7 Quick Takes 5 July 2013

1. Happy Independence Day! God bless these United States!


2. I was teaching my daughter the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.) I wanted to make sure Princess understood the prayer so I asked her, "Do you know what a sinner is?"
"Yeah, that's Father Damien"
"Why do you say that?"
"He says so."
Then it dawned on me while celebrating the Divine Liturgy every Sunday the priest says "O God be propitious to me a sinner" three times bowing before the altar.
I explained to her as best I could what sin is and that all of us are sinners, but her answer was amusing.
By the way, Father Damien is now the abbot of Holy Transfiguration Monastery.

3. Another time while praying the Lord's Prayer with her Mermaid Man came to mind. He always had the funniest reaction when he heard the word evil. I had a mental image of him freaking out after the last word of the Lord's Prayer.

A Google search has revealed that I am not the only one with this funny thought:

4. Pope Francis is releasing his first encyclical today. It was started by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The subject is faith.
Could a Pope Emeritus send out an encyclical or would it be called something different?

5.  I saw this picture on the Facebook page for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter.

The picture is of a transitional diaconate ordination. The boy next to the deacon is his son.

6. Hulkamania!


7. O Heavenly King, Consoler, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere and fillest all things; Treasury of Blessings, and Giver of Life - come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

You can check out other people's Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.

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Happy Fourth

Happy Independence Day!
God bless these United States!

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7 Quick Takes 21JUN2013

1. Father's Day went well. I got to spend the whole day together with Princess!  At the end of the day we visited with her Nana and Papa. Her gift to me was at Nana/Papa's. She picked out a nice pocket watch with deer on the cover. Its definitely the best gift I've received in years. I went home and put it in the drawer of my nightstand, not because I didn't want it but because I'm afraid that I will break it otherwise. I have a tendency to break things. I am the reason my parents couldn't have nice things.

2. Two parts from the Psalms always come to mind for me on Father's Day:

Just as a father has compassion on his children,	Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.	The fruit of the womb is a reward.
--Psalm 103:13	Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
	So are the children of one’s youth.
	How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
	They will not be ashamed
	When they speak with their enemies in the gate.
	--Psalm 127:3-5

3.I've really struggled this year to write in this blog. I'm not going to quit writing on it, but I think I need to think and pray about new subjects to write about. I always had something to write about when I was in the seminary (most days 2 or 3 posts) but the inspiration has diminished since then. After a while in Iraq I stopped writing here altogether and forgot I had this blog for over a year before I began posting again. Maybe a retreat is in order.

4.Would anyone in my limited audience care to guest post here at 50 Days After? I've asked before but I only ever got one taker.

5. I read about a shooting in Utah during Mass. The man who was shot is expected to survive. Please say a prayer for those involved and a prayer for the shooter that he may repent.

6. I finished reading Willie Robertson's autobiography. I previously read Phil Robertson's autobiography. I like how each chapter starts with a Bible verse. I was thinking what I could put for Bible verses at the beginning of chapters if I wrote an autobiography, but all I could think of was Jonah when he was swallowed by the whale.

7. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.

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Father's Day 2013

Happy Father's Day to all the Fathers out there!
I think the US should change Father's Day to March 19 so that it will be on the Feast of St Joseph, but that's just my humble opinion.
My Father's Day started off at 6:15 this morning with a text message from a number I don't recognize wishing me a "Happy Father's Day!".
A short while ago I read a story from Catholic News Agency about fatherhood. The rest I though was blah but these two paragraphs stood out to me:

Frequently in pop culture – especially in sitcoms on television – fathers are shown as clueless or out of touch and domineering, he said. When this is the only example of fatherhood and masculinity men have, that role almost becomes “a self-fulfilling cycle.”

However, no matter what the “external factors” are, such as pop culture or economic status, a man must be aware that his value and worth are from God, Caulfield emphasized.

To understand God as our Father, we must understand what a father is. I have read many times that the home is the first seminary and fathers most certainly have a God-given role to catechize.

 "As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him"
--Psalm 103:13

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7 Random Thoughts

1. Never trust a skinny cook or a bald barber.

2. Prisoneralert.com helps you to write letters to Christians around the world persecuted for the faith.

3. Justin Bieber is going into space. Maybe he'll stay there?

4. Its been raining for the last three days here. With this tropical storm it looks like 3 or more days of rain ahead. By the time I finally get to mow my lawn, its going to be about a foot and half high.

5. At least we don't have a drought this year.

6. I had wanted to pick blueberries this weekend, but it looks like that will have to wait.

7. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.

See other people's Quick Takes at conversiondiary.com

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Sunday Snippets 26May2013

Its been a slow week for me, but at least this week I am back to blogging. On Thursday there was Theotokos Thursday XI and 5 Lesssons from "The Gods Must Be Crazy". On Friday I did 7 Quick Takes.

Check out the other Sunday Snippets this week at This That and the Other Thing
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7 Quick Takes 24May2013

1. I forgot to do these this week but still set this to publish at midnight this morning. Sorry if your feed had the blank post.

2. Today's the last day of school for Princess. We're going to spend all of next week together. Not sure what we'll do yet, but its a safe bet we'll go to the zoo.

3. The Christmas Cactus has finally died. I guess its time to throw it out.

4. I saw multiple headlines stating variants of "Pope says atheists are saved". Some things never change, the media misinterpreted and warped Pope emeritus Benedict XVI's words too.

5. "What the heart gives away is never gone ... It is kept in the hearts of others." St John of the Cross



image source

6. Have a blessed Memorial Day! Please remember Memorial Day means something besides time off of work and the start of summer. Please pray for those who died in the service of our nation.

7. From the Archdiocese of Detroit:
Heavenly Father,

On this Memorial Day, we pray for those who courageously laid down

their lives for the cause of freedom. May the example of their sacrifice

inspire in us the selfless love of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bless the families of our fallen troops, and fill their homes and their

lives with your strength and peace.

In union with people of goodwill of every nation, embolden us to

answer the call to work for peace and justice, and thus, seek an end

to violence and conflict around the globe.

We pray through Christ our Lord.

Amen

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5 Lessons from "The Gods Must be Crazy"

5. Cross-cultural miscommunications can be funny.

4. People are not stupid because they don't know what we know.
X! didn't know that goats are livestock and he didn't know how to use modern machinery. However, he learned quickly how to drive and moreover he knew about animals and tracking in a way that would seem magical to people who grew up in towns and cities. If the roles were reversed, he might wonder why we couldn't figure out basic survival in the bush.

3. Too many of us are slaves to the clock.


2. Other people's problems can become your problems.
As Sam Boja and his rebels fled from the soldiers, they kidnapped the teacher and her students to use as human shields. Then they forced them to march for miles before X! put them to sleep with his darts.

1. Things do not bring happiness.
Anyone who has seen the movie remembers that the Coke bottle was very useful, but caused great unhappiness. By throwing the bottle off the edge of the world, they were able to return to their peaceful lives.

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Theotokos Thursday XI

where I found the picture

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7 Quick Takes 17MAY13

1. I have 78 more posts until I reach my goal of 1000 posts. I'm not sure what reason I will have to continue blogging after that. I have a hard time thinking of things to say.

2. Personally, I prefer having fewer things to say to those out there who have too many things to say. As Shakespeare famously put it, "Brevity is the soul of wit."

3. I started a blog post about lessons learned from The Gods Must be Crazy. I think it will be one of my best posts, even if I have to say so myself.

4. May 13th was the eighth anniversary of my commissioning as an Army officer. I didn't anything special any of the other years and this one went by unobserved also.

5. Memorial Day is coming up and it actually means something to me. I know I shouldn't worry about what others do, but it irks me sometimes when people just use the long weekend as an excuse to party. May God have mercy on our war dead.

6. I've been discerning whether I have a call to the priesthood. However, at the same time, I have a young daughter.

7. I'm glad that Gosnell was sentenced to life in prison rather than given a death sentence. I am sad that so many children died, but his life is no less valuable. May God convert his heart and may he repent.

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Theotokos Thursday X

Jesus, Mary and Saint Nicholas
from the Saint Nicholas Center
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Theotokos Thursday IX

Jacob's Ladder is a prefiguring of the Theotokos.

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7 Quick Takes 19 APR 2013

1. I visited DC the other day. I went to the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  While I was there I noticed that the two ceiling mosaics on the two ends of the apse are God the Father separating land from the sea and God the Son separating the Faithful from everyone else. I like the juxtaposition, but I'm not sure which connection the artist is making. Maybe a reference to the baptized as the New Creation?

2. Last Sunday was the Sunday of the Myrrh Bearers. I like how Mary Magdalene and the other myrrh-bearing women are referred to in the East as co-equal to the Apostles.

3. Is anyone reading this in the Augusta, GA area?

4. Its time to start mowing the lawn again. Maybe this year I will break down and get a riding lawnmower.

5. End of the semester is only two weeks away! Woohoo!

6. This has been one of those weeks when I feel like its been Groundhog's Day seven times.

7. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.

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Pictures from my trip to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

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"It is better to pray devoutly for your neighbor than to rebuke him every time he sins."--St. Mark the Ascetic

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7 Quick Takes 5April2013

1. I hope everyone has had a great Bright Week. I've had this song stuck in my head all week:

Shine! Shine! O New Jerusalem!

The Glory of the Lord has shone on you!

Exalt now and be glad, O Zion!

Be radiant, O Pure Theotokos, in the Resurrection of your Son! 

2. One of the songs during the Pascha Liturgy mentioned Christ as resting on the seventh day. I had never thought about Holy Week as echoing the Creation Story.

3. Speaking of Creation, I read a blog post that talked about Noah's flood as the reverse of creation and six other thoughts about the Flood. Definitely worth checking out for yourself.

4. I can't wait for Spring Break next week. My daughter and I have the same week off of school so we'll spend it together.

5. This Sunday is St Thomas Sunday. I've always liked the story of Doubting Thomas. I think he gets criticized more than he deserves.

6. I've been doing some spring cleaning. Its amazing how many things I have found that I haven't seen in months or years.

7. Christ is risen!

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Side project

Christ is risen!
I hope everyone is having a great Bright Week.
I'm trying something new on a Wordpress blog that I had forgot that I had. I'm going to try my hand at a serialized novella.
Check out what I have so far and please feel free to let me know what you think of it in the comment box. At the bottom of each chapter is a link to the next and previous chapters.

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Happy Easter!

Χριστός ἀνέστη!
 Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!
 

Christos anesti!
Alithos anesti!
 This Johnny Cash song seemed appropriate.

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Maundy Thursday

One year I was actually invited by the priest to one of the twelve whose feet he would wash.
About a day or two before Maundy Thursday the light bulb came on and I talked one of my roommates into helping me.
The Mass was in the afternoon so that morning I had talked my roommate into writing on my feet. I happened to have a permanent black marker handy (It took several days to get the writing off).
So that afternoon, I went up to a chair set in front of the altar and removed my shoes and socks. Father Len true to form, shook his head and rambled on ("I see who's playing Judas today." "I wish I had some steel wool.") while he was the feet of the woman in the chair opposite mine.
In hindsight, it was immature. Mass is not the place for jokes and silliness, but I still laugh about it anyways. I can't undo it anyways.

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Calming of the storms

The other day I was reading an abbreviated version of the story of Jonah to Princess. As I was reading, I noticed for the first time that Jonah was asleep as the storm raged. I've read the story before and I'm sure that I read that part before, but it stuck out to me this time because I thought about Jesus sleeping in Peter's barque as the storm raged on the Sea of Galilee.

I was struck by how much Jonah on the boat as the storm raged was the opposite of Jesus in the boat as the storm raged. Both were fast asleep during the storm. Jesus calmed it, but in Jonah's case it calmed when he was thrown overboard. Jonah was running away from his calling among gentiles. Jesus as man as well as God was fulfilling God's will to preach to people on the other shore and traveled among Jews.

Also, Jesus spoke of the sign of Jonah. I get the three days in the whale as three days in the tomb. Does the casting of lots and choosing Jonah to throw overboard correspond with the Jews choosing Jesus for crucifixion over Barabbas?

Peter's barque is a metaphor of the Church so what does that make the boat Jonah was on?

Thoughts?

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  a previous post on Jonah