps, the pastor of your parish, validly ordained deacons and their wives, Parish coordinators and other lay leaders, including catechists. That is the definition of PAGAN CATHOLIC.
Before pointing the finger, make sure that the mirror in your bathroom is not foggy and check out the sweetheart who is looking back at you from within while reciting the mandate of the first commandment.

PAGAN CATHOLICS

The Adult Faith Formation Week has ended and it was a booming success.  We had traffic surpassing 1,100 individuals.  No doubt the 65 degree weather after sundown helped.  It was a great time and I now feel relaxed because it is over for another year.  All I have to do now is to write the narrative report.  I already have the ideas I need to start planning for next year.  One of them will be a series of talks about PAGAN CATHOLICS.  I don't want to bore you with this because I know that many of you don't relate to this.  But right now it is the only thought that I have and I can't shake it.  So what I am going to do is to cut this short because I do want you to know that I do have a thought, but it is not one that is fitting for this forum.  I will go put it somewhere else and provide a link for those of you who might be interested, in a day or two.
Therefore, good night, and I'll be brighter and chipperer tomorrow.

ONCE A CATHOLIC, ALWAYS A CATHOLIC

Listen to this.  You gotta luv it.  A man accosted me yesterday at the lobby of the mini-symposium and started his conversation with, "I'm sick and tired of these people who say, 'I used to be Catholic, but now...'  I always tell them, 'you're like the auto mechanic, med school drop-out who brags 'I was a doctor, once, but I got pissed off at the registrar and left'.  You never have been a Catholic and never will be until you come back and live the life for at least ten years.  Then you'll be Catholic not by culture but by conviction."
This is the strongest language I have heard over the three days of operation.  I wonder if there is more of the same in store.  Actually, the three stories I have heard so far are more of the "Once Catholic, always a Catholic" variety, and they come in varying degrees of conviction.  One man said, "You need me.  Put me to work."  This was Monday, so I did, and he keeps coming back.  So, I guess he's back.  If he asks me where to go to confession, I think I'll just say, "You already did."  I'll have to wait and see how it turns out.
Anyway, I have to take a short break.  I'll be back.
Talking about strong language makes me remember the testimony of a young lady during the second meeting of the gay and lesbian instruction led by the diocesan minister in charge of such things.  I was late getting to the party, but I had plenty of other things to do.  I walked in and sat in the back.  The microphone was making the rounds and parents and younger people were taking turns throwing their two-cents into the ring of opinions.  I was listening with about 1/2 of my brain when the microphone got to the young lady in question.  I couldn't help but hear since she was in the chair ahead of mine.  The most stunning part of  her self-disclosure was when she said, "The day when I decided to stop fighting my sexuality and to throw myself into the loving arms of God was the day that I felt I was being kissed for the first time, all day long."  After a while the meeting started to break up and I got the chance to see her face to face.  I hope she didn't pick up on the flood of emotion that washed over me when I realized that she is one of the people in the parish that I get along with very well.  She grew several notches in my estimation tonight.
The two nights of teachings on this subject exposed over 100 people to the culture of this ministry.  Many in attendance are leaders of the parish.  Some are of the right-wing conviction.  Those leaders now have a different view of the world.  We have been changed by the experience and we have been handed new responsibilities by God Himself.  We have discovered what it's going to take for us to go through life life proclaiming "Once a Catholic, ALWAYS A CATHOLIC."

63 DAYS AND 67 ITEMS AND COUNTING...

Keep your eye on that calendar.  It is important because the challenge of this blog is still in the fire.  It has to be kept before our eyes so as to not draw the ire of the gods.  After all, what would Odin think of a guy who could not ride a Valkyrie for 63 days?  What would Mars think of a wimp who could not ride an oated up silver steed with a flaming lance by his hip for 63 days?  What would Jupiter think of a guy who would not cross the equator for fear of a change of seasons?  What would Shiva think of a guy who couldn't walk in his fire?  What would Irene think of a guy who couldn't say "Goodnight?"  What would Lucille think of a guy who wouldn't complain about the "fine time that she picked to leave him?"  What would "Skinny Minny" think of a guy who would want her fat?   What would Jeanie think of a guy who would only dream of blondes?  What would Jeanine think of a guy who would dream of her only in crocus time?  What would Marie think of a guy who couldn't remember to say, "Hoy?"  And finally, what would Carmen think of a guy who would not be afraid of her love?  (That's a hard one.  Carmen is the gal who sings the warning, "...si je t'aime, prends garde a toi."  If I love you, watch out!)
So many challenges, so few women...Ahhh, let me take that back.  HHmmmm, I've just decided to take Carmen's advice.  I'm gonna watch out.
Now, I'm going to leave you.  If you want, you can continue this game and we'll see where it leads us.  (I'll bet you thought I was going to end that sentence with a preposition.  Come on, admit it.  You did too.  But I didn't, so there.)
May God bless you all.  I have to go back to my project.  Please pray for me.  
PS, I think it is now safe to start thanking god for his gift of rain-free, 60 degree, clear January evenings for the entire week.  Please do not forget.  Thank you to God.

I WOULD HAVE TAKEN A PICTURE, BUT IT WOULD NOT HAVE MATTERED

WHERE'S THE GAY GUY? 

I was going to take a picture for this "Thought" but then I realized that it would look something like the one you have here on the left.  So I decided that it wasn't worth it.  The only recognizable person would have been the priest leading the meeting.  All the rest were just ordinary people.  Well, almost "ordinary".  Most of them are still ordinary, but then again that is perhaps not perfectly true any more either.  You see this would have been a picture of about 30 people sitting in front of a Catholic priest teaching them about the position that the Catholic Church wants us to have with regards our homosexual brethren.  The point of the picture would have been the same as it with the one that you presently have before you...from behind we are all the same.  In the eyes of God we are all lovable. Each one of us cost Jesus His life, down to the last drop of His blood.  The challenge that we have then is to love one another as He loved us.  And, surprise, that includes homosexuals.  

I could not attend the entire session because I have other responsibilities concerning the mini-symposium about which I have been writing lately.  I did sit there a bit and I did make myself present at the end.  This was easy because all the other sessions had closed down and this one was still going.  It had been going for about 2 hours and the people were still there, listening, making comments, and behold, so intently engaged, and so polite and gentle to one another and to the priest/leader of the exchanges.  As the session wound down I went to the front of the group and since there were many there who did not really know me, I introduced myself.   I said that I was sincerely happy to have been able to make this meeting happen and that I hoped that God would make their spiritual life at our church a fruitful one.  As I was speaking I noticed that many of them were people whom I know and who know me.  They were so happy to see me.  Five or six of them came to me before leaving to hug me and thank me for having the courage to make something like this happen.  I was surprised at the depth of their sincerity and their evident  gratitude.  They were all wearing their emotions on their sleeves.  

The crowning came when I was alone with the priest who then told me that he did not believe his eyes when he walked into the room and beheld about 30 people in attendance.  He had come in the expectation of seeing some  5 or 6.  He could not contain his euphoria all the way back to his auto.  As he crouched to get into his vehicle, all he could find to say was, "I have to hope that the English speaking group scheduled for tomorrow night will be as numerous and as spiritually awake as this Hispanic group is."

Dear readers, please pray for us.  Many of us, I repeat, many of us, are in uncharted waters here.  All we have is the certainty that God wants us here.  Ask Him to give us the strength to help Him with these Ninivites without His having to carry us there in the belly of a whale.

AN OPEN COMMENT ABOUT MY BEHAVIOR IN CHURCH

A friend of mine sent a comment in to the "365 Thoughts..." but never uses the comment box, she just fires emails my way.  I love it.  This one caught my attention because it is both humorous and deep.  She is commenting on life in  general around these parts because of the week long event of religious education talks for adults.  She is a little strict on the people who do not come around.  Actually, she is right.  There are many of the "elite" parishioners who never come to these presentations even though the professionals giving them are from outside and are very capable of outdoing the local leadership.  Oh, well...  Anyhow, enjoy the humor.  I have a nice one for you all for tomorrow.

I saw you sleep during the homily yesterday.  I wondered for a time if you were bored with Father Fred's homily or just plain tired.  I chose the latter.  (Thank you) 

The Adult Faith Formation Week contains such good topics and

well chosen people and yet they (our parishioners) just trickle in.  Its not you and its not the speakers or lack of announcement.  There is almost a blockage in the air, reminds of Daniel's prayer to God with no response for 2 weeks.  After 2 weeks the angel carrying the prayers to heaven came panting and telling Daniel, that he tried to bring the response from God, but the the earth was blocked by the bad angel from one side of the horizon to another that he had to get St. Michael to help him penetrate.  I'll find out what chapter is this and verse.  (Daniel, chapter 10)  I also a remember a Saint whose name I don't remember his name who came into the new town to preach at the church and no one came.  (St. Anthony of Padua)  He complained to God about it and God told him to go the pier and preach to all the sea creatures.  He did and the whole ocean came alife with fishes and all sea creatures 

ST. ANTHONY PREACHING TO THE FISHES

listening.  

So if by any chance you thought for one minute that it was your failure, it's not.  Something else you have no control of.  One good thing that I noticed, Josh, my husband, started to get serious about his God.  So if nothing else and just one little Josh, hey, heaven had responded.  Thank you for your tremendous effort you and Belle.  

There it is.  Plain and simple in the original language from my Dear, Dear friend,  Justa from Palau Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  

She is true salt of the earth and God will never allow her to go flat!

I GOT AN IDEA TODAY. OH, NO, IT WAS A THOUGHT, REALLY

The thought was that if my life continued to go down the road that had opened for it on Sunday evening, as the bishop was "kicking off" the weekly Adult Faith formation Event that Belle and I have organized, I would perhaps come to smile a bit sometime around Friday evening at 10:00 PM or so.  So far we have had a stream of people that is rather impressive coming through the various open doors on campus.  We had about 400 last night and about 300 tonight.  If this continues we will have our first 1,000 gross traffic year in the 6 years that we have put this in front of people.  Imagine, 700 in two nights, one of which coincided with the State of the Union Address.  Not only that, but this was the night when we had invited the church people who are dedicated to the treatment of post abortion stress syndrome in our diocese.  Not a very gala topic.  But you know what?  Between the two national groups, Anglo and Hispanic, we had 60 people involved.  What's going to happen when the ministers from Prison chaplaincy come, followed by the Ministry to Families with Gay and/or lesbian members.  Actually, I'm allowing myself to be ready for the magic number to be realized.  If that happens, It will be like when I first realized that 1,000,000 pairs of eyeballs had fallen on my Internet musings.  I will shake my head in disbelief for a week.
Today, I was trying to enumerate the number and names of people who have been instrumental in getting this thing put together and rolling.  Not that many, actually.  But powerful ones.  The steam roller lady from 40 miles south who is so efficient that I just had to be responsive to her acceptance of the invitation and to her constant, torridly accurate follow-up updates about what she was planning to do.  The Bulldozer Deacon, head of Arab Catholics in Southern California who found not one but two Muslims willing to come to our church to instruct our congregation about Islam.  The deacon works in a parish 65 miles away and the one Muslim who finally came traveled 85 miles one way for a two hour talk.  For a couple of years now I have been seeking a good speaker to tell the Mexican population about a powerful part of their religious history called the Cristero Movement.  I found one, pro bono (free) who came from 65 miles away for the occasion.
I'm not done.  There's the nun who is coming from 60 miles and the deacon from 45 and the other nun from 45.  Do you wonder why I shake my head?
I dare you to ask me about the January weather that God is sending us for this occasion.  Hey, if he had not run out of Manna 6,000 years ago, He would share some with us.  But He's a little short, what with the bad economy and all.  So instead, all He's doing is seeing to it that  the temp is hovering around 60 or so, with balmy skies and no clouds...and this is at night, not noon.  
So all of you who have been praying for success, don't let your arms droop down yet.  It's still just mid week, but the Heavenly Hosts are doing their part.  
That is it for now.  You should hear some of the testimony that has come to me as I walk around the campus, meeting and greeting people who are lost because they are unfamiliar with the church territory.  I have told a couple of them to give a name to their guardian angel so that they can ask him to bring them back again next week for the 'Welcome Home" meeting for returning Catholics.
Now,   I better get to bed before MY guardian angel falls asleep from over work.

NOW, I GOT A THOUGHT OR TWO, SO BRACE YOURSELF...

...Add some glue to your false teeth, put an extra strip of velcro on the more revealing edges of whatever it is that you wear while at your computer and put a seat belt on your chair.  This one is not original for today.  I've had it before.   It slammed me this morning because I am always on edge for this one.  ALWAYS.
I got back to the church this morning after the evening full of 90 minute sessions that made up the first night of the mini symposium that Belle and I have organized for the adults of the parish. We got there early to prepare the coffee that precedes the morning talks and to conduct some "exit polling" of those who had attended yesterday's events.  Things were going rather well when the first person just answered the question with a smile and a positive response.  The second person, when asked about his opinion about the presentation on Islam, said that he was happy that his preconceived ideas had almost all been confirmed before leaping head first into a stream of broken-record repetitions of abortion statistics and the culture of death...  I quickly turned to another person heading for the main door of the church and accosted her to ask if she has enjoyed the presentation on the Mexican Martyrs, "Los Cristeros".  She said "Yes."  After which she burst into a diatribe about the fact that we weren't presenting anything on the greatest evil ever to visit planet earth, abortion.  (She's wrong, it is slated for tonight)  Now, the first one took about 25 seconds before getting to the target.  The second one was less than 5.  I have written about this phenomenon before, so I will not dedicate too much time to it here, today.  I will say this: I am pro-choice and do not make an effort to tell me that I am mistaken.  And most especially, give me more than 20 seconds of advance notice that you are a person who has but one single item of religious conversation available on the tip of the tongue.  I want you to know that I am anti-abortion.  I don't hide behind euphemisms like "pro-life."  I am not pro-life.  God created us free, with  the challenge of keeping ourselves pure in His sight by exercising choice according to His Will.  I kill animals before eating them.  (He's OK with that)  I uproot weeds; I cut down trees; I use insecticide; I am OK with policemen who carry guns, presumably because they may have to kill a human being someday; I am OK with drone warfare, to a degree.  I am against abortion, no matter at what stage of development the abortion takes place.  That means that I have room in my small brain for understanding that not all zygotes or whatever other name humans in development can be known by, are in fact "human."  And don't you Catholics come down and say that everything in the womb is human from the point of conception.  Not even the Church goes that far.  You give me that and I'll give you the right to declare yourself pro-life even though you still dearly cling to your pro capital punishment, second amendment solutions, animal killing, meat eating proclivities.  At least I don't have to live with that lie.  I have some of my own that I like better.
So, now you know.  I have had enough of the abortion activist ear splitting emotionalism to last me well into my fast approaching next lifetime.  One thing about this makes me happy:  now that I have "come out of the closet" there's not a one of you who will have even the slightest temptation to cry at my funeral.


BTW:  I guarantee that I pray for all you "sidewalk warriors" every single day.

NO NEW THOUGHT, NOT A ONE -- IS THAT POSSIBLE?

Is it possible to go for 24 hours without having one, single new thought cross your brain?  I think it is possible.  I cannot for the like of me find a thought that came to me today that is different from any other one that I can remember ever having.  Is it possible that I have come to the age when the infinitude of thought has finited itself?  Interesting question, right?  Can you imagine what would happen if a significant portion of the world's population were to suddenly have a mental block and no significant new idea(s) stirred the gray matter of millions, no, wait, billions of human beings?  Would the earth stop going around on it axis?  Would gravity stop?  Would the economy feel the shock?  Would newspapers be one or two pages short?  What would happen to TIME magazine?  SLATE?  CNN?  How would children in school fare in the empty space of non-original thought?  Would there be enough first-time input to children's brains to make up for the banality of the adult thought production for that day?  This has got be serious stuff.  How can the world run on "empty" this way?  I know for a fact that I usually have at least one interesting thought every single day.  But that has not been true for this day.  The sun came up.  People greeted me and I greeted them back.  My English was pretty good.  I didn't need my French, Italian, Ilokano, Tagalog or Latin.  I do have to admit that my Spanish was better today than it is on average.  I even addressed two different groups tonight to make formal introductions of special professionals to major audiences without notes and walked away happy with my grammar and creative syntax.  Is that supposed to be sufficient to satisfy me?  I don't think so.
So, that's it for today.  Except for some above average emotionally super charging satisfying results during the first full day of our Parish Adult Faith Formation Week Symposium, it was a rather non stimulating intellectually sleepy day.   So, here I go for the horizontal cure in the hopes that my Darling Goddess Morpheus can do something for me over night so that I can have some challenging cranial vibes take me through the 25th day of January.

401 KEG PLAN -- I'M IN A WEIRD MOOD TONITE -- actually, it's not "tonite" any more

I got this in my email from a drinking buddy of mine from out of the past.  Enjoy yourselves.

Just imagine...

Save 'em all up until you're sure you have the $214.00 profit!

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you will have $49.00 today!
If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you will have $33.00 today.
If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0.00 today.
But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you will have received a $214.00.
Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle.  It is called the 401-Keg.

A recent study found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means that, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon!


Makes you proud to be an American!!!

Really?  I have to chime in on this one.


1st off, I think that 900 miles per year is too conservative.  That's only 2.4 miles per day.
22 gallons of alcohol is slightly less than 2 ounces per day. Also rather conservative, dontcha think.


Based on a study that I read when I was about 12 years old, the average American walked about 10 miles per day.  I would generously cut that in half, due to reverse inflation.  You know, more driving, less walking. Nevertheless,  I would also conservatively increase the alcohol intake to a full 5 ounces per day.  The average American would then consume 46 gallons of alcohol and walk a total of 1825 miles per year for a miles per gallon productivity level of only 39.6 miles per gallon.  Not too bad, but certainly not great.


The calculation which rendered the $214.00 profit is more difficult to follow since certain stipulations important to the process are not given.  There are several questions which would  have to be answered before a perfectly correct answer could be generated.  Such questions would be:  What is the average alcohol content of beer across the country?  What is the average price of a six-pack across the country on a day to day basis?  It seems that the stipulated presumption is based on beer contained in aluminum cans, a very volatile market that is difficult to baseline accross the country.  The other question that I have is, are we sure that all the beer sold in aluminum cans is packaged in cans that are manufactured by the same provider?  Are they all of the same gauge aluminum, of the same density?  I have further difficulties about the $214.00 profit.  If the recycler came to the point of consumption to buy the aluminum, would the profit still be the same?  If the consumer had to drive to the recycling outlet, what would be the negative impact on the profit?  
You see,friends, serious economics require a lot of deep, gyrating thoughts around gratuitous statements that are floated into cyberspace without sufficient preponderant evidence.


As for me, I am grateful to  have had these two exercises in comic futility because this is the closest I have come to a can of beer or alcohol of any kind, drinking or otherwise, in over one year.  I thank you all for the opportunity to try out my sniveling, underhanded "Beltway" sophistry on you all, dead sober as I am at the moment.
I'll get more serious tomorrow.  
All of this struff made me think of a question that I asked in school one day: "Does the shadow of an airplane go as fast as the plane does?"  
Go ahead, get even with me for that one.

WHERE'S MY PAREGORIC

Alcohol and Opium, YYuummm

Ah,sweet elixir of opium!  Where have you gone?  Why can I no longer go to Cowan's Drug store, corner of Bridge and South Main and get two ounces' worth of your sweet comfort?  I still remember the great taste and the smooth disappearance of the physical pain when you and I got together in those early years.  How sad that we have drifted apart.  It seems like the pharmaceutical industrial complex has overtaken the world and completely crushed our sweet relationship.  How many nights have Morpheus and I striven to commune in peaceful slumber only to be wracked by the fiery, volcanic fire of gout pain in so many joints of my being.  More pain in more joints than I could ever have imagined.  Why, just the other day I was dreaming of you again, reaching out, but in vain.  I had one slim and faint glimmer of hope when it was suggested by a doctor that I indulge in a dab or two of your very distant offshoot, codeine.  What a sad counterfeit!  But I figured that I would give it a try in the off chance that the taste of it could re-awaken vivid memories of our long forgone relationship.  Believe me, Elixir of my heart, that I jumped through all the 21st century hoops to bring this weak resemblance of you into my life.  I can't remember all the times I licked my lips in nostalgic and sensual motions of longing for the stimulus of the sensory memory of your presence.  I presented myself to the apothecary with rapidly beating heart, sweaty palms, quivering lips and dry mouth, barely able to mutter my desires for the prize.  She, yes, it was a she.  How odd, a "she" apothecary.  At the moment it mattered not.  I had my eye and my heart on the prize, not the girl, no, not the girl.  And all of this emotion for a mere shadow of what I remembered you to be.  All of this for a manufactured concoction of God's gift to humanity!  I still can't understand why I was so terribly crushed when I was informed that the prescription would not be ready to be claimed for at least an hour.  An hour?!?  %^$@#T!  I could get you, the creation of God in five minutes from Mr. Cowan.  Why do I have to wait one hour for an impostor?  Of course, I had to wait, and wait.  If an hour ever seemed like a year, this was it.  I keep wondering how I ever made it through the interminable Christmas eves waiting for my parents to come home from attending the Midnight Mass.  So, I left the site, went out of doors and took a stroll around the block.  Good thing it was a balmy Southern California January day.
When my stroll was finished, I boldly pierced the armor of the thick glass doors to get into the ante room to see if my name had come up on the announcement board.  Oh, Lord, there it was.  Finally my deepest desires were going to be requited.  Finally I would be able to enjoy the paroxysms of a heart beating out of control at the touch of the the prize so long absent from its being.  I quickly fell into line behind some five or six other humans.  I was so excited that I did not even think of playing the mental game of trying to guess why these mere mortals were waiting in line in a pharmacy.  You know the game, "Hmmm, I wonder if she has cancer?" etc...  No, not today, I am too pre-occupied with fulfilling my sensual needs as they have too long been neglected.  Now the line is so short that I am next.  
"NEXT!" 
I have to restrain myself from running to the service station.  I get there, smile at the clerk, present my I.D. and wait for her to return (not the same "her"), barely able to control my bodily functions (keeping my balance, among others, you know?)  She comes back, opens the bag to have me verify and ascertain the correctness of the product.

What I see ruins my life.  Is this what life is in the 21st century?  >>>>>>>>>

THE ATTACK OF THE TECHNOLOGY GREMLINS

GOOGLE GOT ME BACK

I tried my best to link back the original quote that opened the last post.  I did try, honest.  I could not figure our a way to get it done.  It worked perfectly well for me, and now that I have been advised by the Voice from my Kitchen I know what went wrong.  I made several changes in the linking loop and it never once came to me that I was testing something that is captive to my Google account, so it always worked.  So I solved the problem the same way I solved the problem of the "pet" rooster I once had.  After trying for more than one week to teach him to jump through a hoop with no success, I presented him to my mother in time for a chicken dinner.  I made him jump through the opening of the stew pot and a great time was had by us all. (True story)  All this to simply say that I have removed the faulty, recalcitrant link sdo as to not continue ruiniing the poetic nature of the last post, "The Miracle of Snow."
Google has not yet responded to my request for a description of "BLIBOT", so I guess I will have to go the Wikipedia route, except I don't have the time.
Take it easy, enjoy the snow and I will keep you all in my dreams and my prayers while basking in the balmy SoCal sun storm.
I hereby declare this 1/2 of a thought.

THE MIRACLE OF SNOW

I don't watch much TV.  But I been seeing a lot of this on the Internet these days.
More snow!  "Like manna from heaven let each snowflake remind us of the marvelous and precious creation that we are, as individually unique as a snowflake, but dearly beloved by The Creator.  Alleluia!!!" (Reef Lector)

To that wonderful reflection let me add the Southern California answer by wishing, "Let the SONshine in!"


I just finished talking about memories. I have to confess that I have glorious, God-praising memories about winter miracles.  Of all the times that I get up in the morning, look out and thank God for a marvelous, cloud-free, bright sunshiny day, I have over-arching memories of snow-laden trees, sensually sinuous snow-drift waves of pure white reflecting the presence of God back at me.  I have the insistent, brain-space invading memories of soft rounded hills, bordered by banks of pine trees silhouetted in front of the breath-taking Northern Lights with their miraculously pastel hues of blues and reds.  I have the crackling, splitting intrusion of 20 below zero memories of meadows covered by four foot thick blankets of snow reflecting the light of a glorious full moon and turning Sister Night into a valiant sibling competitor of Brother Day.  The very same memories of the times when we could lay down four coats of water on the ever hardening ice-hockey rink on the edge of the self-same gloriously blanketed meadows.
So, yes, Reef, you've played the trump card.  There are no memories better than those of miraculous winters because even we denizens of Sunny, Southern California know, by memory, that it is in the Glory of Winter that the SON shines best.

That's one more thing that I have gotten off my chest.  But I still carry the burden that all emigrants carry, the insistent memories and love of the homeland together with the obdurate decision to never return. ;)

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN...?

How many of you know you were and what you were doing when something big happened?  How big a thing does it take for you to remember it forever?  How many of these big (important, personal, historic, close, far...) things do you actually remember as though they were yesterday?  In fact, how many fairly insignificant things do you remember and can't forget and can't figure why?

The reason why I'm on this track today is that it is the 50th anniversary of the best inaugural speech that i have ever heard.  Yes, I remember John F. Kennedy's inaugural address just as well as I remember his assassination.  

Therefore, to be fair here is a list of things I remember as well now as if they had happened yesterday, as the saying goes.

1.  The death and funeral of Aunt Cécile Dion.

2.  The end of World War II

3.   I mentioned Kennedy above.  In the same vein     I also remember Chappaquiddick

4.   I remember the Marcos coup

5.   I remember the Ecumenical Council History

6.   I remember snow in Rome

7.   I remember 9/11/2001

There are some things that I still remember clearly, but I let these stand for the moment.  It's an interesting exercise.  You start of by identifying only four or five, and then the wave grows and becomes a marvelous flow of brain electricity.

Finally, I remember the election of Barack Obama.  

I would tell you that I remember the time of invalidity that I had one short year ago, but for the record, there is so much of that event that is dark in my mind, I am amazed more at the power of modern drugs to take us away from some of the most challenging moments of our lives that I am stupefied by my inability to remember the events of about 10 days of my adult life.

I of course remember  the day of my father's death and some of the events that were put into motion by that happening.  One of the things that I dwell upon if I analyse things that I remember is the fact that they break about evenly between disasters and consolations.  

So, let me leave you with these thoughts.  I sent you an email off the side this morning.  I hope that you enjoyed.  It's not that my thoughts were amputated, just that I didn't have a way at hand (so to speak) to get them graphically communicated.

PS  No one has submitted the definition of BLIBOT.  I do have the record of one give and take about it.  It's fun.  Some other time.

HEY LOOK, MY FINGERS WORK AGAIN

NOT QUITE THIS FLEXIBLE

Hey, the time has come when I can get something done.  There are things in nature that can make us take some detours the we would prefer to avoid.  These are greater than technologically dictated detours.  Let me give you a personal example.
I have done a lot of professional driving.  All of it in passenger vans.  About 40 percent of it on what is sometimes euphemistically called a "freeway."  Ha.  Believe me, even there you have to have a philosophy.  The philosophy is that you can only use what the road gives you.  You can never overcome the avaricious nature of the road.  When you are on that ribbon of technology realized, you are at its mercy.  You always proceed according to its definition of itself.  You can either go fast or slow.  You can be alone, or nearly so, or you can be cramped.  But one way or the other, you do what the road permits you to do. Remember now I am talking about the freeway, so called.  There are free moments, but there also plenty of ligating (tying-up) ones.  The most interesting part of my experience is the city street driving that I did.  Boy, do I have some stories!  For a little more than one year, I drove an average of 200 plus miles per day, six days per week on city streets.  For those of you know California can readily smile and say, "Yeah, that can't be that bad.  He should have done that in Massachusetts."  I admit that doing it in Mass. would have been something either to brag about or to decry.  I do not know which I would have done.  One thing I do know, with my philosophy of "thanking the road for what you get from it, whether it is what you want or even, in some cases, what you need, is the way to inner peace."  I would  have been all right.
Over the last week, that is what I have been doing with regards to my left lower arm.  That limb found a way to get my attention.  It did it by denying me normal "traffic".  Now it's had some attention.  Now it is my turn again.   I could get really philosophical about pain and suffering again, but I'm going to spare you.  I'm here now and I have typed all of this and you have an insight into the kind of attitude I learned myself into by driving professionally.  So see, we learn from anything, if we want.   Can you believe that I wrote "I learned myself into"?  Somehow it sounds good.  A little like Shakespeare taking some poetic license.  Not bad for the Bard of South Hadley on Connecticut, eh?

I DID IT! I DID IT! I STUMPED GOOGLE!

BLIBOT!  

That's it.  I never even planned it.  I was just thinking about blibots a lot today and I decided to see if I could find a picture of one on Google.  Imagine my surprise and sense of "conquistador" pride at finding out that I had stumped the mega brain of the universe.  I have to tell you that I even decided to play fair and get out of the images mode and get into the "information over the blue line" mode.  Nothing.  Even with the "safe search" off, Google does not know what a blibot is.  I'm flying high.  I never in my wildest dreams thought that I could stump Google.  I mean, Google knows everything, I mean, everything!  Except what a blibot is.  So, all you chumps out there who think that you are so smart alecky, three-piece suit, summa cum laude Crimson Tide beats the Eli every time smarter than Google types, go ahead, tell me what a blibot is.  If you get it right, we'll submit it to Wikipedia so that we will get the scoop and Google will have to come to US for the answer.  if you don't get it right, then I'll tell you and keep all the glory to myself.
HHmmmmm, I wonder if my brother will know this.  I think he will.  He's one of these New York Times Sunday Crossword puzzle nerds.  Maybe I should disqualify him.  Besides he's family.  We'll stand by and see.  If he gets it and you don't, I'll be fair and tell you the truth.
By the way, I'm going to Google right now because I just thought of a French-Canadian word that I bet Google won't know.  Gimme a minute while I do this.  You can tell, I'm hot to trot on this quest.  I'm back, and I am flying high...
Wow, twice in the same day.  In both cases, there are bloggers who have taken the word and made it their pseudonym, but Google does not know what either of them means.
I WIN!   I BEAT GOOGLE.  NOW I'M WAITING FOR YOU ALL TO RESPOND.
The one thought that really makes me happy about this is the revenge that I get for finding that nude male movie star web-site guy so close to my "Paul Dion" on GOOGLE.
IF YOU WANT TO TAKE A WHACK AT THE FRENCH WORD, LET ME KNOW AND I'LL LET YOU TRY.

DEPRAVITY ON THE PAUL DION MAP

NOPE, NO PICTURE TODAY.  
I remember the silly sayings of George Gobel, innumerable moons ago. "Funny thing happened to me today.  I was walking downtown when I turned into a drug store."
That didn't happen to me, but in fact a funny thing did happen to me today.  If you want to call what it was, "funny."
I don't know why, but after writing all that stuff about one million eyeballs, I decided for the first time to "Google" myself.  I have to admit that I was rather impressed.  There I was on the third line with my picture.  A little mug shot back in the days when I was a little more beefy.  I did in fact make it on more than one line.  My blog, "No Crying at My Funeral" was there too.  Not too bad for a small town boy, says I.  I was doing quite well so I got sassy and decided that I would turn the page and see what I could find.  After all, after more than one million eyeballs, I figured that there would be something else.  That's when it happened.  Right there on the second page, near the top there's a Paul Dion who maintains a web sight of nude male movie stars.  Really.  No lie.  Of the 116 Paul Dion people in this country (according to Google, right there on the first page), not 15 names on down the list, there he is, the guy with the nice name and the daring enterprise.  I have to tell you, I wasn't very happy, but I did find a way to make lemonade.
I remembered the genealogy of Jesus and my mind took me right to Rahab.  Click there and read all about it.  You can check out the genealogy right here in the very first chapter of Matthew.  So, we're not any better than Jesus, now are we?  So now that "Google" has put me in my place, you are all surely so happy that you've just decided that you don't have to cry at my funeral.

THE VAGUE SPECIFIC

Never say, "I dunno."  First off it's bad English.  Secondly, it shows that you have no imagination.  Remember, you need imagination to get by.  So flaunt your imagination.  Make it sound good, but don't really say anything.  Don't tell me that don't now how to do this.  Saying that will just prove that when your Mom and Dad were talking around the house in front of you, you were not really listening.  In case you are one of those who let this part of their childhood slip by, I am presenting you with a few suggestions of what it looks like to flimflam the other person with your vague specific conversation.  The other reason why this lesson is important is that if the one with whom you are having the conversation is adept at vague specifics, you will be able to decipher it and bamboozle the person who thought it would be cool to stuff you into a dark cloud of ignorance. So here is your chance to learn something.

When you talk about this, say nothing.
When you talk to so and so, say such and such.
When you talk to whoyamaycallum about so and so about such and such, say nothing.
When you talk to whoyamaycallum about whatchamaycallit, say nothing.
When you talk to them about nothing now and then it must be a while ago.
When asked how to do this and that, say thus and so.
When asked how often you do this and that, here and there, say now and again, with whatchamaycallum.
When asked where you learned this and that, say here and there.
When asked where you are going, say over yonder.
When asked how often you go over yonder, say it all depends on this and that and the other.
When asked how you're doing, say come ci, come ça.  If you don't know French, say, so-so.
When you are really backed into a corner and need the straight flush of vague specifics, 'n say "Y', know."

If you want to teach the other readers about some things that you know that they don't, contribute to our education.  So that's it for now.  I'm sliding over yonder to get my daily embrace from dear Morpheus.  Great gal, that Morpheus.  Y' know.

8 DAYS OF MENTAL AND MORAL CAPTIVITY -- PRAY 4 ME

ME 4 NEXT 15 DAYS

Outta my way,

Taz is on da way.

I ain't weak,

Far from meek,

Don't bust my cheek,

So's I won't freak.

Only got one more week

for da preparation

of Adult Faith Formation 

special presentation

of Catholic communication.

Come one, Come all,

We've cleaned the hall,

swept all the classes

to accommodate the masses.

So Taz is in a final tizzy,

His hair is gettin' frizzy

tryin' ta get 'er done

so's he can say, "Yay, God, ya won!"

So stay outta my way, 

both night and day,

'Cept of course to help go forward

and share in the reward

of the eventual fun 

and satisfaction

of a job well done

 without distraction.

So Taz is now in the fray

and so for him you must pray

that from patience he'll not stray

therefore not having any hell to pay.

And to you, Dear Lord, I ask

send a backup angel for the task

of guarding me through it all

so both these angels will assure

that I not climb up the wall

and that all my efforts will be pure.

AMEN 

1,000,000 PAIRS OF EYEBALLS

This is not going to be very deep.  This is something that children wonder about but that grown adults generally don't spend much time pondering.  It is something that I think bout because I have spent a lot of time in the public eye.  That is not to say that we don't all have to spend time in the public eye, but some of us get a little bit more exposure than others.
Did you ever think what it would be like if you said something, or wrote something that would be considered by 1,000,000 individuals in a short period of time?  Did you ever think what it would be like to be like the guy with the voice who just got himself discovered and had been seen by over 20,000,000 people on TV and on You Tube by now?  Where can that guy go without being recognized?  He has to be wondering the same thing.  
I know what it means to have people come up to me and say that they will never forget me because of something that I said in a class or something that I did at work or at church.  But I don't know what I would do if I knew that there were 20,000,000 or more with some feeling about me, good or bad.  It is something that I think about.  Even now, with only about 700 different times that this blog has been opened by readers in slightly more than 6 weeks, I ask myself if that makes me a better person or a worse one.  I ask myself if I should be more careful about the things I do, the clothes I wear, the language I use, both here and outside in conversation.  I ask myself,  "Why  do this?"   I ask myself why I listened to the inspiration that I got during the night of November 24 to 25, 2010.  I have a dozen brainstorms a day and never give in to any of them...well, hardly any.  I guess I'll never know for sure except that I have been dreaming for years to provide my sons with some kind of autobiography.  Would you believe that I still am not sure if this is it or not?
The other day was somewhat of a shocker to me.  I found out that the online magazine that I write for now has a popularity of 1,000,000 visitors and presumably, readers, per month. That made me stand up and take notice.  Like, WOW!, that is a lot of eyeballs skimming over the efforts that I put into creating this stuff with my stiff and swollen arthritic fingers.  The nice thing about that is that the magazine is a Catholic publication called www.ParishWorld.net   I am the Theology editor and I contribute to the meditations and the teaching arms of the magazine.  I mean, 1,000,000 pairs of eyes every month!  How many preachers can claim that?  I tell you all, it is a sobering thought.  That probably had something to do with my answering the call to my midnight inspiration, although I don't remember it ever crossing my mind until maybe two or three weeks ago.  So anyway, these are some of the thoughts that I had today as I traveled from morning to night.  So, not just me, but all of us have to be careful of the way we live our lives because we never know who it is that we are impressing with our virtue and who it is to whom we are doing just the opposite.  Think about it.  It's a big responsibility

WHY DO WE PUT PEOPLE IN JAIL? MOST OF THEM, I MEAN

What, only 90 days for drunken driving through a school zone!?!  There's no more justice in this country.
Can you imagine that the guy who beat up a young girl only got 60 days?
Hah, I have a better one.  Guy shoplifted in a liquor store and got life!  LIFE!
The baseball player who assaulted a hotel maid got 2 years of probation.  Money talks, right?
I just made these up.  But the one about the liquor store guy is true.  But you know how the conversation goes.  You know how you feel when you hear some of this stuff.  Sometimes it almost makes you want to say, "HHmmmm, if that's all there is to it, it might just be worth taking a swipe at my boss."
Easy does it, please.
The only prison that I have even been inside is Alcatraz.  It's really quite interesting.  I have never been inside a real, operating type of hoosegow.  My wife though, she went to prison for about three months one year.  Federal prison to boot.  I mean, if you're going to go somewhere, you might as well go first class, right?  As a matter of fact, she loved it.  She had stories to tell every time I had visitation rights.  It wasn't bad, we would see each other for a few hours in the evenings.  Sometimes we even lit the candles on the table.  Truth to tell, she was a chaplain intern.  She had requested the toughest assignment.  She wanted to be with the drug dealers and the people who were being kept on the top floors of the calaboose.  Her request was granted.
Her favorite story was the 6'10", 300 pound monster who was her personal "guardian angel" on the 8th floor.  He accompanied her everywhere she went.  He was her protection.  He would parade around with her by his side, making a big deal out of the friendship that they had.  I have to admit that this hulk walking next to her at 4'9" and 115 el bees, had to be quite a sight.  Actually, there was some justice to this arrangement.  She deserved to be protected by this guy.  He also deserved to have some consolation in his life.  I am convinced of that.

It used to be that I was a lot harder on "the bad guys" than I am now.  I was a death penalty, lock 'em up and throw the key away kind of person. Then I had some experiences in different countries.  I got to know some strange people under some unusual circumstances and slowly but surely I had to reassess some of my convictions.  There was even a period in my life when I spent some time pondering about the real reason for the existence of prisons.  Do we have them to punish people or do we maintain them to convert people?  I get the feeling that in the USA the majority of the population would believe in the punishment angle more than the rehabilitation or restorative model.  I personally have to say that I am about 60-40 punishment - rehab.  I believe in the existence of invincible or intractable tendencies to either violence, or thievery or physical abuse of fellow humans and maybe a few more incorrigible human "foibles."  I have even had some experience with trying to help newly released people by working with professional social workers and bringing the newly freed person in to work for a company where I worked.  I have to say that these experiences ( twice I tried; two different companies in different cities) were not stellar successes.
So, I stay on the fence.  I remain a vulture.  Oh, I tried to go out there and "kill something" but was unsuccessful.  So now all I do is to sit here, ponder and write to you about my glorious thoughts and my miserable failures at social action.

FOLLOWING JESUS' BEHAVIOR IS BIBLICAL TOO, YA KNOW!

I can't help it, when I get a thought that completes a thought that I have  had for years, religious or not, you're going to get it.  I had a comment from another blog come across my desk this morning that really got to me.  I have to confess that there are some things that do get my dander in a vortex.  Assertions that are thrown against the Catholic Church, really get my goat.

However, in the spirit of this blog, I am not going to go off the deep end.  No. I am instead going to calmly turn this into a lesson about my take on sacraments in general, instead of zeroing-in on the question of infant baptism.

In ParishWorld.net we had put up a question to the community about why it is imperative for parents to have their children baptized as infants.  ParishWorld.net  is where you can find the entire discussion.  Here is what got to me:

God does not have any grandchildren. We cannot get to heaven by what someone does for us. The Bible says that we need to repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone for remission of sins. Baptism is an outword expression of an inword commitment. Jesus said nothing about sacraments. That is Catholic doctrine, and is not Biblical. Babies and anyone under the age of accountability will be with a Loving Heavenly father . 2Timothy 3:15-17, says And that from childhood you known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 17. That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The bold is the main part.  The light italics are the favorite quote that non-Catholics (Protestants) throw at Catholics, in season and out; in reason or out.  So I will ignore that part and present you with my opinion on Baptism in the Catholic Church.  I mention its relation to Circumcision which was to be administered eight days after the birth of the child.  I will also make the point that it is not just the words that are Biblical, but the behavior of Jesus that is Biblical as well.  If it is Biblical, then it must hold a lesson for us.

“God does not have any grandchildren.” Good one.

You say that we cannot get to heaven by what someone does for us. We Catholics believe that we get to heaven because of what Jesus Christ did and does for us. Isn’t He someone?

Sacraments are holy, sacred ritualistic acts that Jesus practiced before our very eyes and urged us to memorialize in our discipleship to Him. He thereby sacramentalized cleansing and belonging through Baptism, thereby spiritualizing Circumcision. He did the same for eating at the Last Supper and told us that Eucharist is the source of the spiritual strength that we need to gain eternal life. John’s chapter six is important reading in this matter. Jesus gave us the authority to forgive the sins of the contrite when we admit them publicly to the delegated authority of the Church (Confession). He sacramentalized the Healing of the sick and the infirm by showing us how to do it with mud from spittle and laying on of hands (Catholics use fragrant oil). All of these rituals, and more, are outward signs of internal commitment and a dispensation of Divine Grace. They are all elements of the New and Everlasting Covenant between Jesus and His people. Catholics believe this because all of these actions are open behaviors that Jesus Himself practiced for our edification and continued practice.  Sacraments are not Catholic Doctrine alone. Sacraments are sacred vestiges of the public life of Jesus as memorialized and practiced by His People. This Humanly Divine life that He lived and left us for our benefit is Biblical, and deserves to be understood and accepted as directive of our earthly behavior.
I pray that you will learn to unshackle yourself from the Bible verses (Out of context in the comment that you submitted.) and learn to read the inspired stories so that the Divine Teaching that they contain will come to mean something to you.

I hope tomorrow will be lighter and more humorous.