Monday, January 06, 2014

Random Thoughts

-- If you work, then from time to time, you need a rest.  Hence the wisdom of things like keeping holy the Lord's Day and the seventh-year jubilee.  If you refuse to take time off, then sooner or later, your body is going to overrule you.  This, I believe, is one of the reasons I am out sick with a nice cold.  So, if you need the time off, you are going to get it, one way or the other; the question is whether you will enjoy it.

-- If, on the other hand, you are doing nothing for no good reason, then put down the doobie, turn off World of Warcraft, start keeping regular hours and get busy.

-- I grew up in a part of the country where 40 above was considered heavy coat weather, so even after nearly two decades spent living in Idaho, I find myself sorely tried in winter.  Yet I am fortunate compared to much of the rest of the country: in all the years I've lived here, I have never had to try and function in temperatures approaching 40 below, like the midwest is having right now.

-- I love Christmas lights, especially the small, white ones, and I'm all for keeping them -- as distinguished from Christmas trees -- up all winter, to illuminate the the long winter nights.  I despise the dim "energy-saving" "lights," with their cold, bluish cast, that illuminate nothing.  In the past, the Idaho state Christmas tree used to stand at the top of the Capitol steps and be covered from top to bottom with strings of white lights that could be seen all the way from the old Boise Depot; now, they use those "energy saving" "lights," and the tree is almost invisible until you stand right underneath it.  They also used to put up alternating red and green lights in the Capitol dome; they have now quit doing that.  If there is one thing that should not be doled out with an eyedropper in these times of both physical and spiritual frigidity, it's Christmas cheer.

-- Priests and bishops are fathers to their flocks, and sometimes it is a father's duty to say "no" to his children.  Some priests and bishops reserve their "no"s exclusively for their children of traditional bent who try to be faithful Catholics.  But this is altogether too easy: these children respect the authority of their fathers and submit, even though it is painful.  I would challenge such priests and bishops to try saying "no" to their "progressive" children: the ones who do not respect their fathers' authority; the ones with the all money that they use to try to blackmail the Church into giving them their way on everything; the ones who organize protest campaigns; the ones who write letters and contact the local media, and even file lawsuits; in short, the ones who, by their words and actions, show that they do not believe the Church or her hierarchy to be of divine institution.  Say "no" to these, firmly and consistently, come what may, and your authority will shine out all the brighter.  Besides which, these are the ones who most need to be told "no."

-- If you are disconcerted by a lot of the things Pope Francis is doing and saying -- and I number myself among such -- then listen to this.

-- By the way, the name is Pope Francis, not Pope Francis I.  There will be no such thing as "Pope Francis I" unless and until another Pope takes the regnal name of Francis.

-- Some people in my immediate circle have commented on what a bad P.R. move it is for the Obamacare juggernaut to pit itself against a religious congregation with a name like the Little Sisters of the Poor.  I think it's just a sign that the Obama regime has gone past the point of caring what the American people think.  In fact, it has gone past even bothering with the pretense of caring what the American people think.  That means we are in for even rockier times.

-- Here is a point for meditation in these rocky times.  Compare and contrast the pagan titan Atlas -- huge, muscle-bound, struggling to hold up the heavens on his shoulders -- with the Infant of Prague, small, delicate under His kingly crown and mantle, yet holding the whole world effortlessly, like a ball, in the palm of his little hand.

2 comments:

  1. Well said, Anita, and thank you! You're in my prayers!!

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  2. Growing up in St. Paul means that 20 below zero is springtime. I remember one trip back there that the temp was about 60 below wind chill. When I took my first breath after getting off the plane in Minneapolis I thought my lungs had frozen. Awful!

    Keep getting better...

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