What Did We Know, When Did We Know It? And Who Hid Their Heads in the Sand?

If we knew in 2004 that this was coming, and the Democrats did nothing about it, then why are the Democrats all screaming that Bush is why we are in this mess?


It appears by these hearings that the Democrats were admiring the emperors beautiful new clothes.

We all know how that story turned out . . .

Pax

Mystic Monday

Today our mystic is Blaise Pascal, mathemetician, and philosopher, but we won't hold those things against him. He had a deeply spiritual experience that changed his life, and after that he spent the rest of his life trying to help others to find God.

His wager was that if you lived as though you had faith for a year, the faith you sought would be yours by the end of that year.

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

All things speak of God to those who know Him, and because they reveal Him
to all those who love Him, these same things hide Him from those who do not
know Him.

Pax

My Grey's Anatomy Dilema

I used to be a huge fan of Grey's Anatomy. I love Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane and was sucked into the story line from the first week. I thought the writing was really great the first four seasons and couldn't wait till the next episode came each week to find out what was going to happen to these wonderfully dark and disturbing but ultimately good at heart people.

Until this season. Now they have a new story line in which two female characters are exploring a same sex attraction. Neither has ever been attracted to a woman before, so neither was born homosexual. This us just wrong on so many levels that I can't find any reason to watch.

I am in my own way trying to come to terms with homosexuality. While I still find the practice to be against everything I feel to be morally upstanding, I am beginning to see that IF a person is born with a tendency toward a same sex attraction, THEN possibly there must be some reason for God to have intended that to be so. Which doesn't excuse the total depravity of some of the homosexual lifestyle, such as multiple sexual partners and anonymous wanton sexual abandon, which would be wrong even if it were among heterosexuals.

But for two women to just decide that they like kissing each other and maybe they should "give it a try"? As if it is going out for Thai food, or wearing five inch heals. This to me is morally offensive, and goes against the whole intent of the Theology of the Body as I understand it and the meaning of intimacy as God laid it out for us as human beings.

So, while I used to love Grey's Anatomy I will no longer be watching this season. I have to wonder if this isn't some sort of overstep for the backlash from the sad situation with Isaiah Washington's remark's about the homosexual cast member. If the producers went this far to appease the gay culture I think it is a sad state of affairs.

They lost me as a viewer.

Pax

What I'm Reading Now

I am actually reading two books, both by the Jesuit Authors.

The first one I talked about a few posts ago When the Well Runs Dry: Prayer Beyond Beginnings by Thomas Green SJ I love it and each chapter brings me a new perspective on my relationship with the Divine and why the old ways of praying are no longer working for me and why trying to go back to them isn't the best choice when I should be moving forward.

The other book is the next textbook in my Spiritual Direction Internship and is called The Practice of Spiritual Direction by William a Barry SJ. It is a practical guide to actually doing Spiritual Direction, a guidebook you might say. I haven't yet finished the first chapter, so I have quite a ways to go. I will write more when I have had time to digest a bit more of it.

Pax

Live Well, Give Back and Leave a Legacy You Can be Proud of . . .

Paul Newman was one actor in Hollywood that always seemed to have class. Hearing today that he had died made me quite sad. He was one of the first to begin the trend that has become so popular of giving back (think George Clooney and Brad Pitt.)


His Newman's Own Brand, and the Foundation that his daughter oversees has given millions of dollars to charities as diverse as cancer camps for children and small needy Catholic schools. He didn't care for politics, if he saw a need he filled it. That is a true statesman.

He will be missed.

Pax

Truth is Stranger . . .

It just goes to show: you just can't make this stuff up:

The San Francisco Examiner has written a stunning endorsement of WHICH candidate for the presidency?

Which means either one of two things happened:

The Hadron Supercolider did open a black hole and the universe is coming to and end

OR

Saner head have prevailed even in the Bluest of the blue states.


Pax

Walking by Faith OR My Steps are So Carefully Ordered

My prayer life has been changing radically in the last few months. At almost an exponential rate I have been catapulted into a very different experience of prayer and I feel so off balance at times because I am not sure where it fits into my devotional life.



Should I abandon all the old forms of prayer and simply use this new deeper form of prayer always? Should I trust that this prayer is actually from God and not just assume that I am decieving myself because this prayer takes almost no effort on my part? How do I gain the most fruit from this new type of prayer? . . . These are the questions that swim around in my rational mind almost every day now that I am living in this new reality of prayer.



So then, God sent me a day like yesterday.



I was rushing to get to my internship in Indianapolis, and was going to be getting there without a moment to spare, but there was an overturned semi in the median of the highway, so trafic was at a standstill at one point and I was stopped. The consequence was I arrived five minutes late and class had already begun.



The session was on the Art of Holy Listening, and Sr. Wanda was leading the opening prayer when I walked in. I assumed that she was leading a guided meditation from her tone and the words she was using, so I hurried to my seat and tried to engage as quickly as possible in the prayer. My mind was still racing, and I was wondering if I was doing what I was supposed to be doing when I got a clear message from God that I didn't need to "do" anything I just needed to "be". After that I became very calm and let out a breath and totally relaxed into a very peaceful space. At that moment Sr. Wanda played a song which was a reflection on the verse from the bible that says "Be still and know that I am God" !



After the song, Sr Wanda asked us all to write in our journals a phrase or sentance that captured how we felt about our prayer experience. Without thinking at all I wrote "human beings, not human doings" . Then class began.



At the end of class, (a very full class on the art of listening well) we were given a chance to use the tools we had just learned in a spiritual direction setting. We broke into groups of three, and did an exercise where one of us was the director, one the directee and one was a compassionate observer. (every five minutes we switched roles till everyone had had a chance to be each). When it was my turn to be the directee I talked about my experience at prayer that morning, and how that type of wordless prayer is so much more effective for me than any rote prayers that I say and how in my prayer life I am finding that using time for this type of "being with God is usurping all of my prayer time. I was wondering (to the director) if I needed to balance the two? In five minutes we didn't nearly have time to work it out, but I said that I would probably take that question to my Spiritual Director when I saw him in October since it had been on my heart for so long.



Later that day I had picked up a book to do some casual reading because I was staying over in Indianapolis with mrangelmeg who is there for a class and he wasn't going to get out of his class for a few hours after my class was over. When I was packing for the trip I had tossed in a book that I had purchased a few weeks back that was written by one of my favorite authors. I bought it without really looking at what it was about, knowing that whatever it was I would like it because I have enjoyed all of his other books.

I took the book out of my bag to kill some time while I was waiting for mrangelmeg's class to get over and what should it be about do you suppose? What to do when one"s prayer life begins to go beyond the early stages and into a deeper more intimate form of prayer. It is called When the Well Runs Dry by Thomas Green SJ. Coincidence? I should think not!!!

So, I spent the next hour (and later that night. and some more this morning while mrangelmeg was sleeping in) reading about exactly where I am in my prayer life and being affirmed by one of my favorite Jesuit authors that I am not alone, and that he will be my guide as I begin to navigate this new country and make it my own. So far, I have read nearly 100 pages of this book, it is so compelling to me probably because I am reading it right when I need to be reading it, not a moment too soon.

How amazing that just when I need it I happen to purchase this book not because of the content but because of the author, and just when I am at a crisis point in this new land of prayer of all the books in my pile of bookss I want to read some day I happen to throw that particular one into my bag to take along for my overnight stay after this particular class when I have a deeply moving prayer experience and it wells up in me many questions about this place I am entering in my prayer life and what I should or shouldn't be doing here.

It just goes to show how carefully God orders my steps.

God is good, all the time.

Pax

Mystic Monday: Don't Just Read the Word; Let it Consume You

Today's quote is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer on scripture.

The Word of Scripture should never stop sounding in your ears and working in you all day long, just like the words of someone you love. And just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart, as Mary did. That is all . That is medidation . . . Do not ask "How shall I pass it on?" but "What does it say to me?" Then ponder this Word long in your heart until it has gone right into you and taken possession of you.

Pax

How Cool is This?

My Neice, who graduated last May from TCU with a double major in Physics and Dance is on the cover of their Fine Arts Calendar this year. She now dances with a ballet company in Rhode Island.

She is an amazing young woman, and her talent as a dancer came directly from my mom's side of the family. Mom was a dancer who could still do the splits when I was in high school after having had nine children and not taken a dance class in nearly 30 years. I on the other hand am as clumsy as they come.

I am about the most proud aunt on the planet.

Pax

The Spiritual Discipline of My One Thing

About the middle of the summer I began a spiritual discipline that I have been calling "My One Thing", in which I try to gain one clear message from each Mass that I attend by listening attentively and with an open heart to the readings, responses, homily, prayers etc for that particular liturgy, and asking God to lay upon my heart one clear message that is meant for me and me alone.

When I receive that clear message I have been writing it in a small journal that I received as a Graduation gift from the Librarian that I work with at the angelbaby's school because it is small enough to fit in my purse so I can carry it with me to Mass. I take the journal out right in the middle of Mass and jot down the message, whatever it is when I find that I have received it. This usually happens either during or right after the homily.

When I go back over the messages that I have written in the journal, what I find are things that are either affirming of me in my spiritual walk, or statements of correction for my journey. Each one gives me something to meditate upon when I need a prayer stimulus, or just want to do a bit of lectio. I read through it often and am amazed at how personal it is.

Today I got out my little journal and was waiting for a clear message at the Daily Mass which happened to be a school Mass and the first one I have gotten to attend that was presided over by Fr Bill since he returned from his vacation a week ago. What I ended up writing down, much to my amazement, were the words "don't be a bully". The funny thing is I remember Fr. Bill saying those words to the kids during his homily, but I didn't write them down then, because I realized at the time that he was doing what he does so masterfully; encouraging them to be better than they want to be in terms of behavior, and there have been some instances of bullying at the school last year, so this year he wants the kids to work on being better than that -- as in loving their neighbors as Jesus loves them.

No, I wrote the words later during the reflection time after communion, when I realized that I hadn't written anything yet and asked God what it was that my One Thing was supposed to be for this Mass. Without even a second thought I watched as my pencil wrote the words on the paper. I had no idea what context they had for me, but I was certain that the message came from God.

So after Mass I went into the Sacristy to say hello and welcome back to Fr. Bill since this was my first chance to see him since his return from vacation. I told him about my dilemma and that that God's message for me that day was "Don't be a bully". His response was that he found it hard to imagine that I could ever be considered a bully. I said unfortunately it was probably not that hard for God to find those traits in me.

I did tell him that thanks to him I would be pondering all day as to what exactly God was trying to direct me toward by telling me to not be a bully, and thanks a lot because it wasn't as if I didn't have other stuff to do all day. If I ever figured it out I am supposed to let him know, because he was really intrigued.

So I did ponder exactly that all day: what was God trying to teach me by giving me that phrase today at Mass? How am I being a bully in my life? I think I have finally come up with some idea about what God wants me to see in myself.

I don't bully people in the strictest sense of the term bully, but I do have a tendency to think that my way of doing things is the best way to do them, sometimes to the derision and need to make sarcastic comments about how other people decide to do them. Isn't this a type of being a bully? I need to work on my feeling superior to other people. I need to be more humble, and willing to allow that there are many ways to do things, and just because other people don't do things the way I do, doesn't mean that their way is wrong, it is just another way to achieve the same end.

This may seem like such a small thing, but to me it is quite huge. It is like the plank in my own eye that I refused to remove while I was chastising someone else for the speck in their eye. If I can eliminate this type of behavior from myself I will be so much more the authentic and effective person that God needs for me to be to bring about the Kingdom. Now that I have named it and claimed it, I think with God's help I can root it out of my life.

I will have to remember to tell Fr. Bill when I see him at Mass on Sunday.

Pax

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of . . .

It's talk like a pirate day, only there is one distinct problem. I can't stand rum in any form. I dislike even the smell of rum. (it is a long story that involves a very bad experience one night with too many rum drinks back in college, never again!)

So, I'll be the vodka drinkin' pirate mistress of the high uhm, ehr lake I suppose (no seas around here we are so land locked they had to flood a town near here to build a lake just to assure that we would have water reserves.)

Somehow Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Vodka just doesn't have the same ring to it though.

Blow me down.

Pax Matey

Thursday Fun: Lazy Thursday Bloggers Post

This was such a hoot I had to share it: (Think mad libs only with pull downs so it takes even less work.)

Check out the Lazy Bloggers Post Generator,


click on the tabs and add the content you want and you have a post.


Here is my randomly chosen submission (I haven't yet read the copy so you get to see it the same time I do)


Oh for crying out loud! I just terrible dreadful fear I have not updated this since people stopped clapping and Tinkerbell died... You would not believe how terribly tardy the Victorian internet can be. My bad..

I am distracted with my obsession of saving money, watching Dexter, just generally being a nuisance to the secret service, my day is a nightmare I would like to wake up from now to well after sun-down. I am putting money aside so I can run away. I wish you could be here to share it.

I won't promise anything to you but won't blog until the next time booze prices go up and I have to get sober for a while. Fully! This is for my ever faithful, devoted public..



Me again, ironically that wasn't too far off, how scary is that?

thanks to Ironic Catholic for the link.

Pax

Why We Vote The Way We Do:

We are much more than single issue voters. We have studied the policies and the records of the candidates and are thinking about what kind of future we want for our children and with much thought and prayer we have come to some conclusions about who should be our next president:

This is from Mom's for McCain:

**We want a future for our children that is full of goodness and hope.

**We want a tomorrow full of opportunity for them.

**We want a country that stresses both individualism and community--a place where people reach out in kindness to help, but also encourage one another in self-sufficiency.

**We want safety, security and a country with a CULTURE OF LIFE.

**We want freedom to worship our God without ridicule.

**We want minimal government intrusion and the LIBERTY to PURSUE HAPPINESS.

**We want to keep what we work so hard to earn.

**We want to be partners in rebuilding the America our forefathers envisioned.

We want JOHN MCCAIN for PRESIDENT.

Wacky Wednesday: Elocution Lesson for Friday

Because we all know that Friday is a very special day.





Pax Matey

Obama's Decision Would Have Left Her In a Closet to Die

I'm sure that many little ones might have lived had they been give the care that Gianna was given. Does she look as though her life had no worth? She blesses all of those who come in contact with her, and but for the grace of God and perhaps not enough saline she might have died because of some woman's choice.

It isn't a choice, it is a child of God, who will have a life worth living if given a chance.

Pax

My Personal DNA

h/t to Ironic Catholic for the link

What I'm Reading Now

This is the next book I have to read for my internship. It is written by a protestant author and is a guidebook for the spiritual journey. Each chapter is punctuated with reflection questions and quotes from the spiritual masters and other bits of help for the journey.

So far (I am only on the first chapter) I am finding it pretty slow reading, perhaps because I can't decide if I should be reading straight through the chapter without stopping for the extras, or if I should be reading the extras in the context of the chapter in which they come. So sometimes I backtrack an entire page to read the extras within the context, only to decide that it wasn't really worth the effort.

Oh well, I will eventually find a workable rhythm I am sure.

Pax

Mystic Monday

I didn't forget, I just didn't bring my book of quotes with me to the coffee shop and thought I would have to forego a Mystic for this week, but God is good and the new book I am reading has a quote from Augustine in it that is qute mystical and I will use that for today:

You called, You cried, You shattered my deafness.

You sparkled, You blazed,You drove away my blindness.

You shed Your fragrance, and I drew in my breath, and I pant for You.

I tasted and now I hunger and thirst.

You touched me, and now I burn with longing for Your peace.



Pax

No Power Monday

Ike blew through our town yesterday bringing winds in excess of 60 miles per hour and wreaking havoc on the trees and power lines. There were power outages everywhere. The paper said that 30,000 people were without power for at least part of the day Sunday.

We have been without power since 5:00 p.m. with no restoration in sight, and according to the news in the morning paper it may take days for them to restore power to our rural cooperative area. Days without power. I am just repeating that so that it will sink in. Mrangelmeg was lucky, he went into work yesterday afternoon and he is at work today and will be staying late tonight where he has light and access to the Internet.

I on the other hand had to take my computer to a coffee shop just to access the Internet, check email and complete my paper which is due tomorrow. I did most of the work on it by candle light using my laptop battery power last night until the battery ran out. I just have a few clean up tasks to do before it is done and ready to print.

Then I have to go back to my powerless house and assess the situation. I am praying that it doesn't take DAYS, but if it does I need to figure out how to feed the kids and how to keep them clean without hot water.

I am seriously going to call our insurance agent to find out if we are covered for interim housing in a situation like this. Not to mention the loss of everything in our fridge/freezer if it takes days to restore power.

Oh well, I'm going to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, and copy my paper to my flash drive so that I can have it printed at Office Max so I can turn it in tomorrow, just in case.

UPDATE: As of 1:00 this afternoon we have power. A quick check of the freezers shows that while the kitchen freezer is a total loss, the big one in the garage did a great job of keeping everything frozen and we didn't lose a thing. I guess we will be having whatever I can salvage from the Kitchen freezer for dinner tonight, anyone for potluck soup?


Pax

Friday Fun

I haven't forgotten to post a Friday Fun this first week.

I just had a bit of a difficult time finding anything I thought worthy of my first post until I came across this little piece of wit and sarcasm written by an exceptional essayist who happens to be my older brother. I do want to give one word of warning, the language is very adult. Having said that, taken in the spirit of sarcasm and humor, I found it to be quite funny.

Economic Crisis Forces Reduction in Minute of Silence

I can't decide if it is funnier because of the biting commentary or because I recognize some of my friends and relations being voiced in the opinions expressed. Ouch.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Pax

So Much For an Abundance of Grace

I went to Mass this morning, as is my typical Friday routine. It was a really nice Mass. I have begun a new practice of jotting down a few lines from the readings and/or homily (getting my one thing, you might say) in a nice little notebook that fits in my purse. Somehow since I started doing this I feel as though I have a better connection to the Liturgy and in an odd way to God's plan for me.

So I did that today; took down a few words about the readings and Father's wandering remarks to the kids (it was a school mass) along the lines of our obligation is to tell the Good News, and to prepare ourselves to do so by whatever means present themselves to us so that we will be ready to do whatever work God calls us to do (rather than whatever work we ourselves choose).

By the time I left church it was pouring down rain and I had to drive through campus. We live in a really nice town which happens to be the home of a major Midwestern Big Ten University School. Most of the year I love living here, but I really don't enjoy the campus at all. I felt really uplifted by the Liturgy, but the short two mile drive through the heart of campus to get to my side of town took all my joy.

In that two miles I encountered a woman who crossed the street directly in front of my car which had been stopped for a red light but was now free to go, except that she decided that she should continue to cross in front of me. I can't be sure, but there are probably glaciers that move more rapidly than this particular woman was advancing across the street, not at the crosswalk, mind you which was only maybe fifteen feet in front of where she had chosen to cross. So I had to wait for her.

Then a young man in a very large pickup truck who apparently had never been instructed in the proper use of the turn signal decided to change lanes and maneuver the huge truck (I am not sure why he thought he would need a half-ton truck on a college campus anyway) into the very small space that had opened up in front of my car. I am so lucky that I saw him in time because I had time to put on my brake and let him in.

I got stopped at a light about halfway through campus and watched another young scholar on a bike sit through the entire green light without moving a muscle, only to dart across the intersection (again right in front of me) just after his light turned red and mine turned green. What could he possibly have been thinking? Perhaps he was having a dyslexic day.

And if that wasn't enough, a group of young women decided that rather than walk on the perfectly clear sidewalk, they would walk down the gutter, two abreast, laughing and paying no attention at all to the traffic that had to follow them. This is their campus I suppose.

I was never so happy to see the curve in the road that signifies the end of campus and the start of downtown. The rest of the drivers in my town are shallow, ignorant and obnoxious, but they don't think the universe revolves around them like the students on the Campus do.

By the time I got home I was exhausted.

Maybe there is another way to get from church to my house without going too many miles out of the way that would avoid campus all together? I'll have to think about that for a while.

Pax

This is the Best Day Ever*

If any of you are familiar with Spongebob Squarepants then you have heard the above phrase which is one of his favorite sayings. He uses it often when things are going, well, not quite the way he might have liked them to go.

Today was my regular volunteer day at the Media Center at the angelbaby's school. I have been volunteering there for going on three years now and the Media specialist and I are great friends and work really well together. Somehow the last two years my regular day happens to coincide with her busiest day --meaning she has class after class of little kids coming through all day long. I found out today that last year it was just a fluke, but this year she engineered the schedule to work out that way by alerting the teachers to consider choosing Thursday as their Library day because I would be there to assist her.

Thanks a lot! It isn't that I don't like kids, it's just that I don't like kids around when I am trying to get work done. We seem to have three of the most rambunctious classes back to back this year and when I am not playing "time-out monitor" for the kids that she has had to eject from the story room for being too obnoxious to sit through the 20 minute story I am answering the same question for the fifteenth time. "No we don't have anymore Diary of Wimpy Kid books", "You have to bring back the book you checked out last week before you can get a book out this week", "You are only allowed to get one (Where's Waldo/Magazine/I Spy) book out at a time." "Do you mean to tell me that you are in third grade and you still don't know your lunch number?"

Now to be honest I didn't actually say that last one out loud but I have to admit that I did think it.

So, thanks to my wonderful "boss" we have a busy busy day filled with one group of unruly kids after another all day long and I try very hard to keep as upbeat as possible all day. I actually find that when the going gets really tough it really does help to stop and say, in my best imitation of Spongebob "This is the best day ever!" and then eat a nice piece of chocolate.

Because it would be just wrong to sniff glue or drink alcohol at school now wouldn't it?

Even so, I keep going back week after week, because as tormenting as the kids are, I really do like the Librarian, and I like the work I am doing there to help her make her Media Center something of which she can be very proud.

It also reminds me why I never was called to become an elementary school teacher. I would have either killed some poor kid or be locked up in the loony bin within a month. God is good.

Pax

Uncovering all the Secrets of the Universe . . .

Watch the complete story here about the "under"ground breaking new research in Europe that will either be the greatest scientific discovery of the century or "Woopsies, our bad, we created the end of the world"

It's pretty much a toss-up even for them what the outcome will be.


I can hardly wait till they fire the thing up!

h/t to a high school friend Margie via facebook.

Pax

Wacky Wednesday: How to Make Slime and Why I love YouTube

Today I am going to help you learn how to make your own slime, because well, everyone needs to know how to make slime. I am offering three different versions of the "recipe" for your enjoyment:



This one is from a television station's "Hooked on Science" segment:




This was probably done by an engineering student:




This is my favorite scientist of them all:



Now go out there and make your own slime!!

Pax

Mystic Monday

First I want to define the term mystic for those who are unfamiliar with the term. This is one of my favorite definitions (it comes from a book by Marsha Sinetar, and she quotes work done by Evelyn Underhill)

Mystics are in a state of being rather than , like most people, seeking to become. Mysticism is a transformative approach to life, rather than a theoretical "playing" with ideas. It involves spiritual activity, representing the individual's absorption and deepening relationship with God. The activity absolutely influences and dominates the mystic's path and is inseparable from it. Thus mystic and "path" are one. The mystic's dominant life-emotion becomes love. This subjective stance and worldview shows itself in a progressively strengthened dedication of will toward the things of God: the expression of spiritual intent in daily life: service to God through work, relationships and everyday choices; and sacrifices of the physical/mental body all experience and glorify the Divine. (Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics pp 73-75)




Now for our first quote from the mystics. This one is from one of my personal favorites: Meister Eckhart (1260-1372)

He was one of the Rhineland Mystics from Germany and the low Countries in the Middle Ages.

He speaks of a non-anthropomorphic God, formless and imageless a Deus nudus


This is his description of man's ultimate union with God:

"The union of God with the soul is so great that is is scarcely to be believed. And God is in himself so far above that no form of knowledge or desire can ever reach him...Desires is deep, immeasurably so. But nothing that the intellect can grasp and nothing that desire can desire is God. Where understanding and desire end, there is darkness and there God's radiance begins."

This is a God I recognize; This is why after a lifetime of scholarly pursuit Aquinas threw down his pen and was heard to say "It is all straw".

No matter how much we learn We will never fully know,, but we can be with this God in that radiance if we learn to let go and let God. (Ps 46:11)


Pax

Fraudian Slip

Now that is crack political commentary.

Pax

New Fall Schedule Begining Monday

In January I tried the GO (Get Organized) method with limited success.

I am going to pare back to three theme days for the fall:

Mystics Mondays -- This will be a day for quotes from and reflections on the writings of the Christian mystics that I am studying.


Tuesdays I will most probably be too busy to post anything since that is my travel day to my internship, so I won't plan on having a theme for that day of the week.

Wacky Wednesday -- this will be a day for sharing news of the weird, or something odd that I find out there on the interweb. If anyone wants to contribute just email me.

Thursdays I will be volunteering at school, so that will be another very busy day.


Full of Fun Friday -- This will be the day for meme's quizzes and general blog-bacon (I hate to call it spam, because I enjoy it soo much even though it probably isn't very good for me)

Weekends I will allow myself the luxury of blogging whatever my heart desires.

So, that is the plan. We shall see if it works out this time.

Pax

She Brought the Heat All the Way from Alaska!

just in case you missed it last night.


Here is the full video of Sarah Palin's speach at the convention.


She was awesome! I think she proved that she has to power to pursuade, and has the experience to lead, This wasn't just a good delivery, she took this one downtown!

Pax

Why is it. . .

That we as parents are held accountable for the sins of our children?

We are seeing this played out on the National Political stage right now but I venture to guess that many of us have a child that has strayed from the path of righteousness and others look at us and think, he/she must have raised that child wrong! That home must have been too conservative or too liberal or too indulgent or too strict.

And to be fair and balanced we parents of erring children have asked the same questions of ourselves. What we tend to forget is, we can't live our children's lives, we can't protect them from every mistake and miss-step.


Even the bible says in Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

That little promise doesn't say anything about not departing from the way when the child is young and hormonal. We are promised that eventually sanity will rule the child's heart again and the child will find the true path again someday.

Until that day, as St. Monica did for Auggie the Rat, our job as parents is to watch and pray and be a wide safety net. We are not meant to clean up every little slip along the way, but rather to make sure that the child doesn't fall off the side of the big scary mountain all together.

So, when our children don't live up to our expectations, we continue to love; but often we have to use a tougher kind of love. We have to watch them make some mistakes that we would have rather they didn't make. We have to watch them deal with adult situations long before they are probably capable of dealing with them. We have to watch them grow up a little faster than they might have had to. But we stand back and let them, because we love them. And while we are letting them be adult, we are praying for them even harder, because we know that with God all things are possible.

Pax

Conversation After Mass This Morning . . .

Me: This is what I read today after Communion:
(reading from the book)

Wit is generally a dangerous gift. It often conceals a lack of charity and a satanic sharpness. A recklessly witty man is seldom a kind
one. Only too often he seeks himself, and loves to shine as a wit at the
expense of humility and charity

Fr. Don.: (Assoicate Pastor: affectionately known as the Prince of Darkness)
Sounds like me.


Me: Exactly what I was thinking.

Fr. Don: What book is that?


Me: The Three Keys to Heaven by Moritz Meschler, SJ

Fr. Don: (knowingly) Ah, a Jebbie.

Me: Still, doesn't make it not true.

Fr. Don: Well. Not all sarcasm is bad you know. Try driving without it.

Me: Point taken.


Pax

This Too, My Child. Shall Pass

I received a note from my Dr. yesterday stating that my CAT scan last week was
"probably normal" which is "probably reassuring" at best.

What they did find was a small unobstructive kidney stone which is most likely the source of the pain I am experiencing. It should pass without any surgical intervention, so I am supposed to do nothing except wait it out, with the aide of pain medication as needed.

So I will continue to take pain meds and offer up the residual pain for the needs of those who are less fortunate than myself. My spiritual director said I could offer up my suffering for those caught up in false accusations of rumors that have their lives torn asunder. Since he didn't specify beyond this wasn't a personal request, one can only speculate as to whether he had someone on the Political landscape in mind!

If anyone else has someone who specifically needs prayers that I can offer up, please let me know.

If my pain continues for more than a week I am to make another appointment, and the Dr. will schedule a colonoscopy. Having survived one of those already, forewarned is forearmed. I am praying that everything passes as it should and there will be no need for the further tests. We all know how much I enjoy those "pleasantly flavored" elixirs from the hospital!

Pax

I'm Just Saying . . .

It's not just me saying it . . .




The message I want to leave you with is:

Listen carefully to what he is actually saying, not just how well he says it.

Pax

I Want to Concur . . .

What She Said.

Because I couldn't have said it better myself.

h/t to MrsDarwin for her eloquent response. Now I will not post again on this piece of family buisness.

Pax

In the Blinding Flash of a Moment of Grace . . .

This Man went from Basic Instinct to Bearing the Cross at Mass.

You can read the entire story here.

He has lived near Cleveland for a while now and is confronted with the disconnect that the Hollywood elite has for what we here in the heartland really consider to be entertaining.

He said that living in the heartland, he sees how much Hollywood producers are out of touch with most Americans.

"I find it mind boggling that with nearly 70 percent of Americans describing themselves as Christians, and witnessing the success of The Passion of The Christ and The Chronicles of Narnia, that Hollywood still doesn't do the kinds of faith-based and family-value entertainment that people are desperate to see," Mr. Eszterhas said.

From your mouth to the ears of the movers and shakers Joe. That is my wish.

I also want to say, while there are some problems with the human men who run our beautiful church, I don't think it is nearly as dour as you have it in your head that it is. Give some of the priests you will be meeting a chance, they aren't all out to do harm to your sons. Oh, and welcome home.

h/t to God'sbody for the link.

Pax

Integrity? I Think Not

Some might call it Chicago Politics played the way it had to be played; I call it sick, sad and indicative of the man who thinks he will be president.





I wonder if his petitions were scrutinized with as much due dillegence as those of his opponents?

Pax

Maybe It's About Confronting Big Oil not Apeasing Women

If Liberal women think that the only reason that McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate is because she is a woman and he thought that would appease them they must really have a very shallow opinion of how politics works.

He was looking to find a running mate who had substance when it came to energy policy, and Mrs. Palin has shown great leadership in just that area in her short time in office in Alaska. She has confronted Big Oil in a big way and she didn't back down. McCain knew that he needed someone like that in his corner. It isn't always about gender. Sometimes it is about balance and results.

And another thing, she gets things done. She has proven that throughout her political career. She has beeen in politics begining at the local level since 1992. She didn't have the draft of a well known spouse for name recognition when she began her run for office, and yet the Liberal women are all screaming that she doesn't have enough experience.

After all what has the Freshman Senator from New York (who never held political office before she was elected may I remind you) been able to accomplish in her short time in office except a failed run for President?

Pax
Pax