Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived
of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal
pleasures.
Thomas Aquinas
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
7 Quick Takes, Friday, November 9, 2012
-1-
I'm hoping to be a bit more upbeat this week than last, the floor project is finally done and all that remains is to move the furniture back on the weekend. It seems like it's been a long haul and very unsettling in the process, I'll be very happy to try to begin to resume normal life.
I guess the level of disruption I've felt is an indication of my hermit soul, and certainly points to my Benedictine inclination. Monastics base their lives on the idea of stability, the idea that constancy is an important element of a well grounded spiritual life. I can easily imagine monks, especially those who've been in the monastery a long time, being even more upset than we've been when some major disruption in their routine comes upon them. The monks of Blue Cloud Abbey in South Dakota voted to close their monastery due to a lack of vocations and I can only imagine how difficult that decision must have been for all of them.
The thing that keeps me sane, or leaning toward the sane end of the scale anyway, is seeing events like Hurricane Sandy, and experiencing events like the Waldo Canyon fire here last summer, and knowing that I am very lucky to have a home still standing, even if in some disarray, many people don't. At least I know that with time and a little elbow grease, things will return to normal, and be even better and more manageable with the new wood floors.
-2-
There was a business trip taken this week out to San Diego, to a beautiful hotel overlooking the marina, a great place for a business meeting. Our company puts a great deal of time and thought and work into providing a positive experience for both our customers and our employees, and I think it's appreciated by both groups. On, the other hand, I always amazed that the airline industry can, with relative impunity, abuse it's customers on a regular basis. Now that I have an artificial shoulder, it is no longer possible to board an airliner without a "pat down." I'm sorry to go on a rant, but I think it's symptomatic of our time that we allow, in the name of government regulation, something that would be absolutely illegal on any street corner to occur on a day to day basis in an airport. If I can help it, this will be the last trip I make by commercial airline. [No it won't, that's clearly just rant talk.]
Despite the wonderful surroundings in San Diego, the trip was extremely busy, hectic, I'll have to say. We did take one break on Wednesday to take a walk along the trail/pathway that goes along the beach. That was a welcome break. That said, I'm still very happy to be home.
-3-
There will be no comment on the recent election. I think it's time to put all that behind us and try to muddle on with the victor. I'm reminded that the motto for the Moffat family (clan?) is spero meliora -- we hope for better things. I'm proud to be a scion of a family that somehow, at some time in history, was important enough, or self-promoting enough, to have such a motto. I can't help but think it's of recent vintage and the product of, perhaps, the Scottish tourist industry, but still it's mine and I accept it. It has, however, always made me think that it ties nicely with a sort of quiet desperation that has seemed prevalent in my family, a kind of fatal expectation that things will be bad, probably get worse, but still we'll somehow manage to hope, against all odds, that things will be better. That particular trait will be well tested over the coming months and years.
-4-
I continue to look forward to the possibility of retirement. I read in a book recently that the two most common reasons people give for wanting to retire are the desire to live according to their own schedule and the hope for time to do what is important in life. I share both of those desires and this represents something of a turning point for me; this outlook on life is of recent vintage and something I would never have dreamed of even 5 years ago. I wonder if, after say 6 months of retirement, I'll feel the same way? I think I will because, tied to it's advent, is my wish to live more in accord with by Camaldolese oblate vocation.
-5-
The work on the floor project is complete, all that remains is to replace furniture and begin cleaning the house. That could be, when all is said and done, a two or three month task. It seems like there's sawdust everywhere, in every nook and cranny. We need to be patient about this process and I remain grateful that we still have a house, after the Waldo fire this year, that wasn't something I was completely sure I'd be saying today. Also, the victims of Hurricane Sandy, and it's beginning to appear, another failure in government response and responsibility, are not so fortunate, even now. Please keep the victims of both catastrophes in your prayers.
-6-
This is number 6, only one more to go.
-7-
I wonder what is so magic about the number 7? It seems primordial in man, after all, God created the universe in 6 days and rested on the 7th. Really now, why did he choose to wrap things up in 7 days? Why not 11? or 9? But he didn't and now the blasted number keeps cropping up everywhere, in popular culture it shows up in mystery fiction, The 7% Solution, in classic westerns, The Magnificent Seven. Why couldn't it have been The Magnificent Eleven. After all, wouldn't their odds have been much better by making it a more even fight? I want to rebel, fight the inevitable, watch The Dirty Dozen, a fine movie, but I dare not. After all, Jennifer knows.
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Friday Florilegia, Friday, November 9, 2012
The Gospel reading for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
GOSPEL Mk 13:24-32
Jesus said to his disciples:
"In those days after that tribulation
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
"And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds'
with great power and glory,
and then he will send out the angels
and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.
"Learn a lesson from the fig tree.
When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves,
you know that summer is near.
In the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that he is near, at the gates.
Amen, I say to you,
this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.
"But of that day or hour, no one knows,
neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
GOSPEL Mk 13:24-32
Jesus said to his disciples:
"In those days after that tribulation
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
"And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds'
with great power and glory,
and then he will send out the angels
and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.
"Learn a lesson from the fig tree.
When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves,
you know that summer is near.
In the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that he is near, at the gates.
Amen, I say to you,
this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.
"But of that day or hour, no one knows,
neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
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Wednesday, November 7, 2012
A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, November 7, 2012, St Charles Borromeo
Sunday, November 4, 2012
The Early Church Fathers, Sunday, November 4, 2012, St. Augustine
Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Friday, November 2, 2012
7 Quick Takes on Friday, Friday, November 2, 2012
-1-
Once
again, I sit here, staring at a blank sheet of (electronic) paper and can't
think of one "quick take," much less seven. Where is that bottle of Bushmill's Black
Label when you need it most?
-2-
I wonder
if sometime soon pens are going to become obsolete. On Sunday, I put my favorite Cross pen, a
Contour model with the broad, blue, refill before heading out to do some
shopping. I expected to use it to sign
charge slips. By the time I got home, it
had never seen the light of day; it remained unused after stops at three
stores. No store we visited used paper
charge card slips, all are now using electronic machines of varying quality to
record purchases on credit cards.
My wonder
is that any trace of true human interaction, minus some machine of some sort in
the middle. It's as if the machine, and
supposedly directly related efficiencies gained, had become more important than
direct human involvement. Sometimes,
technology is nice, but there are indeed times I wonder if we wouldn't be
better off without it.
-3-
Speaking
of technology, Hurricane Sandy, as tragic as it was, had gone a long way to
show just what happens when we are overly reliant on technology. New York City has come to a stop it seems,
with no one able to move about very well, and thousands upon thousands without
power. The question arises how those
people, whose situation probably won't improve for many days, will be able to
do such simple things as cook food? I
remember a time when some of my relatives didn't have electricity and used,
literally, wood-burning stoves for all their cooking and baking needs. They were pretty good cooks too. Now, that option is gone and people suffer
for it. The general assumption that the
lights will always go on is hardly one that can be relied upon.
-4-
I also
notice that victims of Hurricane Sandy are furious that their city and state
governments aren't doing more to feed them.
I read of one man who said he had taken it for granted that after the
storm, the government would be there to distribute food for him and his
family. At the risk of seeming mean
spirited, didn't that man know the storm was coming? Could he not have taken steps on his own, in
advance, to ensure he had several days worth of food and water on hand so that
he wouldn't need to rely on someone else who might not be there? Couldn't he have banded together with his
neighbors to stockpile some emergency supplies, and maybe back up generators,
in order to be even more assured of getting through a week or more of difficult
conditions?
I worry
that no one seems able to even consider the possibility of not relying on
someone else in times of emergency. I
worry that this tendency to assume that, if we are in some sort of trouble, or
experience a time of personal hardship, it's up to someone else to sort it all
out, will not serve us well in the coming years. Not well at all.
-5-
I note
that this past week Jacques Barzun passed away.
It occurred to me that there are very few, if any, people who stand
ready to take his place as a serious intellectual critic of society. Those who are credited with being the thought
leaders of our time really aren't, they are mostly ideologues promoting one or
the other set of political
opinions. I quote from a column
on the Crisis Magazine website discussing Fr. Bernard Lonergan:
While I’m generally
skeptical in the face of apocalyptic fears, there can be no doubt that we find
ourselves grappling with the loss of a pre-modern world where we oriented our
institutions and selves in keeping with objective cosmological, ontological,
and communal orders. Lacking thick accounts of who we are, what we’re for, what we
should do, and for what we hope, we are unmoored and adrift, all the while
celebrating this very absence of structure as evidence of our freedom and
autonomy. Further, the correlation between the unmoored or disencumbered self
of contemporary life and some of the current crises seems fairly strong—the rejection of
traditional notions of marriage, for example. This cultural malaise results
from the absence of robust understandings of human nature, personhood,
normative relations, and integral human flourishing. And the same could be said
for many of the other issues under deliberation as we enter the voting booths
in a few days.
-6-
Five
down, two to go.
I guess I
should say something about the just passed Halloween. This is a much bigger day than when I was
growing up and I have a hard time understanding why the change. When I was trick or treat age, which, by the
way, was generally regarded as something for kids from the ages of 4 or 5 to
about 10, we dressed up in costumes, went around the neighborhood on the night,
and that was it. Adults didn't
participate, as they were not, and did not want to be, kids.
-7-
I'm
really, really tempted to push the envelope some day, and only do six quick
takes. Alas, courage fails me once
again. Jennifer would be upset.
Friday Florilegia, Friday, November 2, 2012
Gospel for the 32nd
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel Mk 12:38-44
In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds,
"Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext
recite lengthy prayers.
They will receive a very severe condemnation."
He sat down opposite the treasury
and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.
Many rich people put in large sums.
A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.
Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,
"Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more
than all the other contributors to the treasury.
For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,
her whole livelihood."
"Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext
recite lengthy prayers.
They will receive a very severe condemnation."
He sat down opposite the treasury
and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.
Many rich people put in large sums.
A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.
Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,
"Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more
than all the other contributors to the treasury.
For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,
her whole livelihood."
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