Michael Sam

WARNING: This post may contain strong and/or unpopular opinions.

I wasn’t going to weigh in on this as I kinda already have elsewhere, but after listening to all the furor yesterday on sports radio, I just have to get this off my chest.

For those of you who don’t know, Michael Sam is an All-American football player at the University of Missouri. He is projected to go pretty high in the upcoming NFL draft.

Okay, so what’s the big deal?

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On the Cover of the Rolling Stone

Pope Francis waves to crowds as he arrives to his inauguration mass on 19 March 2013.A friend of mine who is rather skeptical of the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity in general, recently asked me what I think about Pope Francis I appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone.

I replied, “I don’t.”

Not satisfied with that answer, she said that she thought it was kind of neat to see him there. To her, he projects—and I’m paraphrasing here—a hip, modern flair. Surely that is what the Church needs right now, no? After all, he wants to bring people back right?

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Merry Christmas!

I’d like to write something profound, or witty, or profound and witty to wish you a Merry Christmas, but I can’t touch this.

Here is Fr. Lawrence Farley, pastor of St. Herman Orthodox Church in Langley, B.C. with a commentary entitled, In Fairness to Herod.

Take a moment and listen…

h/t Ancient Faith Radio

Happy Thanksgiving?

golgothaOne year ago, on Thanksgiving Day in fact, my father had carotid surgery which led to a stroke. For him it was the last straw. He spent the next year in and out of the hospital, rehabilitation, and finally home with hospice care, where he slowly succumbed to the congestive heart failure that took his life.

This past Monday was my father’s birthday. He would have been 89. Because his birthday normally falls so close to Thanksgiving, our family has always celebrated the two together. The crowning event of the feast is when Dad has his birthday mincemeat pie. I’ve written about this before.

This Thanksgiving we won’t have our father with us at the table, not in person anyway, and I’ve been struggling not to feel sad about it. After all, this is a day specially set aside for counting our blessings.

Well, there is one thing that I’m especially thankful for this year…

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Happy All Hallows Eve!

catbat-230x300No, not this.

Not the Americanized festival of costume parties and children dressed as monsters mooching candy door-to-door.

I mean the day before All Saints Day!

Now, I’m not against a little harmless fun, I just wanted to remind us all of the more edifying aspects of this day in the calendar.

As usual, we humans have lost touch with those things that are meant to build up our souls, the things that make us think. Instead, we prefer a brief moment of blissful forgetfulness that life is hard.

Damn the future! Pass the cider!

So what’s up with the Feast of All Saints?

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It’s Not My Fault

John_Belushi_the_blues_brothers-43995197It’s Monday, the sun is shining, the squirrels are scurrying about, the birds twittering happily, red and gold leaves are trembling in the autumn breeze…it’s all so delightful that I thought I’d give you a real downer of a post.

I recently heard an interview on NPR (Yes, I listen to NPR occasionally. Purely for anthropological reasons I assure you) with Ann Doswett Johnston, a recovering alcoholic, who’s the author of a new book discussing her addiction entitled, Drink.

In it, she discusses the double-sided coin of feminism, which has empowered women to drink like a man does without any stigma attaching to them, while acknowledging that because women are built differently (ya think?), they are more likely to abuse alcohol. She further points to the aggressive marketing of liquor companies aimed directly at young women. National statistics seem to support her claim of a rise of alcoholism in women, especially among the ranks of the college aged and young professionals.

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A Matter of Life and Death

www-St-Takla-org___Jesus-with-Sinned-Woman-05I’ve written before about the Christian view of life and death so this will be a short post.

It seems to me that we westerners—and by that I mean western civ—dislike talking about death, much less thinking about it. There’s no time in the day for dwelling on unpleasant subjects when there’s so much to be done!

If we ever do take a moment to reflect that death is coming for us some day, it’s usually only when someone close to us dies, and then only fleetingly. It’s an uncomfortable thought, vaguely disconnected from the life we’ve constructed for ourselves. However, like Hamlet, we wonder what dreams may come when we’ve shuffled off this mortal coil, and it gives us pause.

Not so the Christian—or so it should be. The Christian knows that this life is a pilgrimage leading to our true home of blessedness with God, therefore he has hope. But the Christian also prays along with the Psalmist, that he might have the wisdom to number his days, realizing that life is indeed short and that he must give an account of it to God.

Honestly, for me, that thought is terrifying. Terrifying enough to compel my repentance? So far, painfully slowly. I pray that God will grant me time, because I have a great deal to answer for.

Still, I am hopeful as I should be. Like my patron St. Dismas, I recognize who it is that judges me. I know Him to be merciful. He knows that I am but dust.