Angela Messenger had this on her blog and tagged everyone on her side bar. Since the tone of my prior post was a wee bit too serious, thought I would lighten it up a bit.
ONE word answers, NO explanations!
1. Yourself: trying
2. Your spouse: wonderful
3. Your hair: greyish-brownish (how and when did this happen?)
4. Your mother: saintly (deceased)
5. Your father: idolized (deceased)
6. Your favorite item: sentimental
7. Your dream last night: out-of-no-where
8. Your favorite drink: Coke
9. Your dream car: Red Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce or Mercedes
10. The room you are in: bedroom-bathroom-playroom (upstairs is a completely open floor plan)
11. Your ex: history
12. Your fear: Purgatory (or worse!)
13. What you want to be in 10 years: progressing
14. Who you hung out with last night: family
15. What you're not: patient or humble
16. Muffins: cinnamon or lemon poppyseed or double chocolate
17: One of your wish list items: Imitation of Christ
18: Time: short
19. The last thing you did: picked up a unrolled roll of toilet paper that my daughter got all over the floor
20. What you are wearing: sweatshirt and shorts
21. Your favorite weather: Spring
22. Your favorite book: Dickens
23. The last thing you ate: doughnut
24. Your life: transitioning
25. Your mood: optimistic
26. Your best friend: Hmmmm?
27. What you're thinking about right now: weekend
28. Your car: Civic
29. What you are doing at the moment: pondering
30. Your summer: short
31. Your relationship status: blessed
32. What is on your TV: Arthur
33. What is the weather like: rainy
34. When was the last time you laughed: when I picked up the toilet paper
21 August 2007
One nation
In my parish, we are told it is our duty and responsibility to vote. We are also told that voting for evil, or candidates that support evil, is a sin, possibly even a mortal sin depending on the circumstances. No one tells us which candidate to vote for, but they address the issues that should be important to Catholics.
However, in my great, big Catholic family, they have a long history of political activism. Many are staunch Democrats. A few have been in State government. This isn't true of my immediate family as my grandfather leaned towards Republicans way back at the turn of the century when no farmer in his right mind thought that way. The other branches were the vocal, even outspoken, ones.
Back then, it was OK to be a Democrat. Today, a Catholic in good conscience cannot vote for these folks. More and more, we can't even find a Republican to vote for. Abortion is the go or no-go issue. Once that hurdle is overcome with a morally acceptible position, then the playing field is wide open. An open playing field with few viable candidates.
If Catholics only voted their conscience first, we wouldn't be in such a fix. But, that's crux of it. Democrats have some good ideas, commendable ideas that go along well with how we are supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves and take care of those in need. But not all issues are of equal weight and before I can even look at the good things they might do, I'm stopped at the door with the horror of their support for abortion, euthanasia, the homosexual agenda, etc.
My Democratic family members don't understand this. I would wager they consider themselves Democratic Americans, possibly Democratic Irish Americans as some are totally hung up on all things Irish, but none would consider themselves Catholic Americans or just plain ol' Catholics. Despite going to Mass on Sunday and some being VERY active in Catholic organizations, they don't place their religion at the top of their priority list.
I have a cousin who was awarded a prestigious Catholic award for her decades of service and involvement. Maybe that's all the people presenting the award look at. This cousin, however, is in danger of losing her soul. She is even more involved in local Democratic causes. Very active to the point of starting to believe the party line. Once a "good Catholic," she now vocalizes support for abortion, population control, euthanasia, etc. Previously, although many in the family probably suspected her positions on these issues, she never had the nerve to admit it openly. Times have changed and she has changed.
Believe it or not, I am related, by marriage, to Dick Durbin. It's unbelievable how this branch of the family is so proud to claim him as their own. On the other side of the aisle in a different state, is a cousin who is a Republican State Congresswoman, who holds a traditionally very Democratic seat. Some of my family vote for her because she's family, some vote for her because she is a Republican, others have practically disowned her.
From the Pew Forum:
Rudy, a "Catholic," is about as much a Catholic as Hillary is, with his positions on abortion, gay rights and marriage, etc. The rest have suspect, questionable or poor records on these topics, too.
Who are all these "Catholics" that are voting for these baby killers? Oh, yeah, they are my own family.
I have no idea who to vote for. If this is the best we can do...
However, in my great, big Catholic family, they have a long history of political activism. Many are staunch Democrats. A few have been in State government. This isn't true of my immediate family as my grandfather leaned towards Republicans way back at the turn of the century when no farmer in his right mind thought that way. The other branches were the vocal, even outspoken, ones.
Back then, it was OK to be a Democrat. Today, a Catholic in good conscience cannot vote for these folks. More and more, we can't even find a Republican to vote for. Abortion is the go or no-go issue. Once that hurdle is overcome with a morally acceptible position, then the playing field is wide open. An open playing field with few viable candidates.
If Catholics only voted their conscience first, we wouldn't be in such a fix. But, that's crux of it. Democrats have some good ideas, commendable ideas that go along well with how we are supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves and take care of those in need. But not all issues are of equal weight and before I can even look at the good things they might do, I'm stopped at the door with the horror of their support for abortion, euthanasia, the homosexual agenda, etc.
My Democratic family members don't understand this. I would wager they consider themselves Democratic Americans, possibly Democratic Irish Americans as some are totally hung up on all things Irish, but none would consider themselves Catholic Americans or just plain ol' Catholics. Despite going to Mass on Sunday and some being VERY active in Catholic organizations, they don't place their religion at the top of their priority list.
I have a cousin who was awarded a prestigious Catholic award for her decades of service and involvement. Maybe that's all the people presenting the award look at. This cousin, however, is in danger of losing her soul. She is even more involved in local Democratic causes. Very active to the point of starting to believe the party line. Once a "good Catholic," she now vocalizes support for abortion, population control, euthanasia, etc. Previously, although many in the family probably suspected her positions on these issues, she never had the nerve to admit it openly. Times have changed and she has changed.
Believe it or not, I am related, by marriage, to Dick Durbin. It's unbelievable how this branch of the family is so proud to claim him as their own. On the other side of the aisle in a different state, is a cousin who is a Republican State Congresswoman, who holds a traditionally very Democratic seat. Some of my family vote for her because she's family, some vote for her because she is a Republican, others have practically disowned her.
From the Pew Forum:
Rudy, a "Catholic," is about as much a Catholic as Hillary is, with his positions on abortion, gay rights and marriage, etc. The rest have suspect, questionable or poor records on these topics, too.
Who are all these "Catholics" that are voting for these baby killers? Oh, yeah, they are my own family.
I have no idea who to vote for. If this is the best we can do...
20 August 2007
The Shocking Alternative
I have a confession to make. I read, Story of a Soul, the autobiographical account of St. Therese, and was simultaneously reading, Surprised by Joy, the autobiographical account of C.S. Lewis' conversion. I made it through Story of a Soul, but ran out of steam (interest?) on Surprised by Joy. I probably stopped at the best part, when he converts, but just couldn't bring myself to read another page. I had read Screwtape Letters, so figured I had to give Lewis another chance. This time I am reading his Mere Christianity. Ah, much better.
The problem I have, maybe from always having read to find the nuggets I was going to be tested on instead of reading for pleasure, is that things that aren't technical just don't stick in my brain. I read people like Chesterton and Lewis, and while I find them very insightful, enjoyable and often times profound, once I set the book down, I couldn't really tell you what I had just read. I really dislike this. I think I have a malformed brain (which is at least saying something...that I have a brain at all!).
Below is a quote from Mere Christianity. Maybe by placing it here, I will retain some of it. I'm only half way done with the book, but there are many great quotes. I'm sure people must've written on why Lewis converted to Christianity but not to Catholicism. Personally, IMHO having only read a very little of Lewis' writings, I think he was a proud Brit and his culture, heritage and nationality stopped him from getting both feet on this side of the Tiber. Just my opinion, not dogma.
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either the man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
The problem I have, maybe from always having read to find the nuggets I was going to be tested on instead of reading for pleasure, is that things that aren't technical just don't stick in my brain. I read people like Chesterton and Lewis, and while I find them very insightful, enjoyable and often times profound, once I set the book down, I couldn't really tell you what I had just read. I really dislike this. I think I have a malformed brain (which is at least saying something...that I have a brain at all!).
Below is a quote from Mere Christianity. Maybe by placing it here, I will retain some of it. I'm only half way done with the book, but there are many great quotes. I'm sure people must've written on why Lewis converted to Christianity but not to Catholicism. Personally, IMHO having only read a very little of Lewis' writings, I think he was a proud Brit and his culture, heritage and nationality stopped him from getting both feet on this side of the Tiber. Just my opinion, not dogma.
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either the man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
Our State Fair is a great State Fair
In an earlier post (Ice, ice baby), some folks were able to find Waldo and Elvis in the crowd. I'm impressed at their keen eyesight, powers of deduction and ability to bear looking at a bunch of naked people. You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
The State Fair starts this Thursday. One of my aunts (removed by divorce and now remarried) and her husband run a food booth at the Fair. If you are able to figure out just what she's selling, I'll buy you one of whatever she has available. She doesn't know I have a blog, so part of the task is to keep this blogging thing under wraps (no, that isn't a clue).
All I'm going to say is: It ain't on no stinkin' stick.
I used to enter stuff in the food competitions, but never won any award. Another aunt entered needlepoint, knitted things, etc., and ALWAYS won an award. Some people have all the talent.
I LOVE the State Fair and usually go at least twice. Both my kids have been to the Fair when they were only days old and I was still recovering from C-sections and busy trying to nurse. Ah, State Fair addiction is hard to break.
-----------
You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!
Though I've belted you and flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
Rudyard Kipling
The State Fair starts this Thursday. One of my aunts (removed by divorce and now remarried) and her husband run a food booth at the Fair. If you are able to figure out just what she's selling, I'll buy you one of whatever she has available. She doesn't know I have a blog, so part of the task is to keep this blogging thing under wraps (no, that isn't a clue).
All I'm going to say is: It ain't on no stinkin' stick.
I used to enter stuff in the food competitions, but never won any award. Another aunt entered needlepoint, knitted things, etc., and ALWAYS won an award. Some people have all the talent.
I LOVE the State Fair and usually go at least twice. Both my kids have been to the Fair when they were only days old and I was still recovering from C-sections and busy trying to nurse. Ah, State Fair addiction is hard to break.
-----------
You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!
Though I've belted you and flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
Rudyard Kipling
19 August 2007
Proud mom moment
My son, who just turned four last weekend, knows the Guardian Angel prayer and the Hail Mary. Ok, he says the Hail Mary a bit wrong. Instead of saying, "The Lord is with Thee," he says, "The Lord is with ME." Which is awfully cute anyway.
Usually, my husband puts the kids to bed to have some daddy time with them and has my son recite his prayers before bed. Most of the time, my husband just has my son repeat lines from the prayers after him. But, because my husband went out of town last week, I put the kids to bed. Both my kids are very late walkers and talkers, so learning a whole prayer is a lot. I wasn't going to just have my son repeat the prayer after me, so told him to lead and I would repeat. Although he's VERY outgoing and social, he is shy about being on the spot. However, he did great and knew the Guardian Angel prayer perfectly and only had a few bobbles on the Hail Mary.
Genuflects and makes the sign of the cross in Church.
He's becoming quite precocious in many ways. Handsome, too. Wants to be an altar boy when he's "big enough."
That's all. Just had to share.
Usually, my husband puts the kids to bed to have some daddy time with them and has my son recite his prayers before bed. Most of the time, my husband just has my son repeat lines from the prayers after him. But, because my husband went out of town last week, I put the kids to bed. Both my kids are very late walkers and talkers, so learning a whole prayer is a lot. I wasn't going to just have my son repeat the prayer after me, so told him to lead and I would repeat. Although he's VERY outgoing and social, he is shy about being on the spot. However, he did great and knew the Guardian Angel prayer perfectly and only had a few bobbles on the Hail Mary.
Genuflects and makes the sign of the cross in Church.
He's becoming quite precocious in many ways. Handsome, too. Wants to be an altar boy when he's "big enough."
That's all. Just had to share.
Ice, ice baby
Hundreds of naked people gathered at a glacier in the Swiss alps to raise awareness about climate change. Other than being an odd thing to do, from what I remember, the human body gives off heat equivalent to a 75-100 Watt light bulb. Hmmmm, doesn't seem like a bright idea to me...no pun intended. What is helping to melt the glaciers is a bunch of naked people sitting their warm tushies on the ice. The following is from www.swissinfo.org
Hundreds of naked people formed a "living sculpture" on Switzerland's Aletsch Glacier on Saturday, aiming to raise awareness about climate change.
The photo shoot by New York artist Spencer Tunick, famous for his pictures of nude gatherings in public settings worldwide, was designed to draw attention to the effects of global warming on Switzerland's shrinking glaciers.
"The melting of the glaciers is an indisputable sign of global climate change," said environmental group Greenpeace, which co-organized the event. It said most Swiss glaciers would disappear by 2080 if global warming continues at its current pace.
The organisation added that it hoped the event and the pictures would make politicians and the population aware of looming dangers as average temperatures rise.
"We need to act now before it is too late," said Greenpeace campaign director Markus Allemann. He pointed out that alpine glaciers had already lost one third of their surface and half of their mass over the past 150 years.
The organisers said they wanted to establish a symbolic relationship between the vulnerability of the melting glacier and the human body.
The event, which followed Tunick's recent shoots in London, Mexico City and Amsterdam, was designed to minimise any impact on the environment, Greenpeace said.
The participants, all volunteers recruited earlier this summer by the environmental organisation, had to walk about four hours to reach the site of the shoot.
Temperatures hovered around ten degrees Celsius while the photos were being taken, but nobody spent much time with their clothes off. A first picture was taken with 300 volunteers standing beside the glacier, before 600 people moved for another shot onto the ice itself.
The 40-year-old photographer has made a name for himself in recent years for his pictures of large groups of naked people, mostly in urban environments.
His first shoot was in New York in 1992, but he has also taken his signature photos in Switzerland in the past, including in Basel in 1999, Fribourg in 2001 and at the national exhibition in Neuchâtel in 2002.
Hundreds of naked people formed a "living sculpture" on Switzerland's Aletsch Glacier on Saturday, aiming to raise awareness about climate change.The photo shoot by New York artist Spencer Tunick, famous for his pictures of nude gatherings in public settings worldwide, was designed to draw attention to the effects of global warming on Switzerland's shrinking glaciers.
"The melting of the glaciers is an indisputable sign of global climate change," said environmental group Greenpeace, which co-organized the event. It said most Swiss glaciers would disappear by 2080 if global warming continues at its current pace.
The organisation added that it hoped the event and the pictures would make politicians and the population aware of looming dangers as average temperatures rise.
"We need to act now before it is too late," said Greenpeace campaign director Markus Allemann. He pointed out that alpine glaciers had already lost one third of their surface and half of their mass over the past 150 years.
The organisers said they wanted to establish a symbolic relationship between the vulnerability of the melting glacier and the human body.
The event, which followed Tunick's recent shoots in London, Mexico City and Amsterdam, was designed to minimise any impact on the environment, Greenpeace said.
The participants, all volunteers recruited earlier this summer by the environmental organisation, had to walk about four hours to reach the site of the shoot.
Temperatures hovered around ten degrees Celsius while the photos were being taken, but nobody spent much time with their clothes off. A first picture was taken with 300 volunteers standing beside the glacier, before 600 people moved for another shot onto the ice itself.
The 40-year-old photographer has made a name for himself in recent years for his pictures of large groups of naked people, mostly in urban environments.
His first shoot was in New York in 1992, but he has also taken his signature photos in Switzerland in the past, including in Basel in 1999, Fribourg in 2001 and at the national exhibition in Neuchâtel in 2002.
17 August 2007
Dissing Disney
One of my alma maters, the University of Washington, recently came out with a study that says that childhood DVDs don't help children learn language and may actually hinder them. Disney demanded a retraction. You can view the lengthy letter to the U of W president here. Below is just the first paragraph from the letter. Seems Mickey is in a sour mood:
On behalf of The Walt Disney Company, and our subsidiary The Baby Einstein Company LLC, I write to demand the immediate retraction and clarification of a misleading, irresponsible and derogatory press statement issued by the University of Washington on Monday, August 6, and thereafter posted on the University's website, regarding the publication of a study by three University researchers entitled "Associations Between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age 2 Years."
Below is U of W President, Mark Emmert's, response.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Mark A. Emmert, President
August 16, 2007
Mr. Robert Iger
President and Chief Executive Officer
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
Dear Mr. Iger:
Thank you for your letter of August 13. I have reviewed the news release about the paper published by three of our faculty in the Journal of Pediatrics entitled, "Associations between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age 2 Years." In addition, I have conferred with one of the paper's co-authors.
The Journal of Pediatrics is a prestigious, peer-reviewed journal. Papers submitted to this journal undergo a rigorous review by experts in the field before they are accepted for publication. This process ensures that the work represented in the paper meets the high standards of scientific inquiry required by the editors of the journal and its editorial panel of distinguished scientists. The University of Washington stands behind the work of Professors Frederick Zimmerman, Dimitri Christakis, and Andrew Meltzoff.
The paper set out to "test the association [italics added] of media exposure with language development in children under age 2 years." It did not purport to establish a causal relationship, as the authors explicitly state in the article. The authors found a large and statistically significant reduction in vocabulary among infants age 8 to 16 months who viewed baby DVDs or videos, compared to those who did not view them. They also concluded that more research is needed to determine the reasons for this statistical association.
The authors of the study and I believe the news release reflects the essential points made in the research publication. The news release clearly is not intended to substitute for a reading of the research paper, which was made available to all the reporters who contacted our news office. The news release briefly summarizes the methodology of the study and includes the researchers' interpretations of the findings, something in which most news media are interested and one of the reasons for issuing the release. The researchers find no inconsistencies between the content of the news release and their paper. They believe the release accurately reflects the paper's conclusions and their commentary. For these reasons, the University of Washington will not retract its news release.
We do not view this study as the last word on the subject of the influence baby DVDs have on child development. The findings were considered significant enough to be reported in a major journal, and as a public institution we feel duty-bound to make the public aware of these findings. As we say in the release, "more research is required, particularly to examine the long-term effects of baby DVDs and videos on children's cognitive development." We believe that our researchers at the University of Washington will continue to be in the forefront of this important research aimed at helping parents and society enhance the lives of children.
Sincerely yours,
Mark A. Emmert
On behalf of The Walt Disney Company, and our subsidiary The Baby Einstein Company LLC, I write to demand the immediate retraction and clarification of a misleading, irresponsible and derogatory press statement issued by the University of Washington on Monday, August 6, and thereafter posted on the University's website, regarding the publication of a study by three University researchers entitled "Associations Between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age 2 Years."
Below is U of W President, Mark Emmert's, response.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Mark A. Emmert, President
August 16, 2007
Mr. Robert Iger
President and Chief Executive Officer
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
Dear Mr. Iger:
Thank you for your letter of August 13. I have reviewed the news release about the paper published by three of our faculty in the Journal of Pediatrics entitled, "Associations between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age 2 Years." In addition, I have conferred with one of the paper's co-authors.
The Journal of Pediatrics is a prestigious, peer-reviewed journal. Papers submitted to this journal undergo a rigorous review by experts in the field before they are accepted for publication. This process ensures that the work represented in the paper meets the high standards of scientific inquiry required by the editors of the journal and its editorial panel of distinguished scientists. The University of Washington stands behind the work of Professors Frederick Zimmerman, Dimitri Christakis, and Andrew Meltzoff.
The paper set out to "test the association [italics added] of media exposure with language development in children under age 2 years." It did not purport to establish a causal relationship, as the authors explicitly state in the article. The authors found a large and statistically significant reduction in vocabulary among infants age 8 to 16 months who viewed baby DVDs or videos, compared to those who did not view them. They also concluded that more research is needed to determine the reasons for this statistical association.
The authors of the study and I believe the news release reflects the essential points made in the research publication. The news release clearly is not intended to substitute for a reading of the research paper, which was made available to all the reporters who contacted our news office. The news release briefly summarizes the methodology of the study and includes the researchers' interpretations of the findings, something in which most news media are interested and one of the reasons for issuing the release. The researchers find no inconsistencies between the content of the news release and their paper. They believe the release accurately reflects the paper's conclusions and their commentary. For these reasons, the University of Washington will not retract its news release.
We do not view this study as the last word on the subject of the influence baby DVDs have on child development. The findings were considered significant enough to be reported in a major journal, and as a public institution we feel duty-bound to make the public aware of these findings. As we say in the release, "more research is required, particularly to examine the long-term effects of baby DVDs and videos on children's cognitive development." We believe that our researchers at the University of Washington will continue to be in the forefront of this important research aimed at helping parents and society enhance the lives of children.
Sincerely yours,
Mark A. Emmert
Do you do business with these companies?
I recently stumbled across Life Decisions International's website. I hadn't heard of them before. A bit about them from their webpage:
Incorporated in 1992, Life Decisions International (LDI) is dedicated to challenging the Culture of Death. LDI concen-trates on exposing and opposing the agenda of Planned Parenthood, the world's primary advocate of legal abortion.
LDI has a list of companies that support abortion. Below is a clip of some of them...however, you have to purchase the entire list. IMHO, something's wrong with that. Reading the reasons they give for having people purchase the list is that sending the list to people costs a lot of money. Well, place it on your webpage. If people want a hard copy, charge them a nominal fee if you must, but to seek a donation for the list defeats the purpose and hampers the cause. The cheapest version of the list costs $19.95, another $41.95. Makes no sense.
Join The Boycott
Help fight Planned Parenthood by refusing to do business with corporations that fund their deadly agenda. Did you know that the following corporations are boycott targets?
Basics Office Products, Whole Foods Market, JPMorgan Chase (including Chase Bank, & Bank One), Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Lost Arrow (Patagonia), Wells Fargo, CCA Global (Carpet One, Flooring America, Flooring Canada, Flooring One, Lighting One, etc.), Comcast (cable television, Internet, etc.), Chevron (including Caltex, Xpress Lube, & Texaco), eBay (including PayPal), OSI Restaurant Partners (Outback Steakhouse, etc.), Marriott (including Courtyard Hotels, Fairfield Inn, Renaissance Hotels & Inns, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, etc.), Valero (Beacon, Ultramar, etc.), Sears (Kmart), Sonic (drive-in restaurants), Wawa (convenience stores), Time Warner (HBO, Cinemax, AOL, etc.), and Wachovia. And this is just a partial list!
To date, at least 154 corporations have ceased funding Planned Parenthood!, which has cost the abortion-committing Goliath more than $35 million! You may order a Boycott List by clicking on Order Materials. The Boycott List includes the name, address, phone number, website address, products, subsidiaries, services, and chief executive officer for every boycott targets. (Click on Order Materials and please read the sections entitled Placing An Order and Your Privacy. If you wonder why we seek a donation for The Boycott List, please read Why Isn't The Boycott List Freely Available? and CFP Copyright Details.)
They also have an online list of celebrities that support Planned Parenthood. It is so long that I think a list of celebrities that DON'T support PP would be better.
Incorporated in 1992, Life Decisions International (LDI) is dedicated to challenging the Culture of Death. LDI concen-trates on exposing and opposing the agenda of Planned Parenthood, the world's primary advocate of legal abortion.
LDI has a list of companies that support abortion. Below is a clip of some of them...however, you have to purchase the entire list. IMHO, something's wrong with that. Reading the reasons they give for having people purchase the list is that sending the list to people costs a lot of money. Well, place it on your webpage. If people want a hard copy, charge them a nominal fee if you must, but to seek a donation for the list defeats the purpose and hampers the cause. The cheapest version of the list costs $19.95, another $41.95. Makes no sense.
Join The Boycott
Help fight Planned Parenthood by refusing to do business with corporations that fund their deadly agenda. Did you know that the following corporations are boycott targets?
Basics Office Products, Whole Foods Market, JPMorgan Chase (including Chase Bank, & Bank One), Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Lost Arrow (Patagonia), Wells Fargo, CCA Global (Carpet One, Flooring America, Flooring Canada, Flooring One, Lighting One, etc.), Comcast (cable television, Internet, etc.), Chevron (including Caltex, Xpress Lube, & Texaco), eBay (including PayPal), OSI Restaurant Partners (Outback Steakhouse, etc.), Marriott (including Courtyard Hotels, Fairfield Inn, Renaissance Hotels & Inns, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, etc.), Valero (Beacon, Ultramar, etc.), Sears (Kmart), Sonic (drive-in restaurants), Wawa (convenience stores), Time Warner (HBO, Cinemax, AOL, etc.), and Wachovia. And this is just a partial list!
To date, at least 154 corporations have ceased funding Planned Parenthood!, which has cost the abortion-committing Goliath more than $35 million! You may order a Boycott List by clicking on Order Materials. The Boycott List includes the name, address, phone number, website address, products, subsidiaries, services, and chief executive officer for every boycott targets. (Click on Order Materials and please read the sections entitled Placing An Order and Your Privacy. If you wonder why we seek a donation for The Boycott List, please read Why Isn't The Boycott List Freely Available? and CFP Copyright Details.)
They also have an online list of celebrities that support Planned Parenthood. It is so long that I think a list of celebrities that DON'T support PP would be better.
What is conscience? Part 2
This is the conclusion of Sr. Immaculata's section on What is Conscience. See the prior posts for more on the subject. I'm still confused as to how the will, reason, intellect, conscience and the soul all interact, but am beginning to make some progress. I'd post some things from the Summa, but they, for me anyway, just serve to create more questions.
What is Conscience?
5. God the Director Through the Conscience of Man.
His presence directing the soul through our conscience is sometimes referred to as a "voice" calling us towards Him; that is, to a more conscious knowledge of His will and a more ardent and intense choice in accepting it, as also an increased joy in doing it. Here He speaks the words of life, continually urging the soul for a response. "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (John 6:63). Through the objective realities of everyday existence, He is summoning the person from within to a recognition of the values involved in a particular course of action, although the immediate connection between this moment's decision and God's law may not be explicitly recognized.
"Always summoning him (man) to love good and avoid evil" (CCMW 16, par 1, p. 213). But this is more than just a recognition of a truth of a value; it indicates that this value has a personal meaning for my welfare (salvation). It reveals the fundamental law: love.
a. "In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor" (CCMW 16, par. 2, p. 213). It is a force of Love pulling the soul towards Love (Phil. 2:5)
b. Sometimes it is a specific call. "The voice of conscience can when necessary speak to his (man's) heart more specifically: do this, shun that" (CCMW 16, par. 1, p. 213). Through it our duty is defined and we are urged to do it. It interprets all external laws:
1. personally for the individual.
2. We sometimes perceive the interior question: "Why am I doing this?" This is the "nudge" of conscience seeking the answer, causing us to look into ourselves, urging us for a commitment to the truth. We "hear" the counsels, reproofs, corrections and consolations of the Spirit of truth from within, even though in the state of original sin this sense of presence is obscured and dulled.
How do we know which force is prompting us -- the good or the evil? By the "fruits." Evil always produces its deadly effects even though we may not be immediately aware of them, because we so often live on the periphery of our souls distracted by many things. Nevertheless, the judgment of the conscience is instantaneous and the person experiences the reproaches of his inmost self. Evil is its own punishment in the loss of peace (the disease) of the whole soul.
6. God's presence within not only maintains an awareness for the good but also a desire to do it. He is constantly drawing us to interior alertness expressed by Psalm 123:2 "As the eyes of a slave girl are fixed on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes fixed on Yahweh, our God."
B. Conscience must flower into activity
1. Because of the very nature of human freedom and activity, conscience must grow into something more than an inclination to goodness. It must blossom into act. As intelligence is awakened, the first recognition of a truth as good is present; our action is to choose or reject it. But in order that conscience develop, further action is necessary, continuous instruction in the law of God and continuous choice of the good.
It is the work of man to maintain and increase this awareness and desire for the truth implanted by God. This fidelity to conscience becomes then a habit and this habit of conscientious action is all that is necessary to reach the ultimate goal:
2. Union with God in the depths of our conscience, in the "center" of our souls. Thus it is fidelity to conscience which gradually unveils the Presence of God, within.
3. It is not that God increases in the man but that the development of the man's interior life grows in awareness of the God within and the specific knowledge that He is the goal and source of all good; the will becomes more inflamed with love and desire to cling to this good; the substance of the soul becomes more and more refreshed and delighted in this habit of goodness. "How happy is the man who finds delight in the law of the Lord" (Ps. 1:1).
The promise of Christ is gradually brought to realization: "If anyone loves me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we shall come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23). Fidelity to conscience will always lead to God and reveal God as within the person whether Christian or non-Christian.
For the Christian this revelation becomes that of the Glorified Christ with whom the Christian is identified and through whom every revelation of the presence of God comes. Through Christ has come the full revelation of God's will; He is the light shining on the conscience; the "pillar of fire" and the "cloud of light" of the New Testament, guiding, directing, inflaming us with His own enthusiasm for good and thirst for the final union with His Father.
4. Conscience will reach its goal but not alone. Faith in the grace of Christ is necessary for it to reach its fullest perfection. "Since man's freedom has been damaged by sin, only by the help of God's grace can he bring such a relationship with God into full flower" (CCMW 17, par. 3, p. 214).
Conscience is then, not just a sense of guilt when we have done wrong, a feeling of remorse, or a collection of learned inhibitions and vague fears that prevent the person from acting freely and spontaneously. It is not a learned or conditioned response to certain culturally acceptable or non-acceptable ways of acting. It is not a feeling of self-respect, or a capitulation to public opinion or a politic adjustment to society or environment, or a result of education. All these things affect the development of conscience but they are not conscience. Education is necessary to form conscience, to help it grow but education can never create it.
What is Conscience?
5. God the Director Through the Conscience of Man.
His presence directing the soul through our conscience is sometimes referred to as a "voice" calling us towards Him; that is, to a more conscious knowledge of His will and a more ardent and intense choice in accepting it, as also an increased joy in doing it. Here He speaks the words of life, continually urging the soul for a response. "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (John 6:63). Through the objective realities of everyday existence, He is summoning the person from within to a recognition of the values involved in a particular course of action, although the immediate connection between this moment's decision and God's law may not be explicitly recognized.
"Always summoning him (man) to love good and avoid evil" (CCMW 16, par 1, p. 213). But this is more than just a recognition of a truth of a value; it indicates that this value has a personal meaning for my welfare (salvation). It reveals the fundamental law: love.
a. "In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor" (CCMW 16, par. 2, p. 213). It is a force of Love pulling the soul towards Love (Phil. 2:5)
b. Sometimes it is a specific call. "The voice of conscience can when necessary speak to his (man's) heart more specifically: do this, shun that" (CCMW 16, par. 1, p. 213). Through it our duty is defined and we are urged to do it. It interprets all external laws:
1. personally for the individual.
2. We sometimes perceive the interior question: "Why am I doing this?" This is the "nudge" of conscience seeking the answer, causing us to look into ourselves, urging us for a commitment to the truth. We "hear" the counsels, reproofs, corrections and consolations of the Spirit of truth from within, even though in the state of original sin this sense of presence is obscured and dulled.
How do we know which force is prompting us -- the good or the evil? By the "fruits." Evil always produces its deadly effects even though we may not be immediately aware of them, because we so often live on the periphery of our souls distracted by many things. Nevertheless, the judgment of the conscience is instantaneous and the person experiences the reproaches of his inmost self. Evil is its own punishment in the loss of peace (the disease) of the whole soul.
6. God's presence within not only maintains an awareness for the good but also a desire to do it. He is constantly drawing us to interior alertness expressed by Psalm 123:2 "As the eyes of a slave girl are fixed on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes fixed on Yahweh, our God."
B. Conscience must flower into activity
1. Because of the very nature of human freedom and activity, conscience must grow into something more than an inclination to goodness. It must blossom into act. As intelligence is awakened, the first recognition of a truth as good is present; our action is to choose or reject it. But in order that conscience develop, further action is necessary, continuous instruction in the law of God and continuous choice of the good.
It is the work of man to maintain and increase this awareness and desire for the truth implanted by God. This fidelity to conscience becomes then a habit and this habit of conscientious action is all that is necessary to reach the ultimate goal:
2. Union with God in the depths of our conscience, in the "center" of our souls. Thus it is fidelity to conscience which gradually unveils the Presence of God, within.
3. It is not that God increases in the man but that the development of the man's interior life grows in awareness of the God within and the specific knowledge that He is the goal and source of all good; the will becomes more inflamed with love and desire to cling to this good; the substance of the soul becomes more and more refreshed and delighted in this habit of goodness. "How happy is the man who finds delight in the law of the Lord" (Ps. 1:1).
The promise of Christ is gradually brought to realization: "If anyone loves me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we shall come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23). Fidelity to conscience will always lead to God and reveal God as within the person whether Christian or non-Christian.
For the Christian this revelation becomes that of the Glorified Christ with whom the Christian is identified and through whom every revelation of the presence of God comes. Through Christ has come the full revelation of God's will; He is the light shining on the conscience; the "pillar of fire" and the "cloud of light" of the New Testament, guiding, directing, inflaming us with His own enthusiasm for good and thirst for the final union with His Father.
4. Conscience will reach its goal but not alone. Faith in the grace of Christ is necessary for it to reach its fullest perfection. "Since man's freedom has been damaged by sin, only by the help of God's grace can he bring such a relationship with God into full flower" (CCMW 17, par. 3, p. 214).
Conscience is then, not just a sense of guilt when we have done wrong, a feeling of remorse, or a collection of learned inhibitions and vague fears that prevent the person from acting freely and spontaneously. It is not a learned or conditioned response to certain culturally acceptable or non-acceptable ways of acting. It is not a feeling of self-respect, or a capitulation to public opinion or a politic adjustment to society or environment, or a result of education. All these things affect the development of conscience but they are not conscience. Education is necessary to form conscience, to help it grow but education can never create it.
16 August 2007
Statue of Hadrian
I thought this was neat. It always amazes me that things this old are still unearthed. How they were forgotten in the first place is a good question. A 15' statue of Hadrian was found in Turkey, about an hour north on Antalya, which is a very nice city and the area is considered the "Turkish Riviera."From National Geographic:
Some people are larger than life. Others simply want to be carved that way.
For the Roman emperor Hadrian, life size just wasn't big enough, according to archaeologists who recently unearthed a colossal statue of the second-century A.D. ruler in Turkey.
Scientists came across the giant marble likeness last weekend while excavating a complex of ornate Roman baths in the ancient city of Sagalassos, 68 miles (109 kilometers) north of the resort town of Antalya.
The team excavated a giant head, foot, and leg each about 2.5 feet (0.75 meter) long, leading the experts to estimate the size of the complete statue at some 16 feet (5 meters).
The marble is among the most exquisite carvings of the leader ever found and depicts Hadrian early in his reign, said lead archaeologist Marc Waelkens of Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven.
"The statue represents the younger Hadrian as shown by the plain eyes (without indication of pupils or irises) [and] the scarce use of the drill in the hair," Waelkens said in an email.
During his rule from A.D. 117 to 138, Hadrian enjoyed great popularity in Sagalassos for bringing trade to the city and transforming it into a provincial hub of politics and culture, Waelkens added.
As his team continues to dig, Waelkens expects to find more monuments to Hadrian's legacy, he noted.
"It can be expected that the remaining parts of the statue, and possibly that of other ones (e.g. his wife, Sabina), will be discovered during next year's season, below more than six meters [two feet] of debris, mainly consisting of Roman concrete," he said.
What is conscience?
I spent some time yesterday still trying to answer this question. I dug out my Summa and my new Tanquerey book, The Spiritual Life. Both of these gentlemen are giant thinkers. I don't know why I ever even attempt to wrestle Aquinas on my own since it was hard enough in college when I had a great Jesuit professor (yes, it is possible) try to distill it down to our feeble level. All I managed to do is fill my head with more questions. I so need a spiritual director.
Anyway, here's more on the topic. I thought I'd let Sister Immaculata speak for herself. She's a good thinker and distiller. From her booklet, A Study of Conscience.
WHAT IS CONSCIENCE? Part One, since it is a bit lengthy
A. God communicates Himself to the substance of the soul, not to the faculties whose proper object is created things. Therefore, it is not natural for the faculties (intellect and will) to experience God. They need a special "mechanism" to adapt them to attain Him, experience Him or grasp Him by knowledge and love. This mechanism is the Baptismal endowment of grace and the infused virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
1. But it is natural for God to be experienced in the substance of the soul because He is there as creator present to all He has made. Every created soul has its roots in the supernatural Being Who created it as does every creature. The Being sustains all created being who participate in varying degrees in His Being. The difference is that some have the power to become aware of it or experience this Being present because of a greater likeness to Him. In his deepest self, the person can detect a Presence deeper than his own self.
2. Scripture calls it the "eye" of God in man:
He put his own light in their hearts (Ecc. 17:8 -- "light", literally "eye").
He filled them with knowledge and understanding and revealed to them good and evil (Ecc. 17:6)
Their ways are always under his eye; they cannot be hidden from his sight (Ecc. 17:15).
His eyes rest continually on their ways (v. 16)
My eyes are upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me (Ps. 100).
We have with us this sense that "Someone sees"; Someone within me sees.
Where could I go to escape your spirit? Where cold I flee from your presence (Ps. 139:7).
3. This experience does not mean a clear concept that "God is in me"; the person may not have learned that yet, and it does not mean an experience of burning love such as the mystics describe in the later stages of the development of conscience. It is rather better described as a discernment of peace, well-being and goodness which stems from the unity of one's powers of intellect and will. Both together discern this presence though it is not the proper object of either one. Since it is natural, we may "overlook" it, take it for granted, not become conscious of it until -- it is brought to consciousness by education (formation of conscience) or -- we lose it by acting against it. The soul loses its unity; God does not depart because He must always be there as creator to sustain the person in existence, but His very presence is the pain itself, or rather, the soul cannot endure the anguish of its own disunity; the anguish of having cut off its own life, of having denied its own source and center. As "we miss the water when the well runs dry" so we realize and recognize the peace, security and well-being we had when we experienced how pained we are without it. The presence of the good is there within, still admonishing us to return to the true path.
Thus:
a. "God who probes the heart awaits him (man) there. There he discerns his proper destiny beneath the eyes of God" (Constitution on the Church in the Modern World [CCMW] 14:3. p. 213). He probes the heart with His clear knowledge.
You probe my heart, examine me at night; you test me and find nothing (Ps 17:3). Yahweh, you probe me and you know me (Ps. 138:1) I, Yahweh, search the heart; I probe the loins (i.e.; the inmost being) (Jer. 17:9-10).
God's "knowing" in him is the very source of the person's recognition of good and evil.
b. This presence "knowing" me is equated with my inmost self:
My inmost self instructs me (Ps. 16:7)
St. Paul calls in the law of my mind (Rom, 7:23). It is "a law in the heart written by God" (CCMW 16, par. 1, p. 213)
The spirit of God is at the very center of the "I".
The spirit Himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16)
The created spirit can relish an inner harmony with the Creative Presence which is the unmistakable inner testimony that there is unity in the conscience, unity in the person. Thus conscience is the interior personal witness of our own uprightness and conversely of our failure to correspond with the Truth.
Yet even when our conscience does not reproach us, we must always live in humility and a loving reverence of God because our conscience may be in error, more or less, through ignorance. Scripture states that every man needs God's help to recognize the depths of evil into which we are all capable of falling as well as the daily failures we can easily overlook. We need God's action to cleanse us.
But who can detect his own failings, wash out my hidden faults (Ps. 19:12).
And, from St. Paul:
True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge (I Cor. 4:4-5).
4. "Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths" (CCMW 16, par. 2, p. 213).
Each man is alone with God. This is the awesome and consoling reality that we are accountable to Him alone. He knows every thought, our struggles, failures and efforts. We do not have to labor for words to explain to Him because He understands. He is the secret sharer of every life. The dread He inspires is not that of terror, unless we have deliberately rejected Him and deserve His wrath. It is rather the fascinating, attracting sense of awe in the presence of Something too tremendous to comprehend.
This aloneness is the mystery of each man's solitude. Since each is a particular image of God, each has a different role in life which no one knows but the man himself, yet only as God gradually reveals it to him through the growth and development of his conscience.
No one can communicate the mystery of his being to another. There, in the "ontological solitude" of his very being, he is alone with God. God alone can know a man completely. That means that each decision is my own, as personal as His call to me; then I am responsible for the person I become through my decisions.
Thus, in the heart of man God awaits the fundamental worship; acknowledgment of His presence by conformity to what His presence prompts us to do or avoid.
The primary sanctuary of God is the heart of man: the worship He seeks is one in spirit and truth, conformity to truth in thought, word and action.
Psalm 96 speaks of worshipping Yahweh in His sacred court (v 8). This is, of course, a reference to the temple of Jerusalem, but this earthly temple is a symbol of His dwelling in the very center of a human being.
More later. Stay tuned for Part II. BTW: The CCMW she cites is a document of Vatican II.
Anyway, here's more on the topic. I thought I'd let Sister Immaculata speak for herself. She's a good thinker and distiller. From her booklet, A Study of Conscience.
WHAT IS CONSCIENCE? Part One, since it is a bit lengthy
A. God communicates Himself to the substance of the soul, not to the faculties whose proper object is created things. Therefore, it is not natural for the faculties (intellect and will) to experience God. They need a special "mechanism" to adapt them to attain Him, experience Him or grasp Him by knowledge and love. This mechanism is the Baptismal endowment of grace and the infused virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
1. But it is natural for God to be experienced in the substance of the soul because He is there as creator present to all He has made. Every created soul has its roots in the supernatural Being Who created it as does every creature. The Being sustains all created being who participate in varying degrees in His Being. The difference is that some have the power to become aware of it or experience this Being present because of a greater likeness to Him. In his deepest self, the person can detect a Presence deeper than his own self.
2. Scripture calls it the "eye" of God in man:
He put his own light in their hearts (Ecc. 17:8 -- "light", literally "eye").
He filled them with knowledge and understanding and revealed to them good and evil (Ecc. 17:6)
Their ways are always under his eye; they cannot be hidden from his sight (Ecc. 17:15).
His eyes rest continually on their ways (v. 16)
My eyes are upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me (Ps. 100).
We have with us this sense that "Someone sees"; Someone within me sees.
Where could I go to escape your spirit? Where cold I flee from your presence (Ps. 139:7).
3. This experience does not mean a clear concept that "God is in me"; the person may not have learned that yet, and it does not mean an experience of burning love such as the mystics describe in the later stages of the development of conscience. It is rather better described as a discernment of peace, well-being and goodness which stems from the unity of one's powers of intellect and will. Both together discern this presence though it is not the proper object of either one. Since it is natural, we may "overlook" it, take it for granted, not become conscious of it until -- it is brought to consciousness by education (formation of conscience) or -- we lose it by acting against it. The soul loses its unity; God does not depart because He must always be there as creator to sustain the person in existence, but His very presence is the pain itself, or rather, the soul cannot endure the anguish of its own disunity; the anguish of having cut off its own life, of having denied its own source and center. As "we miss the water when the well runs dry" so we realize and recognize the peace, security and well-being we had when we experienced how pained we are without it. The presence of the good is there within, still admonishing us to return to the true path.
Thus:
a. "God who probes the heart awaits him (man) there. There he discerns his proper destiny beneath the eyes of God" (Constitution on the Church in the Modern World [CCMW] 14:3. p. 213). He probes the heart with His clear knowledge.
You probe my heart, examine me at night; you test me and find nothing (Ps 17:3). Yahweh, you probe me and you know me (Ps. 138:1) I, Yahweh, search the heart; I probe the loins (i.e.; the inmost being) (Jer. 17:9-10).
God's "knowing" in him is the very source of the person's recognition of good and evil.
b. This presence "knowing" me is equated with my inmost self:
My inmost self instructs me (Ps. 16:7)
St. Paul calls in the law of my mind (Rom, 7:23). It is "a law in the heart written by God" (CCMW 16, par. 1, p. 213)
The spirit of God is at the very center of the "I".
The spirit Himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16)
The created spirit can relish an inner harmony with the Creative Presence which is the unmistakable inner testimony that there is unity in the conscience, unity in the person. Thus conscience is the interior personal witness of our own uprightness and conversely of our failure to correspond with the Truth.
Yet even when our conscience does not reproach us, we must always live in humility and a loving reverence of God because our conscience may be in error, more or less, through ignorance. Scripture states that every man needs God's help to recognize the depths of evil into which we are all capable of falling as well as the daily failures we can easily overlook. We need God's action to cleanse us.
But who can detect his own failings, wash out my hidden faults (Ps. 19:12).
And, from St. Paul:
True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge (I Cor. 4:4-5).
4. "Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths" (CCMW 16, par. 2, p. 213).
Each man is alone with God. This is the awesome and consoling reality that we are accountable to Him alone. He knows every thought, our struggles, failures and efforts. We do not have to labor for words to explain to Him because He understands. He is the secret sharer of every life. The dread He inspires is not that of terror, unless we have deliberately rejected Him and deserve His wrath. It is rather the fascinating, attracting sense of awe in the presence of Something too tremendous to comprehend.
This aloneness is the mystery of each man's solitude. Since each is a particular image of God, each has a different role in life which no one knows but the man himself, yet only as God gradually reveals it to him through the growth and development of his conscience.
No one can communicate the mystery of his being to another. There, in the "ontological solitude" of his very being, he is alone with God. God alone can know a man completely. That means that each decision is my own, as personal as His call to me; then I am responsible for the person I become through my decisions.
Thus, in the heart of man God awaits the fundamental worship; acknowledgment of His presence by conformity to what His presence prompts us to do or avoid.
The primary sanctuary of God is the heart of man: the worship He seeks is one in spirit and truth, conformity to truth in thought, word and action.
Psalm 96 speaks of worshipping Yahweh in His sacred court (v 8). This is, of course, a reference to the temple of Jerusalem, but this earthly temple is a symbol of His dwelling in the very center of a human being.
More later. Stay tuned for Part II. BTW: The CCMW she cites is a document of Vatican II.
15 August 2007
Fall lineup
Recently a lot of commercials are about the new shows coming this fall. I don't have cable, so I don't get a lot of the really bad stuff, but I also don't get a lot of the educational (and decorating and cooking and gardening) shows, either. Just dealing with the standard fare on the regular news channels is enough for me. Even PBS is becoming questionable (bratty Caillou, eastern mystical Sagwa, environmentally friendly Bob the Builder, insane Teletubbies, etc). Now that I have kids, I really scrutinize things. Not really. It doesn't take much scrutiny, just a look at the titles or reading the synopsis in the paper is telling.As an aside, I'm a spring person. I love spring, especially after having lived in Seattle for 10 years. Spring hits Seattle big time. In Minnesota, spring kind of whimpers in, squished in between the disappearance of dirty snow and the onset of heat and humidity. My husband loves fall. My father used to, too. Something about the return to the cooler temps and the changing colors in the trees. To me, fall is kind of melancholy. A time to start putting things away and buckling down before winter comes. More of an end than a beginning.
Fall also reminds me of school. I think I have been attending school for most of my life. Now, with the kids, school is pretty much on hold or a thing of the past. I really miss it, but my husband is going to be taking classes again. In a few weeks, he will be resuming his grad school studies without me and I am so envious! His job will pay for his courses, but I can't even afford a pencil, not to mention grad school tuition. So, this fall I will be sending sweet hubby off to school (at night) on his own while I am left spending my time avoiding the questionable, and very questionable, shows on TV.
It's a good thing I don't watch much TV, because here are some of the new shows the networks have dreamed up. Seriously, they must be dreaming.
CBS
Yes, Ghost Whisperer returns for the new season. I've never watched an episode, but know it's loosely based on the life of psychic to the beyond, James Van Praagh. I've seen JVP on some talk shows and wonder if he really is hearing dead people, thinks he is hearing dead people, is faking or something more sinister. I really can't understand this fascination with "dead people," but maybe it is a comfort to some who want one more chance to talk to their deceased loved ones. I think saying a rosary for the repose of their soul or having Masses said would be a better thing to do.
New show, Moonlight, is about a private investigator who is also a vampire. This is the commercial I saw that really made me wonder what the heck they are putting on TV these days. Coming soon to the other networks in typically copy-cat fashion, will be a show about a PI who is a zombie, werewolf or the like. Seriously, a show about a vampire. Makes me almost miss Horror Incorporated. Oh, and by the way, the lead character's name is Mick St. John. A vampire with a saint's name. Go figure.
ABC
I'm kind of curious about Caveman. I don't think it will last long, but it should be good for one viewing...maybe. Supposedly, the cavemen didn't evolve like the rest of us. Another go figure.
There are a bunch of dramas that ABC seems to be repackaging. Carpoolers is like a male version of Desperate Housewives. Private Practice is an off-shoot of Grey's Anatomy. All on my not-fit-for-kids list.
More dramas of the same ilk are: Dirty, Sexy, Money; Big Shots; Women's Murder Club; and, Cashmere Mafia. Like we didn't have enough of this kind of thing with Desperate Housewives and Grey's.
Then, in the requisite spiritual category, is Pushing Daisies, about a guy that can bring people back to life with a touch. OK. Sure. Great premise. Not.
Also, another drama called Eli Stone. Here's what ABC says about it, "...a unique, character-driven drama that explores the very different worlds of law and spirituality in a humorous and heartfelt way. Joining fantasy and spirituality from The Ghost Whisperer , sincerity and passion from The Practice and quirky humor from Monk , the show asks if we can change the course of our life midstream. Eli Stone is the cutthroat lawyer who risks everything he's worked for in order to explore a higher calling. Meaning, the guy knows right from wrong, seems to always choose wrong and then feels guilty about it...or maybe doesn't even feel guilty. On my skip list.
NBC
Journeyman is about a San Francisco reporter who travels back in time, ala Quantum Leap. Also being repackaged by the network is the Bionic Woman. Guess these network guys were given a box of string and told to come up with some new ideas. They must've been too busy text-messaging to really care.
Good thing the kids like books. Think we will be doing a lot of reading when the days grow shorter and it's too cold to be outside. I can't believe it's almost fall.
Bad conscience
After my stellar snoozer post of yesterday, no one made any comments to clear my clouded brain. So, I persist with SSDD: same subject, different day. I do think this subject speaks to the problems we have with moral relativism and a host of other problems. Father Corapi said you can kill your conscience. Sr. Immaculata gives a little more meat to the topic.
This is from the same book, A Study of Conscience, From Scripture and Documents of Vatican II, by Sister Immaculata (p.34)
The Characteristics of a Bad Conscience
A. Blindness
Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity. The same cannot be said of a man who cares but little for truth and goodness, or of a conscience which by degrees grows practically sightless as a result of habitual sin.
There is possible an actual resultant hatred of truth because the will will not accept it. Though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil (John 3:19) Those who do evil become more and more ignorant; this does not mean that the mind is incapable of learning. One may be a genius in science or art. etc., but ignorant of the way of salvation through his own fault.
B. Irrational fears plague the bad conscience. Any least refusal of truth produces bad effects in the uneasiness, inner disharmony and disunity of the soul; the sweet control of reason is lost. Feelings of sadness, discouragement, weakening of motivation begin to take hold on us; we no longer even "see" the reasons for the most perfect actions. Our former ideals of virtue seem to have been impossible illusions.
The Book of Wisdom, Chapter 17, is a picture of the terrifying fears that beset the evil conscience when the power of reason, which is able to dispel fear, has been darkened and enlarged by the contradiction of sin; it is no longer able to exert its own strength to control the emotions. The passage speaks of the Egyptian darkness (NB: Didn't want to type Sister's translation, so copied this from the online NAB, varies slightly from what is in her book).
A guilty conscience is its own punishment and through the "hardness" of malice may not have reached the degree described in the above passage there is always some degree of fear and weakness, moral, psychological and even physical because the whole person is laboring under an unnatural strain. Psalm 38 describes the guilty man in the struggle to overcome the heavy load of sin and unconfessed guilt. Sin produces habits, ingrained in our psyche and in our body itself, which cannot easily be conquered even when we have repented and want to return to doing good.
Yahweh, do not punish me in your rage,
or reprove me in the heat of anger.
Your arrow have pierced deep,
Your hand has pressed down on me;
no soundness in my flesh now you are angry,
no health in my bones, because of my sin.
My guilt is overwhelming me;
it is too heavy a burden;
bowed down, bent double, overcome,
I go mourning all the day (v. 1-6)
C. Malice -- a "hardening" in the lie is a denial of God.
Sin is a lie in the very being and the sinner takes to lying more and more easily. Not a word of their lips can be trusted, deep within them lies ruin (Psalms 5:9) The lie, persisted in becomes the very denial of God Himself: The fool says in his heart: "there is no God" their deeds are corrupt and vile (Psalms 14:1 and 10:3-11).
This is from the same book, A Study of Conscience, From Scripture and Documents of Vatican II, by Sister Immaculata (p.34)
The Characteristics of a Bad Conscience
A. Blindness
Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity. The same cannot be said of a man who cares but little for truth and goodness, or of a conscience which by degrees grows practically sightless as a result of habitual sin.
There is possible an actual resultant hatred of truth because the will will not accept it. Though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil (John 3:19) Those who do evil become more and more ignorant; this does not mean that the mind is incapable of learning. One may be a genius in science or art. etc., but ignorant of the way of salvation through his own fault.
B. Irrational fears plague the bad conscience. Any least refusal of truth produces bad effects in the uneasiness, inner disharmony and disunity of the soul; the sweet control of reason is lost. Feelings of sadness, discouragement, weakening of motivation begin to take hold on us; we no longer even "see" the reasons for the most perfect actions. Our former ideals of virtue seem to have been impossible illusions.
The Book of Wisdom, Chapter 17, is a picture of the terrifying fears that beset the evil conscience when the power of reason, which is able to dispel fear, has been darkened and enlarged by the contradiction of sin; it is no longer able to exert its own strength to control the emotions. The passage speaks of the Egyptian darkness (NB: Didn't want to type Sister's translation, so copied this from the online NAB, varies slightly from what is in her book).
For when the lawless thought to enslave the holy nation, shackled with darkness, fettered by the long night, they lay confined beneath their own roofs as exiles from the eternal providence. For they who supposed their secret sins were hid under the dark veil of oblivion were scattered in fearful trembling, terrified by apparitions. For not even their inner chambers kept them fearless, for crashing sounds on all sides terrified them, and mute phantoms with somber looks appeared. No force, even of fire, was able to give light, nor did the flaming brilliance of the stars succeed in lighting up that gloomy night. But only intermittent, fearful fires flashed through upon them; and in their terror they thought beholding these was worse than the times when that sight was no longer to be seen. And mockeries of the magic art were in readiness, and a jeering reproof of their vaunted shrewdness. For they who undertook to banish fears and terrors from the sick soul themselves sickened with a ridiculous fear. For even though no monstrous thing frightened them, they shook at the passing of insects and the hissing of reptiles, and perished trembling, reluctant to face even the air that they could nowhere escape. For wickedness, of its nature cowardly, testifies in its own condemnation, and because of a distressed conscience, always magnifies misfortunes. For fear is nought but the surrender of the helps that come from reason; and the more one's expectation is of itself uncertain, the more one makes of not knowing the cause that brings on torment. So they, during that night, powerless though it was, that had come upon them from the recesses of a powerless nether world, while all sleeping the same sleep, were partly smitten by fearsome apparitions and partly stricken by their souls' surrender; for fear came upon them, sudden and unexpected. Thus, then, whoever was there fell into that unbarred prison and was kept confined. For whether one was a farmer, or a shepherd, or a worker at tasks in the wasteland, Taken unawares, he served out the inescapable sentence; for all were bound by the one bond of darkness. And were it only the whistling wind, or the melodious song of birds in the spreading branches, or the steady sound of rushing water, or the rude crash of overthrown rocks, or the unseen gallop of bounding animals, or the roaring cry of the fiercest beasts, or an echo resounding from the hollow of the hills, these sounds, inspiring terror, paralyzed them. For the whole world shone with brilliant light and continued its works without interruption; over them alone was spread oppressive night, an image of the darkness that next should come upon them; yet they were to themselves more burdensome than the darkness.
A guilty conscience is its own punishment and through the "hardness" of malice may not have reached the degree described in the above passage there is always some degree of fear and weakness, moral, psychological and even physical because the whole person is laboring under an unnatural strain. Psalm 38 describes the guilty man in the struggle to overcome the heavy load of sin and unconfessed guilt. Sin produces habits, ingrained in our psyche and in our body itself, which cannot easily be conquered even when we have repented and want to return to doing good.
Yahweh, do not punish me in your rage,
or reprove me in the heat of anger.
Your arrow have pierced deep,
Your hand has pressed down on me;
no soundness in my flesh now you are angry,
no health in my bones, because of my sin.
My guilt is overwhelming me;
it is too heavy a burden;
bowed down, bent double, overcome,
I go mourning all the day (v. 1-6)
C. Malice -- a "hardening" in the lie is a denial of God.
Sin is a lie in the very being and the sinner takes to lying more and more easily. Not a word of their lips can be trusted, deep within them lies ruin (Psalms 5:9) The lie, persisted in becomes the very denial of God Himself: The fool says in his heart: "there is no God" their deeds are corrupt and vile (Psalms 14:1 and 10:3-11).
14 August 2007
Conscience, intellect and will
I've been trying to keep things kind of light during the summer, partially because I've been so busy I don't have time to think seriously myself. I did read, A Study of Conscience, From Scripture and Documents of Vatican II, by Sister Immaculata of Jesus Crucified, OCD, Carmel of Our Lady of Divine Providence. Actually, I read it twice, it is quite short, only 45 small pages. But, I have a problem with terms and definitions. I'm certain I learned all these at one time, especially in college, but like many things lately, I can't remember them for anything.
I still don't clearly understand how these three: conscience, intellect and will; all act together. I think conscience is the arbiter of the will and intellect, but am hoping someone can explain it better. If you have a poorly formed or malformed conscience, it is unable to keep the appetites of the intellect and will in check?
So, here's a definition of conscience from the Pocket Catholic Dictionary, by (Father) John A. Hardon, SJ.
The judgment of the practical intellect deciding, from general principles of faith and reason, the goodness or badness of a way of acting that a person now faces.
It is an operation of the intellect and not of the feelings or even of the will. An Action is right or wrong because of objective principles to which the mind must subscribe, not because a person subjectively feels that way or because his will wants it that way.
Conscience, therefore, is a specific act of the mind applying its knowledge to a concrete moral situation. What the mind decides in a given case depends on principles already in the mind.
These principles are presupposed as known to the mind, either from the light of natural reason reflecting on the data of creation, or from divine faith responding to God's supernatural revelation. Conscience does not produce these principles; it accepts them. Nor does conscience pass judgment on the truths of reason and divine faith; it uses them as the premises from which to conclude whether something should be done (or should have been done) because it is a good, or should be omitted (or should have been omitted) because it is bad. Its conclusions also apply to situations where the mind decides that something is permissible or preferable but not obligatory.
Always the role of conscience is to decide subjectively on the ethical propriety of a specific action, here and now, for this person, in these circumstances. But always, too, the decision is a mental conclusion derived from objective norms that conscience does not determine on its own, receiving it as given by the Author of nature and divine grace.
Here's the definition for will:
The power of the human soul, or of a spiritual being, which tends toward a good or away from an evil recognized by the intellect. It is basically a rational appetite with several functions, namely the ability to intend, choose, desire, hope, consent, hate, love, and enjoy.
Have to go to a regular dictionary for a definition of intellect:
The capacity for understanding and knowledge; the ability to think abstractly or profoundly.
I still don't clearly understand how these three: conscience, intellect and will; all act together. I think conscience is the arbiter of the will and intellect, but am hoping someone can explain it better. If you have a poorly formed or malformed conscience, it is unable to keep the appetites of the intellect and will in check?
So, here's a definition of conscience from the Pocket Catholic Dictionary, by (Father) John A. Hardon, SJ.
The judgment of the practical intellect deciding, from general principles of faith and reason, the goodness or badness of a way of acting that a person now faces.
It is an operation of the intellect and not of the feelings or even of the will. An Action is right or wrong because of objective principles to which the mind must subscribe, not because a person subjectively feels that way or because his will wants it that way.
Conscience, therefore, is a specific act of the mind applying its knowledge to a concrete moral situation. What the mind decides in a given case depends on principles already in the mind.
These principles are presupposed as known to the mind, either from the light of natural reason reflecting on the data of creation, or from divine faith responding to God's supernatural revelation. Conscience does not produce these principles; it accepts them. Nor does conscience pass judgment on the truths of reason and divine faith; it uses them as the premises from which to conclude whether something should be done (or should have been done) because it is a good, or should be omitted (or should have been omitted) because it is bad. Its conclusions also apply to situations where the mind decides that something is permissible or preferable but not obligatory.
Always the role of conscience is to decide subjectively on the ethical propriety of a specific action, here and now, for this person, in these circumstances. But always, too, the decision is a mental conclusion derived from objective norms that conscience does not determine on its own, receiving it as given by the Author of nature and divine grace.
Here's the definition for will:
The power of the human soul, or of a spiritual being, which tends toward a good or away from an evil recognized by the intellect. It is basically a rational appetite with several functions, namely the ability to intend, choose, desire, hope, consent, hate, love, and enjoy.
Have to go to a regular dictionary for a definition of intellect:
The capacity for understanding and knowledge; the ability to think abstractly or profoundly.
13 August 2007
Not your grandmother's magazine anymore
My aunts and I have a magazine exchange. My aunts are in their late 60s and early 80s. If all the magazines we exchanged each month were piled up, they would be almost two feet deep. Most of them are the usual magazines found on the coffee table or in the doctor's office: Family Circle, Redbook, Oprah, Martha Stewart, Newsweek, etc. I don't contribute much, especially along those lines, but do include my soon-to-NOT-be-renewed St. Anthony Messenger, This Old House, Aviation Week and some college alumni magazines. I used to get People, until I questioned myself as to why I was getting it (someone gave me a subscription at Christmas and I just kept renewing) and more recently, Cooks, until I figured that I knew a dozen different ways to serve hamburger so who needed to venture off into the unknown. I used to have gift subscriptions to Catholic Family News, The Wanderer and New Oxford Review, but have let them lapse.
Recently, as I gathered the pounds of magazines sitting around my house to get them together to be sent over to my other aunt's house, I questioned what we were really reading. Actually, I don't read many of the magazines my aunt passes along to me. I admit to reading Martha Stewart, mostly for her Q&A advice column and I page through Newsweek, but the rest I don't look at. In fact, I told my aunt years ago to not even send me the Oprah magazine because Oprah is way on the other end of the New Age scale for me. Too touchy-feely, everything is neat and easy. My aunt gets it because she likes a deal. The cover price is astronomical and she gets it fairly cheaply, so that's the reason she's been renewing. I think this may be a common occurrence among older ladies.
Maybe I should've told my aunt that I didn't want the magazines, that I wasn't reading them, because now I'm wondering what to do.
Over the weekend, we were at Walmart to get some last minute items for the birthday party. As we were standing in line at the checkout, I briefly noticed the cover of Oprah. Listed on the cover as what to read inside was some story on sex. Honestly, I don't remember what it was, but it struck me as very odd. I thought Oprah was all concerned about social issues and getting in touch with your inner self. Maybe improving things in this arena will cure what ails you and society.
What's a nice single gal doing with a story on sex in her magazine anyway?
After I unpacked last night and tried to pick things up, I gathered all my aunt's magazines together to give her today since she is heading up to her cabin for the week. Thought she would like to take something along to read. Then I looked at the rest of the magazines.
Saying that many of the articles in the magazines are inappropriate isn't really the whole story. Many of these magazines were what my grandmother used to read, we naively welcome them into our homes because they have always been there. But, many of these magazines haven't stayed stuck in the 1950s. They have updated to include many of the objectionable topics we don't want to watch on TV, the things we change the channel over. Here, next to my kids toys are magazines filled with sex, immorality and New Age ideas.
I'm a bit shocked (and embarrassed) to finally look at these things and see the junk that's in them. I didn't read many of them because I thought they WERE my grandmother's magazine and had nothing for me. Here I had been vigilant about not watching violent or adult-themed shows on TV and keeping as much of this junk away from my family as possible, only to find it sitting on my coffee table.
If my grandmother was alive, I am certain she would be appalled at the magazines she used to read to get a new and inventive recipe or to learn how to do her housework more quickly and efficiently, are full of stories that would make most adults blush. If they're not making you blush, they are busy trying to tell you how to expand your mind and channel your feelings, while showing you what color to paint your bedroom to make it more supportive of these ideas.
Now I need to fess up to my aunt that I haven't been reading these magazines for years and also tell her that I do have some suggestions about what magazines she should cancel and which ones she should continue to get (she recently asked me my thoughts on the subject). Cooks is looking better all the time.
Recently, as I gathered the pounds of magazines sitting around my house to get them together to be sent over to my other aunt's house, I questioned what we were really reading. Actually, I don't read many of the magazines my aunt passes along to me. I admit to reading Martha Stewart, mostly for her Q&A advice column and I page through Newsweek, but the rest I don't look at. In fact, I told my aunt years ago to not even send me the Oprah magazine because Oprah is way on the other end of the New Age scale for me. Too touchy-feely, everything is neat and easy. My aunt gets it because she likes a deal. The cover price is astronomical and she gets it fairly cheaply, so that's the reason she's been renewing. I think this may be a common occurrence among older ladies.
Maybe I should've told my aunt that I didn't want the magazines, that I wasn't reading them, because now I'm wondering what to do.
Over the weekend, we were at Walmart to get some last minute items for the birthday party. As we were standing in line at the checkout, I briefly noticed the cover of Oprah. Listed on the cover as what to read inside was some story on sex. Honestly, I don't remember what it was, but it struck me as very odd. I thought Oprah was all concerned about social issues and getting in touch with your inner self. Maybe improving things in this arena will cure what ails you and society.
What's a nice single gal doing with a story on sex in her magazine anyway?
After I unpacked last night and tried to pick things up, I gathered all my aunt's magazines together to give her today since she is heading up to her cabin for the week. Thought she would like to take something along to read. Then I looked at the rest of the magazines.
Saying that many of the articles in the magazines are inappropriate isn't really the whole story. Many of these magazines were what my grandmother used to read, we naively welcome them into our homes because they have always been there. But, many of these magazines haven't stayed stuck in the 1950s. They have updated to include many of the objectionable topics we don't want to watch on TV, the things we change the channel over. Here, next to my kids toys are magazines filled with sex, immorality and New Age ideas.
I'm a bit shocked (and embarrassed) to finally look at these things and see the junk that's in them. I didn't read many of them because I thought they WERE my grandmother's magazine and had nothing for me. Here I had been vigilant about not watching violent or adult-themed shows on TV and keeping as much of this junk away from my family as possible, only to find it sitting on my coffee table.
If my grandmother was alive, I am certain she would be appalled at the magazines she used to read to get a new and inventive recipe or to learn how to do her housework more quickly and efficiently, are full of stories that would make most adults blush. If they're not making you blush, they are busy trying to tell you how to expand your mind and channel your feelings, while showing you what color to paint your bedroom to make it more supportive of these ideas.
Now I need to fess up to my aunt that I haven't been reading these magazines for years and also tell her that I do have some suggestions about what magazines she should cancel and which ones she should continue to get (she recently asked me my thoughts on the subject). Cooks is looking better all the time.
New Words
This was sent to me in an e-mail. Some are kind of funny.
The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners.
Read them carefully. Each is an artificial word with only one letter altered to form a real word. Some are terrifically innovative:
1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people, that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The Bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
10. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
12. Glibido: All talk and no action.
13. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
14. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the lot:
17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an a**hole.
The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners.
Read them carefully. Each is an artificial word with only one letter altered to form a real word. Some are terrifically innovative:
1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people, that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The Bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
10. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
12. Glibido: All talk and no action.
13. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
14. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the lot:
17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an a**hole.
09 August 2007
They say it's your birthday
This weekend we are celebrating my kids' birthdays. As I mentioned in an earlier post, they have the same birthdate. My son will be four and my daughter will be two. We will be at the cabin for a long weekend.
Can't believe they are so old already. Yes, they are still very little, but it's just hard to believe, as a mom, that they have blessed my life for as long as they have.
Have a good weekend everyone!
Can't believe they are so old already. Yes, they are still very little, but it's just hard to believe, as a mom, that they have blessed my life for as long as they have.
Have a good weekend everyone!
Schrödinger's Cat(holic)
Geeky post alert. This is for the few geeks who read my blog.
I really don't have an opinion about Schrödinger's cat. Well, not one based in science, but one based on gut feeling. I think the cat is alive throughout the experiment for the simple reasons that I'm a cat person and no real experimenter would conduct an experiment like this today where a cat would ever be in serious jeapordy or risk PETA or other animal rights activists coming after them. Plus, all this wave stuff is just too electrical engineeringesque for my tastes. The following heat transfer problem suits me better...
HEAVEN IS HOTTER THAN HELL
The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the Sun, so we can ignore that ... The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for radiation, (H/E)^4 = 50, where E is the absolute temperature of the earth (300K), gives H as 798K (525C). The exact temperature of Hell cannot be computed ... [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C.
-- From "Applied Optics" vol. 11, A14, 1972
But, there's more...
The following is one of Dr. Schalmbaugh's Final Test questions for May 1997. (Dr. Schalmbaugh, University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, is known for asking questions such as this on his final exams.)
May 1997, Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer II Final Exam Question:
IS HELL EXOTHERMIC OR ENDOTHERMIC?
Support your answer with truth.
(Definitions for exothermic and endothermic. An exothermic reaction gives off energy in the form heat and an endothermic reaction requires energy in the form heat.)
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave.
Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, lets look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase
exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant.
Case 1: If hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.
Case 2: If hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over.
So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Theresa Banyan during my freshman year, "it will be a cold night in hell before I go out with you" and take into account the fact that I still have NOT succeeded in dating her, then Case 2 cannot be true.
Thus, hell is exothermic.
The student, Tim Graham, got the only A.
The original version of this joke appeared in Applied Optics, vol. 11, A14
1972) - reference in p. 106 of "A Random Walk in Science", compiled R. L. Weber, published IoP 1973.
(Oddly enough, the last conversation I had with my father, before we found out he was dying, was regarding exothermic and endothermic reactions.)
I really don't have an opinion about Schrödinger's cat. Well, not one based in science, but one based on gut feeling. I think the cat is alive throughout the experiment for the simple reasons that I'm a cat person and no real experimenter would conduct an experiment like this today where a cat would ever be in serious jeapordy or risk PETA or other animal rights activists coming after them. Plus, all this wave stuff is just too electrical engineeringesque for my tastes. The following heat transfer problem suits me better...
The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the Sun, so we can ignore that ... The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for radiation, (H/E)^4 = 50, where E is the absolute temperature of the earth (300K), gives H as 798K (525C). The exact temperature of Hell cannot be computed ... [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C.
-- From "Applied Optics" vol. 11, A14, 1972
But, there's more...
The following is one of Dr. Schalmbaugh's Final Test questions for May 1997. (Dr. Schalmbaugh, University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, is known for asking questions such as this on his final exams.)
May 1997, Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer II Final Exam Question:
Support your answer with truth.
(Definitions for exothermic and endothermic. An exothermic reaction gives off energy in the form heat and an endothermic reaction requires energy in the form heat.)
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave.
Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, lets look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase
exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant.
Case 1: If hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.
Case 2: If hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over.
So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Theresa Banyan during my freshman year, "it will be a cold night in hell before I go out with you" and take into account the fact that I still have NOT succeeded in dating her, then Case 2 cannot be true.
Thus, hell is exothermic.
The student, Tim Graham, got the only A.
The original version of this joke appeared in Applied Optics, vol. 11, A14
1972) - reference in p. 106 of "A Random Walk in Science", compiled R. L. Weber, published IoP 1973.
(Oddly enough, the last conversation I had with my father, before we found out he was dying, was regarding exothermic and endothermic reactions.)
08 August 2007
Congrats K of C on 125 years
The Knights of Columbus are celebrating 125 years. This picture is from their convention currently going on down in Tennessee. Cardinal Bertone received the Order's Gaudium et Spes Award.
My uncle has been a member of the Knights for over 60 years. I remember being so impressed with the Knights when I was little and my father helped escort a statue of Our Lady (can't remember which one) that was touring the US. The Knights were there in all their pomp and were quite the sight for a little kid.
A bit about them from their webpage:
Thanks to the efforts of Father Michael J. McGivney, assistant pastor of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven and some of his parishioners, the Connecticut state legislature on March 29, 1882, officially chartered the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal benefit society. The Order is still true to its founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity.
The Knights was formed to render financial aid to members and their families. Mutual aid and assistance are offered to sick, disabled and needy members and their families. Social and intellectual fellowship is promoted among members and their families through educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief and public relief works.
The history of the Order shows how the foresight of Father Michael J. McGivney, whose cause for sainthood is being investigated by the Vatican, brought about what has become the world's foremost Catholic fraternal benefit society. The Order has helped families obtain economic security and stability through its life insurance, annuity and long-term care programs, and has contributed time and energy worldwide to service in communities.
The Knights of Columbus has grown from several members in one council to more than 13,000 councils and 1.7 million members throughout the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Guatemala, Guam and Saipan.
Churches of my forefathers - II
Burrishoole Abbey, Newport, County Mayo
After yesterday's post and talk of Ireland, I thought it was time for my second installment of Churches of my forefathers.
Burrishoole Abbey
From the sign at the Abbey/Friary:
Dominican friars first came to Ireland in 1224. By the time of the suppression of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1540, they had established 38 houses. This Dominican Friary, dedicated to St. Mary, was founded around 1470 by Richard de Burgo of Turlough, Lord MacWilliam Oughter. Permission of the Pope had not been sought for its foundation -- an oversight for which the community faced a threat of excommunication -- but in 1486, the Pope instructed the Archbishop of Tuam to forgive the friars.
All that remains today is the church and the eastern wall of the cloister in thich the monks walked and meditated. All the domestic buildings -- the kitchens, the dormitories and the refectory -- have been detroyed. The church consists of a nave and chancel, a south transcept and a low tower. A 15th century bronze seal, which may have been the official seal of the friary, was found embedded in a window of the upstairs dormitory.
The site is very serene and well-kept, located on an inlet of the sea. The area features prominently in the legendary "Year of the French," of which a book and movie were made. The Year of the French was a period in the late 1700s, when the local Irish rebelled against their English oppressors, with the assistance of the French. Needless to say, things didn't go very well and the French abandoned their attempts and left the poor Irish rebels to deal with the consequences. In the middle of Burrishoole Abbey is a large Celtic cross headstone for a priest, Father Manus Sweeney, who was hung for his involvement in the uprising (shown below).
Here's a poem by Pete St. John:
On an angry autumn morning, sailing down Killala bay
Came the Frenchmen and their general, too late to save the day
And my Nora waved them welcome, while I still nursed my wounds
Cruel marks from Tubberneering and all my dreams in ruins
Ah, you Frenchman, ah, you Frenchman! You've come too late again
To save the flower of freedom that's crushed in every glen
And your fancy General Humbert, well intended tho' he be
Will never reap the harvest that was promised to the free
At Castlebar he chased them, like foxes 'fore the hounds
Lord Roden's vaunted cavalry they raced across the ground
Seven hundred fiery Frenchmen, Mayo rebels, two cannon-gun
But I thought of Father Murphy lying dead with Wexford's sons
Then early in September, I saw it all again
Cornwallis and his thousands drove Humbert down the glen
While the beaten French were sent to France, the rebels they were slain
With Tone and Teeling martyred, the banshee cried again
07 August 2007
Missing sacramental
A few years ago, when my husband and I took my aunt to Ireland with us, we stopped at the Knock Shrine. I wanted to bring home some Holy Water, so we got a big milk jug at a nearby gift shop made for this purpose and filled it up with Holy Water. It wasn't fun to lug it around Ireland with us, but the worst part came when I went through the airport and then got on the plane. In the post-911 world, I guess Catholics carrying Holy Water pose some sort of threat. The security folks murmured to themselves as I placed it on the conveyor belt to be scanned. Some even stopped and lifted it up for inspection. It even said "Holy Water" on the jug with a great big cross, which I know could just be a ruse in their minds. Some security folks even asked me what it was. Maybe their profiling has told them to be on the look out for people carrying Holy Water. The worst part was when we boarded the plane. The flight attendant on our British-run flight treated me like a was a threat, a serious threat. My Holy Water was almost confiscated. In some respects, looking back, it seemed that she was more upset that it was Holy Water than she was worried about what I might do with it. Goodness, maybe I had a aspergillum (holy water sprinkler) and planned to sing the Asperges Me or recite the Miserere or Confitemini as I walked up and down the aisles sprinkling people. Actually, I have no doubt that the aspergillum would've been confiscated at the security check, along with my clippers and nail file.
Throughout our trip to Ireland, we stayed at Bed and Breakfasts nearly the entire time. That's kind of the way they do things in Ireland and it seems every town has at least one B&B you can stay at. Some are very nice and others, well, let's just say the bed bugs came free of charge. What many of these B&B's had, since they are usually part of the owner's home, were Holy Water fonts in the halls, in the rooms, every where. Even a new home we stayed at, built to be a B&B, had Holy Water fonts in each room. If Ireland could only stay this way forever.
Some info on Holy Water from this website:
Holy water is a sacramental that remits venial sin. Because of the blessing attached to it, Holy Church strongly urges it's use upon Her children, especially when dangers threaten, such as fire, storms, sickness, discord and other calamities. Every Catholic home should always have a supply of Holy Water. Did we realize now, as we shall after death, the many benefits which may be derived from Holy Water, we would use it far more frequently, and with greater faith and reverence.
The devil hates holy water because of its power over him. He cannot long abide in a place or near a person that is often sprinkled with blessed water.
Holy Water, sprinkled with faith and piety, can move the Sacred Heart to bless your loved ones, present or absent, and protect them from all harm of soul and body. When worry and fear take possession of you, give your dear ones the benefit of the Church's prayer.
Only in Purgatory can one understand how ardently a poor soul longs for Holy Water. If we desire to make a host or intercessors for ourselves, let us never forget them at the Holy Water font. The holy souls nearest to Heaven may need the sprinkling of only one drop to release them.
We have a Holy Water font in our house. Actually, it's been in the basement for about four years since we have been doing some remodeling. But, it makes me wonder why Catholics in America don't use this sacramental more often. With all the concern about our children and worries about our own personal (and spiritual) safety, we should be taking advantage of the sacramentals we are blessed with. Our parish keeps a large supply of Holy Water on hand, so it is very convenient to bring a bottle to Mass and fill it up. I just need to get the font out of the basement and get it back on the wall. According to our priest, we should have Holy Water fonts throughout the house, so maybe I should purchase a few more. A good place to hang them would be in my children's rooms under their crucifixes.
Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
06 August 2007
Ministry or theme-park?
Holy Land Experience, the ministry or theme-park, seems to be gaining some ground in Orlando, even with its ticket prizes rivaling those of nearby Disneyworld. Read the entire clip here.
ORLANDO, Fla. - Jesus Christ is crucified and resurrected here six days a week. Snarling Roman soldiers whip and drag him, and somber audience members watch. Some quietly weep at a pageant bloody and cruel. It is the grand finale at the Holy Land Experience, and not the attraction most tourists envision in an Orlando vacation.
Just miles from Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld in this city's overstimulated tourist corridor, Holy Land has in its six years of operation aimed to recreate Jerusalem of Biblical times.
It is often referred to as a "Christian theme park," but the park offers lectures, not rides, making it feel more like a trip to church.[...snip]
The park has a "scriptorium," an opulent-looking building with an enormous collection of rare Bibles and artifacts. Powell said it is the largest of its kind outside the Vatican.
Other stops include a scale model of Jerusalem, an exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls and a model of the garden tomb where Christ was supposedly buried.
Vendors and actors wear head coverings and billowing cotton rags, and gift shops sell Bibles and other Christian items. Among them are a genealogical map linking Adam to Jesus, handbags, necklaces and T-shirts. It also sells yarmulkes and menorahs - a nod to its founder.[...snip]
Holy Land's offerings change regularly, many of them outdoor shows. Recent performances range from The Ministry of Jesus, a 15-minute act where Christ heals a blind man and inspires a tax collector, to a 30-minute Southern gospel concert and the resurrection itself.
Audience members are encouraged to participate. Jesus walked among them with a wireless microphone, calling children and picking one up. Excited parents with digital and disposable cameras crept forward as their kids fidgeted and kicked at sand.[...snip]
The park relies heavily on donations from benefactors, foundations and visitors slipping money into boxes scattered around the park. Ticket sales doesn't cover costs. Admission prices have risen from less than $20 originally to $35 to $40 today.
Powell said not all visitors are Christian, and some have never even been to church before. Fourteen Hindu monks passed through the other day, he said.
Crouch says he thinks of Holy Land as a ministry, not a theme park.
"When I went there for the first time about six or seven months ago, I didn't go there to be entertained and I didn't see a theme park taking place. I saw people praying for each other, I saw Bible studies going on, I saw teaching going on," he said. "At the end of the day, I felt like I had gone to church, not just gone to Disneyland."
ORLANDO, Fla. - Jesus Christ is crucified and resurrected here six days a week. Snarling Roman soldiers whip and drag him, and somber audience members watch. Some quietly weep at a pageant bloody and cruel. It is the grand finale at the Holy Land Experience, and not the attraction most tourists envision in an Orlando vacation.
Just miles from Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld in this city's overstimulated tourist corridor, Holy Land has in its six years of operation aimed to recreate Jerusalem of Biblical times.
It is often referred to as a "Christian theme park," but the park offers lectures, not rides, making it feel more like a trip to church.[...snip]
The park has a "scriptorium," an opulent-looking building with an enormous collection of rare Bibles and artifacts. Powell said it is the largest of its kind outside the Vatican.
Other stops include a scale model of Jerusalem, an exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls and a model of the garden tomb where Christ was supposedly buried.
Vendors and actors wear head coverings and billowing cotton rags, and gift shops sell Bibles and other Christian items. Among them are a genealogical map linking Adam to Jesus, handbags, necklaces and T-shirts. It also sells yarmulkes and menorahs - a nod to its founder.[...snip]
Holy Land's offerings change regularly, many of them outdoor shows. Recent performances range from The Ministry of Jesus, a 15-minute act where Christ heals a blind man and inspires a tax collector, to a 30-minute Southern gospel concert and the resurrection itself.
Audience members are encouraged to participate. Jesus walked among them with a wireless microphone, calling children and picking one up. Excited parents with digital and disposable cameras crept forward as their kids fidgeted and kicked at sand.[...snip]
The park relies heavily on donations from benefactors, foundations and visitors slipping money into boxes scattered around the park. Ticket sales doesn't cover costs. Admission prices have risen from less than $20 originally to $35 to $40 today.
Powell said not all visitors are Christian, and some have never even been to church before. Fourteen Hindu monks passed through the other day, he said.
Crouch says he thinks of Holy Land as a ministry, not a theme park.
"When I went there for the first time about six or seven months ago, I didn't go there to be entertained and I didn't see a theme park taking place. I saw people praying for each other, I saw Bible studies going on, I saw teaching going on," he said. "At the end of the day, I felt like I had gone to church, not just gone to Disneyland."
A weekend observation
Since my family is so large, I have cousins working all different fields, living all over the place. Within my family, I have a microcosm of society-at-large. Some cousins are well educated, being doctors and lawyers, while others had interests outside of academia and now are successful franchise owners or city workers. It is a blessing to have a big family, but sometimes even blessings wear out their welcome.
Last week, my 82 year-old aunt had some of the cousins stay at her cabin. It's become a yearly ritual. For a few days, this group of older ladies relax and enjoy my aunt's gracious hospitality. They play cards, they fish, they go out in the boat, they eat, they enjoy each others company. At least, that's my aunt's idea of how things are to go and most of the cousins are happy to do just that.
Two of the cousins, like the saying goes, are not like the others. The rest of the ladies are easy-going and humble, but these ladies are interesting studies.
The virtue of humility is something I have been more and more aware of recently. My life has been under the microscope lately, much of it introspection on my part, but some of it presented to me as a learning tool. I'm beginning to see my life and actions from a slightly detached perspective, identifying traits in my personality that hinder humility and are areas of temptation. How much more glaring must all my weaknesses be to the priest I go to for confession, and how much more magnified must they be when compared to perfection as viewed from God's eyes?
These particular cousins, sisters, are so self-absorbed it makes you shake your head. They show up hours after they said they would be there, they want to dictate what is to be for dinner when they are guests in my aunt's home, they take the best candy and dessert for themselves, complain about everything, can't be relied on to do a simple task, argue with the hostess and other guests about everything imaginable, they vocally make their desires of "what to do and when" clearly known, and, oddly, they cheat at cards. Not just "sneaky-cheating," but blatant cheating because they are not capable of losing.
There are many relevant examples in scripture, here's just a few:
Matthew 19:30 "But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.
Matthew 20:16 "So the last shall be first, and the first last."
Luke 13:30 "And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last."
Like Father Mitch Pacwa said, "Don't use Al Capone as your moral compass." I shouldn't compare myself to my cousins, but to God. Some day, my life will really be scrutinized. It's not enough to hope my cousins are in line to see St. Peter immediately before I am, so I look better relative to them (no pun intended), because they aren't the measuring stick, but also because I'm just not that lucky.
Last week, my 82 year-old aunt had some of the cousins stay at her cabin. It's become a yearly ritual. For a few days, this group of older ladies relax and enjoy my aunt's gracious hospitality. They play cards, they fish, they go out in the boat, they eat, they enjoy each others company. At least, that's my aunt's idea of how things are to go and most of the cousins are happy to do just that.
Two of the cousins, like the saying goes, are not like the others. The rest of the ladies are easy-going and humble, but these ladies are interesting studies.
The virtue of humility is something I have been more and more aware of recently. My life has been under the microscope lately, much of it introspection on my part, but some of it presented to me as a learning tool. I'm beginning to see my life and actions from a slightly detached perspective, identifying traits in my personality that hinder humility and are areas of temptation. How much more glaring must all my weaknesses be to the priest I go to for confession, and how much more magnified must they be when compared to perfection as viewed from God's eyes?
These particular cousins, sisters, are so self-absorbed it makes you shake your head. They show up hours after they said they would be there, they want to dictate what is to be for dinner when they are guests in my aunt's home, they take the best candy and dessert for themselves, complain about everything, can't be relied on to do a simple task, argue with the hostess and other guests about everything imaginable, they vocally make their desires of "what to do and when" clearly known, and, oddly, they cheat at cards. Not just "sneaky-cheating," but blatant cheating because they are not capable of losing.
There are many relevant examples in scripture, here's just a few:
Matthew 19:30 "But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.
Matthew 20:16 "So the last shall be first, and the first last."
Luke 13:30 "And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last."
Like Father Mitch Pacwa said, "Don't use Al Capone as your moral compass." I shouldn't compare myself to my cousins, but to God. Some day, my life will really be scrutinized. It's not enough to hope my cousins are in line to see St. Peter immediately before I am, so I look better relative to them (no pun intended), because they aren't the measuring stick, but also because I'm just not that lucky.
03 August 2007
A verse for Friday
It's been a busy week. Haven't had much chance to sit down, much less think. So, here is a verse from one of my favorite books, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl. I have such high-brow tastes!
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction they are going!
There's no knowing where they're rowing,
Or which way the river's flowing!
Not a speck of light showing,
So the danger must be growing,
For the rowers keep on rowing,
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing...
And, yes we are going to the cabin again this weekend. I need a break, especially from the heat. Have a good weekend everyone.
01 August 2007
Unbelievable
Picture courtesy of Ironic Catholic
Nearly everyone in the Twin Cities crosses that bridge. We were just over in that area with the kids on Monday night. My sister-in-law works right off of 35W and 280. Thank God we are all OK.
May God have mercy on everyone involved.
Beyond words.
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