Category: Life

I’m writing this on the third Sunday of Advent, traditionally referred to as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice.” At this point in the Advent season, we are reminded to be joyful, for God Himself will become incarnate on this earth to save us from sin and death, and confer upon us eternal life with Him in paradise. I heard a reflection on this given by a priest in Ireland, in which he stated that all baptized Christians should remind themselves every day what their baptism means; that they have been reborn, and claimed as a son or daughter of God Himself. That recollection of this fact should instill great joy in the soul, no matter how dark, unhappy, or painful life might seem to be at this moment.

This got me to thinking about why we are so prone to lose our joy. The conclusion I came to is that very often, the life we think we want, or ought to have, is usually not the one we actually lead. The disconnect between these two states can lead a soul to despair. Given the way my fuzzy little mind works, I immediately thought of an illustration from the movies.

Continue reading “Sunset Boulevard”

So now the Pope has a Twitter account. So far, it’s gone about how you’d expect.

Sorry, but as a founding member of the Closet Luddite Society, I see no value whatever in tweeting, unless you’re practicing the mating call of the scarlet tanager. It’s only real purpose is to further degrade the language, inhibit real human communication, numb our intellects, attenuate our already limited attention spans, and let people shoot their mouths off with great rapidity.

With all due respect to His Holiness, nobody, and I mean nobody, is that interesting all the damn time. Take this blog for instance…anyway…

Yes, of course, I get what he’s trying to do, and I laud him for it. But isn’t there a limit to the whole trying-to-be-hip-in-order-to-reach-the-masses bit? St. Paul said, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”¹  But does that extend to dumbing down the Gospel so it fits on a smartphone text screen? Especially with all the attendant smart-assery that inevitably follows the original tweet?

I’m conflicted.

Oh well, with God all things are possible, even preaching the Good News on Twitter.

¹1 Cor 9:22 NIV

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, let me add a wee bit more on the subject. I was talking with a friend today about how, in her circle of friends and family, 2012 was kind of a crummy year. It seemed to her that there was more than the usual amount of people getting sick or dying over the past twelve months. That led the conversation around to areas that are more philosophical.

You can keep yourself fit, keep your bad habits under control, get regular check-ups, but as I said in yesterday’s post, none of us is promised a tomorrow. What should we do then? Should we live in fear of getting sick, having some horrible debilitating accident, or perhaps dying? Should we turn into hypochondriacs, calling the doctor every time we see an advertisement for the latest drug designed to treat the latest syndrome? Or, as is all too common in our society, become obsessed with health and well-being to the point that we turn diet and exercise into a religion? We concluded that the answer is no, we shouldn’t fall into those traps. You do what you reasonably can and leave the rest to God. Live your life, and let what happens, happen. Yeah, it’s trite, but hey, it’s true!

Continue reading “12/13/12”

12/12/12. Enjoy it while it lasts because it won’t happen again for another hundred years. It was only eleven years ago that nerds worldwide celebrated Binary Day (01/01/01), snickering at the rest of the population over their little inside joke, toasting each other with Diet Mountain Dew, and quoting Klingon proverbs to each other. Will today achieve the same notoriety? Some people will notice and others will not. And why should they? It’s just another day, no?

If you listen to the sensationalist media, the Mayans have predicted that we won’t make it past Christmas! As I heard someone humorously explain, the Mayans left another less well-known message, “Sorry about not finishing the calendar, but we’re a little tied up right now with these Spanish jerks!”

Jesus told us that only the Father knows the date and time of the end of the world. He taught us that we would do better to concern ourselves only with today, “which has troubles enough of its own.”¹ In fact, for many people across the planet, 12/12/12 is the end of the world as they know it. Some will die today. Some will be involved in accidents or be diagnosed with diseases that irrevocably change their lives. Or these things will happen to a loved one. The point is, we are never promised a tomorrow.

A great saint once said that the past and the future are just other forms of self. The past consists of nothing but our memories, and the future consists only of our dreams. The only reality is now. You and I exist in the now of this very moment. Even as you read this, God is sustaining your life from nanosecond to nanosecond, always waiting to see if you will turn toward Him.

It is God’s mercy that creates us, sustains us through our days, however many there may be, and it is His mercy that will bring us to our heavenly home…if we will only respond to Him…today.

¹Matthew 6:34

It’s a constant source of fascination to me to see what people get steamed up about. Just in time for the holidays, the outrage du jour is the Pope “cancelled” Christmas.

There are some folks out in the wilds of the internet who are all bummed out that Pope Benedict XVI, who you’ll remember was a college professor, tried to shed some light on the birth of Jesus Christ. Very timely idea, no?

His new book, Jesus of Nazareth – The Infancy Narratives (available here), looks at the gospel accounts of the Savior’s birth, and separates what we know, based on those accounts, from what tradition has handed down to us. Such as the fact that Jesus was probably born in a cave and there might not have been animals around. The Boo-hooing, Biddies of Blogdom accuse the Pope of trashing the traditional Christmas crèche! And they go on to complain that he dumped all over the practice of caroling, and so on.

Put down the mouse, and back away. Take a breath. Better?

Continue reading “Let’s All Take a Deep Breath”