Merry Christmas!!

Oh shameful, shameful me. I've neglected my blog for a whole month! O.K., so that has to change. In the meantime, I'd like to wish you and your families a blessed and Merry Christmas, and may the incoming New Year bring you all good health and prosperity.

Who is not hungry at Thanksgiving?
The turkey, he’s already been stuffed!

Why did Johnny get such low grades after Thanksgiving?
Because everything is marked down for the holidays.

Okay, enough with the stupid jokes. But I would like to wish you and all your loved-ones a

Happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Mixed Signals??

So the big news circulating in some Catholic and non-Catholic media outlets is that Pope Benedict has approved the use of condoms in certain circumstances. Asked if the Church has had a shift in principles, Pope Benedict answered:

"She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality." Read full article here.

I find this story, which, again, is spreading through the internet like wildfire, somewhat unreliable. But if true, I can see former critics singing his praises and current supporters feeling somewhere in between confused and outraged.

CNS provides a piece that seems to clarify Pope Benedict's stance on the use of condoms. Read here.

It's Here!

My blogger friend, Terry, has fired the first official Christmas salvo here. I'm going to fan the flames by posting favorite Christmas carols, followed by more Christmas music and many other Christmasy things.

The BEST Advent piece (advent is right around the corner!) ever composed.

(Turn your volume up.)

Hacked

I think both my Blogger and Facebook accounts were hacked into recently. I'm wondering how these little cyber monstrosities get inside places they're not suppose to when I'm pretty tenacious about protecting my passwords, accounts, and about the places I visit online.

Could you PLEASE notify me if you've gotten any spam emails from me on Blogger or on Facebook? I'd feel so embarrassed if one of my Blogger or Facebook friends received from me any spam or emails or messages or Lord knows what else happens when your system is hacked into.

If this is the case, I sincerely apologize to any of you, my Blogger friends, ahead of time.

Elections Tomorrow

Vote these losers OUT!
Republican or Democrat, party affiliation is inconsequential.
These two are BAD for the country.

Does anyone remember this spectacle?

I never thought I'd defend Juan Williams, but the day has indeed arrived.

These are the comments Williams made during an interview with Bill O'Reilly that got the dipsticks at NPR all fired up, and ultimately cost him his job at NPR: "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country," Williams said. "But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

I hope enough NPR enthusiasts take issue with the station's conduct and withhold their donations during the station's pledge drives.

SNL's Royal Deluxe II

One of the funniest SNL sketches/ commercials ever!

Old News

The depravity of Father Marcial Maciel is beyond comprehension to me. How was he able to seamlessly reconcile the significance of the priesthood with a behavior that was nothing short of barbaric? Was he mentally ill? Did he suffer from some kind of undiagnosed neurological disorder that no one knew about? Did he think the filth hidden in his rotten, private life would would always remain concealed?

I know Maciel is old news and the shock of his debasement has diminished. But went I think of the troubles the Church has experienced in resent times, his face inevitably is one of the first to surface.

Complacency in Faith

"If you understood, what you understood was not God." ~ St. Augustine

I've used this quote by St. Augustine quite a bit. I reflect on it during those moments in life when one is tempted to conclude that God is absent or that He doesn't care. Only in retrospect can the value of those desolate moments be truly appreciated as opportunities to expand your faith.

I'm guilty of this: I get "comfortable" with my faith and with my idea of God. There is the temptation to conclude that while somethings remain mysterious, for the most part, we have this life and the things that happen in the next life figured out to some extent. You die. You are judged by Christ. Heaven, hell, or purgatory. The end. Personally, I think this simplicity undermines a Mystery that is both hidden and beyond comprehension. Sometimes I hear a good-intentioned individual describe to me almost in step-by-step sequence of what happens to the soul as it enters into eternity.

Know this, regardless of how well versed you are in Church teachings, theology, Christology, mysticism, and the lives of the saints, the only thing we can say with certainty is that God is both infinite justice and infinite mercy. No one who has died absolutely and irrevocably has come back to life to give an account of what the whole experience was like. God is both infinite justice and infinite mercy. Those two qualities are not opposites. On the other hand, it's a mistake to conclude that because God is infinite justice, that in the word "justice" is implied a condemnation to hell. I think hell is tragically the place or word people think of when we speak of God's justice, when justice could mean mercy as well.



I know it sounds silly to some of you, but it's stuff like the above piece (arguably the greatest sacred composition of all time) that energizes me and awakens my senses to the Mystery the Catholic faith is imbued with. I often wonder what Allegri's Miserere sounds like to my non-Catholic blog visitors. Archaic? Anachronistic? Baroque crap? Clearly, everybody has his or her likes and dislikes, and some just miss the point altogether.