So much could be said about Ted Kennedy and his brain tumor, but it’s probably adequately covered elsewhere. Thoughts ranging through my head:
- Let’s pray that he may repent of all the evil he promoted in his anti-life political career. Given the chances, he may not have too much time left before he has to answer to Almighty God.
- This would be a great time for a prelate to exercise some muscle and backbone and notify the Kennedys that because of his public support of abortion, etc., he would be denied a Catholic burial.
- If that happens, maybe the family will choose a burial at sea. I hear there’s a nice body of water off Chappaquiddick Island.
Some years ago, in the wake of, I believe, a school shooting, Ted Kennedy issued some diatribe calling for stricter gun control in some form or another. Blah blah, guns are evil, look at what happened because we have legalized handgun use, blah blah blah. A family friend, very active in the libertarian party, penned a letter to the editor that I think was absolutely hilarious. It went something like this:
Senator Kennedy recently made a comment that if it weren’t for guns, x children would still be alive today. True, and if it weren’t for Oldsmobiles, Mary Jo Kopechne would still be alive today as well.
We were short a few EMHCs on Sunday at the 7am Mass, so I had to take care of two lines at once. This means dealing with twice as many people who are just clueless when it comes to receiving Communion. So, lest you become one of the blissfully cluless, I thought I’d put together (with my usual sarcastic wit) a few pointers for everyone’s benefit on how to (not) receive Holy Communion.
(more…)
We’ve all heard about the cyclone in Myanmar/Burma and the earthquake in China. For me, such stories tend to go in one ear and out the other with little effect. I usually figure that the only affect these things have on me is that everyone is going to start asking for money to funnel into relief efforts.
Case in point, my company has put together a special matching gift campaign, where they’ll match any contribution we make dollar-for-dollar, with the rather big catch that you have to give to one of the charities they designate, as opposed to one that you would personally choose to support. More on that in a different post.
What makes this round of disasters different was an e-mail I received this morning from a colleague. Turns out one of the guys who used to work in our IT department (and I worked with on several projects) is originally from the province where the quake struck in China. From what I read, I gathered that his wife and son still live there and barely escaped the earthquake. Fortunately, they are doing okay.
I was trying to think of something eloquently reflective to wrap up this post, thinking about how detached we may be from something so far away but yet how small the world really is. But, there’s too many possible reflections running through my head. So, I’ll just end by saying please pray for the people impacted by the latest disasters.
Okay, how many people were tempted to (or maybe even did) absent-mindedly respond “and also with you” to the lector has s/he was reading the second reading yesterday and got to the point of “The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you”?
The A/C was on the fritz in the Daily Mass chapel this morning. Despite all thermostats being turned to “cool” and set to 68 degrees, it was registering 76 in the room. Not unbearable, but add the heat of the lights and everyone sitting together and it can get uncomfortable fast. I had turned on the circulating fans, but you could tell that the compressors weren’t kicking in.
A few minutes before Mass, while we’re waiting for Father to arrive, Sister Ugly Frumpy Swollen Ankles of the Gender-Neutral references to God comes back to the sacristy and says to us that it’s too hot in there. We explain that apparently the A/C isn’t working properly and there isn’t much we can do (we’re sacristans, not maintenance). She snips, “can’t you at least turn off the heat?” I respond that the heat isn’t on. She counters with “what’s all the rumbling we can hear?” I explain that it’s the recirculating fans, which are at least providing us some air movement, but the A/C compressor seems to not be working and there isn’t much more we can do. She left in a huff.
Once she was out of earshot (which, given her antiquity, was about 10 feet), I told my fellow sacristans that if their order would abandon the ugly polyester blouse and skirt and return to habits made out of natural, breathable fabric, she may not be so hot. Oh, and she probably could have removed the heavy cardigan sweater she was wearing too if she thought it was that hot. There was an ugly polyester blouse underneath afterall.
Sorry, sister, but some perspiration might do you some good. All that fluid you’re retaining might leech out.
One of the ladies (Frances) to whom I make Communion calls died last week. The funeral was today.
While I’m pretty sure she’ll be on the fast track to heavenly glory given all the suffering she endured in life, and the extreme piety she had, prayers for her are appreciated.
More importantly, however, please pray for her niece, June, who is her only living relative and now has pretty much no living family whatsoever. So, prayers for her comfort in this difficult time, and for her to adapt to this new challenge in life would be welcomed.
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her always. May she rest in peace, amen.
Lord Jesus, you promised that you would never abandon us, that you would never leave us orphans. Look kindly upon the needs of our sister, and send the Holy Spirit upon her to be her strength. In times of lonliness, help her realize your eternal presence; in times of despair, fill her with hope; and in times of trouble, grant her comfort. O Good Shepard, bring her from this dark valley of sadness and lonliness, to the peaceful, verdant pastures in which you promise to give us repose . And may the Holy Angels and Saints of Heaven, with Mary our Mother, intercede for all of us, and be our companions for the remainder of our days on this Earth, and in the world to come. Amen.
This is what I term the driver who, out of impatience or aggression, all but attaches himself to the rear end of your car hoping that somehow it’ll make you speed up. It seems like a most appropriate moniker for such a person; they just kind of dangle on your hind end and annoy you. I had to deal with one today, who apparently wasn’t happy that I was driving like a mostly law-abiding citizen in keeping to around 5 miles an hour over the speed limit. Jerk. He followed me for several miles — I thought he was going to pull behind me into the parkind deck actually. In which case, I would have been severly tempted to go to Rite Aid over lunch, buy a dozen or so tubes of Preparation H, and smear it all over his car.
(It’d be really funny if his huge honkin’ SUV ended up shrunk to size of a subcompact as a result.)
