tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84347439678642154452024-03-12T22:05:35.456-05:00COMMONPLACIANA<i>Come explore and celebrate the rose-moles all in stipple that are commonplace with God</i>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-26563636845599073672010-12-17T11:34:00.009-06:002010-12-17T11:59:43.084-06:00O Come, O Come<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZX5tHuFWzbh-r5NjrbJSGJYAb_vI3loo16frAw63_VXiniLYn6JCDGrC04hrCxYvNeKibodS1N1k4NSsJjxoVHxn73IqfGtEFVd2_lTe2rzgGlDkNsTUxa78xY1ny4ECl-6z5mPA8F1g/s1600/o-antiphons.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZX5tHuFWzbh-r5NjrbJSGJYAb_vI3loo16frAw63_VXiniLYn6JCDGrC04hrCxYvNeKibodS1N1k4NSsJjxoVHxn73IqfGtEFVd2_lTe2rzgGlDkNsTUxa78xY1ny4ECl-6z5mPA8F1g/s320/o-antiphons.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551706531857699970" border="0" /></a><br />From the website <span style="font-style: italic;">Vivificat</span> the wonderful O Antiphons of the octave before Christmas. If you pray the Liturgy of the Hours from <span style="font-style: italic;">Christian Prayer</span>, I commend a comparison of this translation with the pathetic ICEL version.<br /><div><div style="overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;"><p><strong>I – December 17</strong></p><p><em>O SAPIENTIA, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.</em></p><p>O Wisdom, who comes from the mouth of the Most High (Sirach 24:5), you extend to the ends of the earth, and order all things with power and sweetness (Wisdom 8:1): come and teach us the way of wisdom (Proverbs 9:6).</p><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> </span> ( Here's the ICEL - all the brevity of Latin with none of its powerful economy. I won't post comparisons with the rest - it's just too sad.)<br /><br />Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.<br /><p><strong>II – December 18</strong> </p><p><em>O ADONAI, dux domus Israel, qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti, et in Sina legem dedisti: veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extenso.</em> </p><p>O Lord (Exodus 6:2, Vulgate), leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush (Exodus 3:2) and on Mount Sinai gave him the law (Exodus 20): come and free us with your powerful arm (Exodus 15:12-13). </p><p><strong>III – December 19</strong> </p><p><em>O RADIX Iesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, iam noli tardare.</em> </p><p>O Root of Jesse, who stands as a sign for the peoples (Isaiah 11:10), the kings of the earth are silent before you (Isaiah 52:15) and the nations invoke you: come to free us, do not delay (Habakkuk 2:3). </p><p><strong>IV – December 20</strong> </p><p><em>O CLAVIS David et sceptrum domus Israel, qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris et umbra mortis.</em></p><p>O Key of David (Isaiah 22:23), scepter of the house of Israel (Genesis 49:10), who opens and no one may shut; who shuts and no one may open: come, free from prison captive man, who lies in darkness and the shadow of death (Psalm 107: 10, 14). </p><p><strong>V – December 21</strong> </p><p><em>O ORIENS, splendor lucis aeternae et sol iustitiae: veni et illumina sedentem in tenebris et umbra mortis.</em> </p><p>O Star who rises (Zechariah 3:8; Jeremiah 23:5), splendor of the eternal light(Wisdom 7:26) and sun of justice (Malachi 3:20): come and enlighten those who lie in darkness and the shadow of death (Isaiah 9:1; Luke 1:79).</p><p><strong>VI – December 22</strong> </p><p><em>O REX gentium et desideratus earum, lapis angularis qui facis utraque unum: veni et salva hominem quel de limo formasti.</em> </p><p>O King of the nations (Jeremiah 10:7) and their desire (Haggai 2:7), cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16), who reunites Jews and pagans into one (Ephesians 2:14): come and save the man whom you formed from the earth (Genesis 2:7). </p><p><strong>VII – December 23</strong> </p><p><em>O EMMANUEL, rex et legifer noster, expectatio gentium et salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos, Dominus Deus noster.</em> </p><p>O Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14), our king and lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22), hope and salvation of the peoples (Genesis 49:10; John 4:42): come to save us, O Lord our God (Isaiah 37:20). </p><span><br /><br />Read more: <a style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);" href="http://vivificat1.blogspot.com/2010/12/time-has-come-to-pray-o-antiphons.html#ixzz18OKZKnIt">http://vivificat1.blogspot.com/2010/12/time-has-come-to-pray-o-antiphons.html#ixzz18OKZKnIt</a></span></div></div>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-61670105922764228782010-11-22T11:28:00.001-06:002010-11-22T11:31:11.510-06:00The Story of Jonah as You've Never Heard it Before<object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=16404771&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=16404771&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/16404771">The story of Jonah</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/corinth">Corinth Baptist Church</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-68856100175203366202010-11-06T10:38:00.001-05:002010-11-06T10:39:12.162-05:00Aggie Catholics: Same Sex Marriage: Why Not?This vimeo is almost an hour long but well worth your patient hearing.<br /><br /><a href="http://marysaggies.blogspot.com/2010/11/same-sex-marriage-why-not.html">Aggie Catholics: Same Sex Marriage: Why Not?</a>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-69491697588258675882010-10-30T19:45:00.011-05:002010-10-31T13:45:23.666-05:00Fiat Ka-Boom et Ka-Boom Erat<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1uVNMmQj4DP7nt_IE0ppT5iJ3kFPjKdmj5DWjd3sjBWp8ayYPxg0Ktyc0OPD65m8X_-QMuSl2gJpybiIrNrFcjM9J2SFYapBlI_sWLUbnPzo_sEZdRZNIIFRvY24zXawdBGAfxOMCfLU/s1600/Nebula.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1uVNMmQj4DP7nt_IE0ppT5iJ3kFPjKdmj5DWjd3sjBWp8ayYPxg0Ktyc0OPD65m8X_-QMuSl2gJpybiIrNrFcjM9J2SFYapBlI_sWLUbnPzo_sEZdRZNIIFRvY24zXawdBGAfxOMCfLU/s320/Nebula.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534046552317530930" border="0" /></a>Hunter Baker is the Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at Union University. His work regularly appears on the commanding heights of contemporary Christian thought in journals such as <i>First Things </i>and <i>Salvo. </i>In a recent issue of <i><a href="http://www.civitate.org/">The City,</a> </i>I came across a passage that stopped me cold (emphasis mine):<br /><blockquote>"In the 1960s, two astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, discovered that when they used a radio telescope, <b>they heard a constant sound in the background.</b> It seemed to come from everywhere, and they couldn't get rid of it. Eventually, they came up with the theory that <b>the sound was the reverberating echo of radiation created by the massive explosion associated with the creation of the universe. </b>Think about that. The moment of creation still with us even now -- a <b>sound </b>so incomprehensively [sic] powerful that it <b>continues to be heard</b>."<br /></blockquote>To be fair, Mr. Baker's article was titled <i>Thoughts on the Age; </i>it did not purport to be scientific in any way. Nor was the quoted passage his main point, but merely illustrative of a much larger point -- The Point if you will -- namely that the Resurrection of Christ changed everything and the change continues to this day.<br /><br />He does not cite his source, so we're left to conjecture about how or whether he filtered this information, or if he just misunderstood it. But more to add to his point than to nitpick his illustration, the evidence of the Big Bang discovered by Penzias and Wilson is much more dramatic in scale than that of a sound that "continues to be heard". <p></p><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Penzias and Wilson reported "noise", which is engineer's parlance for static - undifferentiated radiation. At first, they disbelieved the universal direction of this "noise" thinking that their equipment was faulty, that their microwave receiver horn antenna (pictured below) had bird droppings in it, or something else. When they eliminated all the possible variables and remade their observations, the "noise" was still there - no matter where they aimed the horn - no matter what they did. It was unshakably present in every direction at about 3 degrees Kelvin: that's HEAT (or the near absolute lack of it) not sound! And it is that radiation at that wavelength that provides the nearly universally-accepted evidence of the Big Bang. The rate of expansion of the universe is known. The temperature of the background radiation is known. That makes the rate of the red shifting from light to heat known. The trap closes around a single explosive event about 13.7 billion years ago.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2oRCaVyiWUq_9kq0QYQ4lR_UHufNLLFIfsqjXh3M2N__34GLH9Aspppg0c1X4KuW3f3_LqYuyH7K6jgEZ_zBU7vvlQO7gaQwsEOI-B53vWMVP0l1K57CWjd64nuI1qmfpJIWABpca2I/s1600/512px-Horn_Antenna-in_Holmdel,_New_Jersey.jpeg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr2oRCaVyiWUq_9kq0QYQ4lR_UHufNLLFIfsqjXh3M2N__34GLH9Aspppg0c1X4KuW3f3_LqYuyH7K6jgEZ_zBU7vvlQO7gaQwsEOI-B53vWMVP0l1K57CWjd64nuI1qmfpJIWABpca2I/s320/512px-Horn_Antenna-in_Holmdel,_New_Jersey.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534034522036157362" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >Is that a distinction without a difference? Maybe. After all, the Bible says Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant whose "sprinkled blood that <b>speaks</b> (continues to be heard) more graciously than the blood of Abel". </span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:100%;" >But in my mind, the red-shifting of supremely intense light to low-grade heat shows that turning around the arrow of time points to one, inescapable Source. How great Thou art.</span>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-2949805699706553362010-10-29T14:57:00.003-05:002010-10-29T15:03:25.497-05:00An Open Letter To Politicians<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmFoj5Fahf0M7U9VPKoMIPJBCdMI3AHoTnwWVz7i3ovkRLK-XxV8eavZcDs8hCC7DkJC7mcyU4BqGFnM4LfhbBTk-1N7o3E6VJHKrXny714x6Z769BfQzMs-GTGLJ-K1D3i4bdPj3yzuY/s1600/Flag.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmFoj5Fahf0M7U9VPKoMIPJBCdMI3AHoTnwWVz7i3ovkRLK-XxV8eavZcDs8hCC7DkJC7mcyU4BqGFnM4LfhbBTk-1N7o3E6VJHKrXny714x6Z769BfQzMs-GTGLJ-K1D3i4bdPj3yzuY/s320/Flag.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533560939239465426" /></a><br /><br />We are Catholic and we are American. You will be in our prayers and we promise to pray for you as you serve us. Our nation is struggling financially, yet we still have hope that things will get better. Yet, we believe that the nation's recovery should not come at the cost of the principles that have made our nation strong. While the economy is extremely important, we can not abandon the ideas that define us as a nation and expect to be a great society.<br /><br />With that being said, we have quite a bit to ask of you.<br />Our hope is you will consider our words carefully.<br /><br /> * We are Catholics first. We may be Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, etc. Many of us do not claim a political party. Regardless, we will never abandon our faith for the purposes of politics. Being Catholic is not defined by political party affiliation.<br /> * As elected representatives, you work for us. We do not work for you.<br /> * Abortion isn't just another issue. It is the primary issue, unlike any other of our time.<br /> * We will not ignore other attacks on life and family - euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, cloning, same-sex marriage, torture, etc.<br /> * We will not forget the poor, the disenfranchised, immigrants, the elderly, the young, the disabled or any other group that society might not champion. Nor will we allow you to forget them either.<br /> * We take our responsibility to be good citizens very seriously.<br /> * We will look past the rhetoric, the slogans, and the ads. We will look for integrity, character, ethical behavior, and honesty.<br /> * We expect that you will see your position as a great responsibility to serve and not one of mere authority.<br /> * We ask that you implement policies that protect life, family, true freedom, and just laws.<br /> * Our country needs you to be holy. If we are to start to rise again, then common sense dictates our leaders become examples for us to rally around. Being holy is the only option.<br /> * If you are a Catholic, you have a special obligation to follow the Church's teachings, in addition to your obligation to defend and uphold the Constitution. Neither are optional once you are in office. The "personally opposed" argument is a smoke-screen and we see right through it.<br /> * Please don't abandon your faith in order to win an election, make a political deal, stay high in an opinion poll or make money. It is not worth it for you or us.<br /> * We will encourage our fellow citizens to vote and to give you their feedback and opinion.<br /> * We appreciate your service to our country and to us. We promise to pray for you, support you, challenge you, and expect a lot from you.<br /><br /> "It must be noted also that a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals. The Christian faith is an integral unity, and thus it is incoherent to isolate some particular element to the detriment of the whole of Catholic doctrine. A political commitment to a single isolated aspect of the Church’s social doctrine does not exhaust one’s responsibility towards the common good."<br /> —Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith<br /><br /> "For the Christian people of America conversion to the Gospel means to revise "all the different areas and aspects of life, especially those related to the social order and the pursuit of the common good." It will be especially necessary "to nurture the growing awareness in society of the dignity of every person and, therefore, to promote in the community a sense of the duty to participate in political life in harmony with the Gospel.""<br /> —Pope John Paul II<br /><br />Thank you and God Bless,<br />-Marcel LeJeune - Aggie Catholics<br />-Kevin Knight - NewAdvent.org<br />-Matt Archbold - CreativeMinorityReport.com<br />-George Sipe - ConvertJournal.com<br />-JC Sanders - equusnomveritas.blogspot.com<br />-Mark Shea - Catholic and Enjoying It<br />-Brandon Vogt - The Thin Veil<br />-Elizabeth Scalia - TheAnchoress<br />-ADeaconsWife<br />-abbafatherchapter.blogspot.com<br />-Dan Lower - Keyboard Theologians<br />-Why I Am Catholic<br /><br />Other Signatures:<br />-Renee Aste - Lowell Massachusetts<br />-Adolfo Rodriguez - Covington, LA<br />-Brett Powers - Richland, WA.<br />-Tony<br />-Mickey Jackson<br /><br />If you would like to add your name to this list. Please leave a comment below.<br />Feel free to re-post in other places. (h/t Aggie Catholics)Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-16521620831849099782010-10-22T20:37:00.007-05:002010-10-22T20:53:42.340-05:00Welcome Iranian Visitors!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKXG7TZgNStOqQZU9G19HPy1odZDb9S1Vqg7i_yClnrJth6kywfKMOusKxbXdnKW03gW4Sm8L5WbQyenRF2feN-n-hPm_9RUqRPI6lUbAnkLkvjbQASCj0Hcd1WCjMQ_DJuBvAjIahzCo/s1600/iranian_persecution_sm.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 247px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKXG7TZgNStOqQZU9G19HPy1odZDb9S1Vqg7i_yClnrJth6kywfKMOusKxbXdnKW03gW4Sm8L5WbQyenRF2feN-n-hPm_9RUqRPI6lUbAnkLkvjbQASCj0Hcd1WCjMQ_DJuBvAjIahzCo/s320/iranian_persecution_sm.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531049636662022914" border="0" /></a>I was happy to find I have had 6 visitors from Iran in the past few days. I have no idea what brought them here - maybe the cool space posts. Anyway, it was nice to have you, especially if you are Christians or curious about Christianity. The Catholic faith is no stranger. Persia was evangelized early in the history of the Church, the second century. Its first patriarch was St. Maruthas.<br /><br />Notwithstanding its protestations to the contrary, the Islamic Republic of Iran persecutes its religious minorities, not least its Catholic citizens. St. Maruthas, pray for us.Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-67472893782957435372010-10-18T16:57:00.007-05:002010-10-18T19:02:18.319-05:00Caveat Ecclesia<a title="By Jean Cousin the Younger, also called Jehan Cousin Le Jeune (lived c. 1522–1595).[see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Last_Judgement._Jean_Cousin..jpg"><img alt="The Last Judgement. Jean Cousin." src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/The_Last_Judgement._Jean_Cousin..jpg/500px-The_Last_Judgement._Jean_Cousin..jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />Caveat Ecclesia<br /><br />Consider before you brandish your sword:<br />Judgment begins in the house of the Lord.<br /><br />It's tempting to be discouraged by the revelations of abusing priests. It seems like it will never end; first the US, now Europe. What's next?<br /><br />Well, what's next is a Bride without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish, but the process is not painless. Jesus is cleaning house, overturning the money changers' tables, setting wolves upon the hireling shepherds. Yes, it's upsetting but it's so necessary to the final purity of the Church. It's best to present ourselves humbly "to see if there is any wicked way" in us.<br /><br />So be of good courage, Christian Soldier. The judgment begins with the Church but it doesn't end there.Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-31913334047359695992010-10-18T12:27:00.009-05:002010-10-18T19:24:44.549-05:00Just Too Cool not to Pass On<object height="340" width="450"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fXkoIBDXwd8?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fXkoIBDXwd8?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="450"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/17jymDn0W6U?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/17jymDn0W6U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />The final image of the progression out to the "edge" of the known universe is a bit misleading. The mere fact that I had to use the word "edge" is evidence of the difficulty. Mathematically, the universe is finite but unbounded; it has no edge. It's that unboundedness that's hard to envision. You can think of it as a sphere similar to that image but it's not spherical - it's more like a 4-dimensional sheet stretched over a curved surface - maybe that of a sphere, maybe something more complex. Does that clear it up for you? You're welcome.Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-42923072636552972342010-10-17T16:50:00.011-05:002010-10-17T17:46:54.214-05:00Lift up the Hands that Hang Down<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Figures_055_The_Battle_Between_the_Israelites_and_Amalekites.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 411px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Figures_055_The_Battle_Between_the_Israelites_and_Amalekites.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We all grow weary in prayer. I always feel like I'm pooping out before I get to the finish line. My mind wanders in spite of me. It seems such a waste of time. But occasionally, I will get a burst of new energy, my mind </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">quits balking against me and </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">clears. I can pray with intensity and focus. And I can keep quiet for a bit and let the Beloved do the talking, deep calling unto deep. It's then I know: someone has prayed for me.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It's truly humbling to know that. And it obliges me to comfort wherewith I have been comforted. So I turn to praying for others. If I don't know a specific need, I just pray in thanksgiving for their gifts and callings in the Body of Christ.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">How about you? Is there someone on your mind and you don't know why? Take that person to your oratory.</span> You might be God's instrument for his salvation that day.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Are you bugged by that priest who ad libs his way through Mass? Have you held up his hands in prayer? He may be bearing a cross you would not dream of asking for.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Prayer is the place we can fulfill our obligation to "Pursue peace with all people, <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" - both at the same time. </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Thanks be to God for his manifold mercies! </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">He actually makes it simple for us - even a bit easier when someone is holding up our hands.</span>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-54200822316659248432010-10-09T20:06:00.007-05:002010-10-10T11:22:06.286-05:00Speaking Truth to Power<a title="By Arents [public domain], from Wikimedia Commons" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leprosy.jpg"><img alt="Leprosy" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Leprosy.jpg/240px-Leprosy.jpg" border="0" width="240px" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">A 24-year old man afflicted with leprosy</span><br /><br />The first reading in today's mass is the story of Naaman being healed of leprosy. For the purposes of the liturgy, it concentrates only on Naaman bathing in the Jordan and returning to give thanks. There is an interesting backstory, though.<br /><br />When Naaman presented himself at Elisha's house, the prophet sent his servant out to give the instruction to bathe seven times in the Jordan. Now Naaman was a bigshot, the commanding general of King Ben-Hadad's Syrian army and possibly second only to the king himself. He expected to be tended by other bigshots - by King Joram of Israel to whom he had gone first, and at least by Elisha personally when he was sent there. Nope. A scruffy servant directed him to go take not one bath but seven. So he was about to take his bruised ego (and his ravaged body) back to Syria. But a servant asked him, "Father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, surely you should have done it: how much rather what he now has said to you: Wash, and you shall be clean?"<br /><br />Naaman almost missed the greatest blessing of his life because he was putting his ego above the simple Word of the Lord. That servant was probably risking his life to speak without being spoken to. But his apparent love and compassion for his master overcame his fear and he spoke the truth in that love, Let us pray the people around us will love us enough to arrest us when we're about to be hoist with our own foibles. And let us pray that when it is our turn to correct another we will receive grace to do it lovingly, knowing we are afflicted also and in need of healing.Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-10474854708635556302010-10-07T11:57:00.012-05:002010-10-18T19:01:53.239-05:00Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vnYfjKMB0nz536nP7N7yzYye7w3p3YuFKP76bGkNfxZgSIPtN08Rv5nkOV_7CciZ_pv3Xl1PbxJFoNPDtpZ7mdDpmTDBSFZ30NVA0ovQy-vIGre5U348DvX9q5zygyoWFu-to8YGodw/s1600/Our+Lady+of+the+Rosary.PNG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vnYfjKMB0nz536nP7N7yzYye7w3p3YuFKP76bGkNfxZgSIPtN08Rv5nkOV_7CciZ_pv3Xl1PbxJFoNPDtpZ7mdDpmTDBSFZ30NVA0ovQy-vIGre5U348DvX9q5zygyoWFu-to8YGodw/s320/Our+Lady+of+the+Rosary.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525359920402772706" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><br />“Like the early Christian martyrs, like Christ himself in Gethsemane, the laity of Europe was praying for help against those who would kill them happily, and kill them horribly, in hatred of the Faith.”</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">Dr Kevin Johnson, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Rosary.</span> (h/t <a href="http://catholicphoenix.com/2010/10/07/the-name-of-the-feast-of-our-lady-of-the-most-holy-rosary/">Catholic Phoenix</a></span>)<br /><br />That Turkish invasion of Europe is now nearly complete. It took a few centuries but European lassitude accomplished what Ali Pasha and his fleet could not. The invaders have formed insulated colonies from which they are able to conduct forays into the general population with near impunity. The center of these colonies are the <span style="font-style: italic;">rabats</span>, citadels from which imams preach their messages of subjugation through jihad. And the people of Europe have largely stripped themselves of the vigor and virtue to resist. There are few who consider the Faith something worth dying for. But they need not be killed except for the most symbolic of reasons. They will merely lie down and accept the humiliation of dimmhitude.<br /><br />There shouldn't be any doubt about what that proposed "cultural center" at Ground Zero in New York is about. It is a attempt at <span style="font-style: italic;">rabat</span> triumphalism. May Americans have the moral courage to pray, to repent of our national sins and to humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God, that He may lift us up in due time. And may Catholics pray for the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary, whose feast is celebrated today because the Holy League, led by Don John of Austria, and the whole of Christendom, led by Pope Pius V, prayed the rosary without ceasing until the Battle of Lepanto was won.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhus4QkiOhfTDFZtV_f0lSp6Ih7gI9UHmaupiJih2xCR8trrQVFdZenpln8cGGH2BuIKRQRIrTuhbEM9gRq2hvDLO0eazRA9BjudG3p9tpsEb5s390lU9ht0OAf6rCG5vwtqao6Qay2H2w/s1600/800px-Battle_of_Lepanto_1571.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 171px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhus4QkiOhfTDFZtV_f0lSp6Ih7gI9UHmaupiJih2xCR8trrQVFdZenpln8cGGH2BuIKRQRIrTuhbEM9gRq2hvDLO0eazRA9BjudG3p9tpsEb5s390lU9ht0OAf6rCG5vwtqao6Qay2H2w/s320/800px-Battle_of_Lepanto_1571.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525357371514635250" border="0" /></a>See Also:<br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cantuar.blogspot.com/2010/10/become-catholic-two-percenter.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+taylormarshall+%28Canterbury+Tales+by+Taylor+Marshall%29">Canterbury Tales "Become a Catholic Two-Percenter</a><br /><a href="http://ericsammons.com/blog/2010/10/07/you-shouldnt-have-done-that-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DivineLife+%28Divine+Life+-+A+Blog+by+Eric+Sammons%29">Eric Sammons "You Shouldn't Have Done That"</a><br /><a href="http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-pray-rosary-well.html">New Theological Movement "How to pray the Rosary Well"</a><br /></span></span>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-66143601362099948912010-10-02T10:14:00.014-05:002010-10-06T13:16:19.205-05:00Gotta get back to the garden<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSZX9u13xbV9IjalLz_SlCyD7rdTlS3KYResgHE0OSkIIDwnIhf79VnMoGHg3bwVuAzwj31KvHtqCA-WD734ppF9KlKuHe2yj-kf205U5Efu56ipT1L2CICGRkUmQx1ST5iBf4tdufYvY/s1600/Adam-and-Eve-Garden.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 224px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSZX9u13xbV9IjalLz_SlCyD7rdTlS3KYResgHE0OSkIIDwnIhf79VnMoGHg3bwVuAzwj31KvHtqCA-WD734ppF9KlKuHe2yj-kf205U5Efu56ipT1L2CICGRkUmQx1ST5iBf4tdufYvY/s320/Adam-and-Eve-Garden.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523468382876940498" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">One of today's recurring themes is </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">respristination, </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">the restoration of the Earth to its pristine state, the garden of Eden. This idea finds artistic expression in Joni Mitchell's song </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Woodstock:</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">We are stardust,<br />Billion year old carbon<br /></span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">We are golden,</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">Caught in the devil¹s bargain,<br />And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">Well, we left Yasgur's farm looking like something other than a garden, let alone <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> garden. But at least we got an anthem to go with our arrogance. Yes, arrogance because we will never get ourselves back to the garden; its gate is guarded by a cherubim, one of God's throne angels, with a flaming sword no less.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">The notion of getting ourselves back to the garden is expressed in a number of ways socially and politically. Some are benign, even a little silly, like holding hands across the country and thinking peaceful thoughts. Others ally themselves with the secular religion of the age and even have the sanction and power of government - aggressive</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;"> global warming</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;"> environmentalism and human embryonic stem cell research advocacy are examples. Those who have a form of godliness (<span style="font-style: italic;">we are stardust; we are golden)</span> while denying its power (<span style="font-style: italic;">we are billion year old carbon</span>) will inevitably lay hold of the only power that poses a credible challenge to real power: the power of Satan, though they scoff and call it reason. Reason divorced from faith says we can apply the same failed thinking by new techniques and get breakthrough results - a frontal assault on that flaming sword. It's a Pelagian attack to the rear, of course, but the arrogant will never learn. "Until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."</span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The garden of Eden is closed forever. God's mandate to Adam and Eve (and to us) was </span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." The garden was to be the starting place, and the whole earth was supposed to look like it. That opportunity is lost forever. Now we are on a pilgrimage to the City of God. It is there we will find the Tree of Life, not here. Here we will have to put up with the taunts of the grinning serpent, "Has God truly said..." </span>Like I said, the arrogant never learn.<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-57100274234222079812010-09-29T16:55:00.004-05:002010-10-02T12:05:38.181-05:00Catholics and Protestants in the Old Testament<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7BQWuH9-mo8tSehGc-i5HpFzBU4vpHdFXoT0gwapMTZprftxojsAQVSoHhsbC2yKuVBUzpPYZzmzCzGLUdYlEvBiup_J3y3d7o9iTcEGwoaKlag__7v_MUa54PvcLdyZ8FoIXYpB0WU/s1600/200px-Jeroboam's_Idolatry.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7BQWuH9-mo8tSehGc-i5HpFzBU4vpHdFXoT0gwapMTZprftxojsAQVSoHhsbC2yKuVBUzpPYZzmzCzGLUdYlEvBiup_J3y3d7o9iTcEGwoaKlag__7v_MUa54PvcLdyZ8FoIXYpB0WU/s320/200px-Jeroboam's_Idolatry.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522457961529294770" border="0" /></a><br />I have probably read these passages a dozen times but I never made the connection. Read the <a href="http://bedlamorparnassus.blogspot.com/2010/09/protestants-and-catholics-in-old.html">whole post</a>. Stunning.Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-65700416167228615172010-09-26T22:42:00.013-05:002010-09-27T16:17:53.068-05:00Let There Be Brokenness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIz-PKUdZx8u3dtfJpMcHDwY9xZkrusCRgb_vcO94vWQwtw18GfBHrF7NUT75j1ddh3n12pSEyOElI-CdaYR3IFRn3Ez02XjE59qjA7mMw1VTBLLG7UMG6wjDTLb8YTcpUMPVgqUCb-Yc/s1600/800px-Asclepias_Pod_(Cape_Cod).jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIz-PKUdZx8u3dtfJpMcHDwY9xZkrusCRgb_vcO94vWQwtw18GfBHrF7NUT75j1ddh3n12pSEyOElI-CdaYR3IFRn3Ez02XjE59qjA7mMw1VTBLLG7UMG6wjDTLb8YTcpUMPVgqUCb-Yc/s320/800px-Asclepias_Pod_(Cape_Cod).jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521433984878617778" border="0" /></a>A Milkweed<!--[if gte mso 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<w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p>Anonymous as cherubs<br />Over the crib of God,<br />White seeds are floating<br />Out of my burst pod.<br />What power had I<br />Before I learned to yield?<br />Shatter me, great wind:<br />I shall possess the field.<br /><span style="font-size:78%;">From "Two Voices in a Meadow"by Richard Wilbur<sup>1</sup></span><div><br />Richard Wilbur combines simplicity with fluency to produce some of the most profound poetry in the English language. This voice (the other one is a stone) reminds us of the power of yielding our will to the greater will. Wilbur doesn't capitalize great wind, but I can't help reading it that way: <span style="font-style: italic;">Shatter me, Great Wind.</span> It is in the choir with Donne's<span style="font-style: italic;"> Batter my heart, three-person'd God. </span>The choir master is: My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor 12:9.<br /><br />Let us pray for the strength to be weak. Shatter me, Great Wind.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span><span>Here's Donne's great Holy Sonnet XIV:<br /><br /></span><span>Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you<br />As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;<br />That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend<br />Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.<br />I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,<br />Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.<br />Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,<br />But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.<br />Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,<br />But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;<br />Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,<br />Take me to you, imprison me, for I,<br />Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,<br />Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me. <span style="font-size:85%;"><sup>2</sup></span><br /> </span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">1 Wilbur, Richard, <u>Collected Poems 1943-2004, </u></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><u></u></span><span style="font-size:78%;">New York, Harcourt, Inc.</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" > </span><span style="font-size:78%;">2004, 257</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><br />2 </span><span style="font-size:78%;">Donne, John. <u>Poems of John Donne.</u> vol I. E. K. Chambers, ed.London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1896. 165.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span><br /></span></div>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-53405077872099251022010-09-25T20:07:00.002-05:002010-10-02T14:36:24.013-05:00Dives Agonistes<!--[if !mso]> <style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}</style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> 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name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}</style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span></span>“'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'"</div><div class="MsoNormal">I can’t add to the many things that have been said about the final conditions of the wretched Lazarus and the rich Dives. But I think these final words of Jesus bear examination.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Abraham, of course, was the father of both men, in covenant as well as in flesh. So when he called Dives “my son”, his hearers understood immediately and intimately. It was the core of their corporate life. They likewise understood that Dives was living in scorn of the covenants of both Abraham and Moses by refusing help to Lazarus. That is why Jesus has Abraham saying, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">Jesus, I think, was being a bit sly in this parable. Remember that he was on his way to Jerusalem and the cross. He knew he would consummate the fulfillment of the law and the prophets by his passion and death. And he also knew (and would say many more times) that he would rise from the dead as the supreme persuasion of that fulfillment.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yet how many times have we seen his parable fulfilled in that respect also? How many have risen to deny the Resurrection? And if we declare our faith in it, we are subjected to pop psychoanalysis – we’re deluded, hysterical and fundamentalist (a synonym for crazy). In all the Muslim lands, as well as in Africa, in India and in Asia, we are persecuted for it. The stiff-necked contumacy of men defies belief, but Jesus promised it and promised help in enduring it.</div>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-63394225919088790202010-09-20T08:41:00.004-05:002010-09-23T20:46:37.812-05:00Invective Against Trees<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlR80r8DnTtWBxnwP8ah2P6vNmK_OoT4xCmDRwoA6vj7Bo-_znjTRUmJp3lb0EB1te5UUjVKhmr5V6WQh_WxDHwmm_GOtNtEroZz-jZbbfbz61lKg3-eQeJJzMWsYrdlJipFE0r_5Slj8/s1600/Poplar.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518993001537918306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlR80r8DnTtWBxnwP8ah2P6vNmK_OoT4xCmDRwoA6vj7Bo-_znjTRUmJp3lb0EB1te5UUjVKhmr5V6WQh_WxDHwmm_GOtNtEroZz-jZbbfbz61lKg3-eQeJJzMWsYrdlJipFE0r_5Slj8/s400/Poplar.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 238px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 158px;" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">You prodigal trees!</div><div class="MsoNormal">Raucous in spring,</div><div class="MsoNormal">Drinking so deep,</div><div class="MsoNormal">Amassing such green,</div><div class="MsoNormal">Spending it all,</div><div class="MsoNormal">On one winter’s sleep!</div>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-54713835395162534712010-09-19T22:19:00.004-05:002010-10-02T14:37:09.833-05:00Page DesignI had to change the page design because I saw that Webster Bull and friends over at <a href="http://yimcatholic.blogspot.com/">Why I Am Catholic</a> are using the same design. No wonder I liked it! Anyhow, I hope you like the new one.Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-68089963853108928832010-09-19T12:09:00.008-05:002010-09-20T09:50:55.520-05:00That They May Be One<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF-7ws69t-nkGIRwIqJ2BfU1S1QjOZ3IMaJtYZjSJ6rwHWUJQ5hYWpOn6Fqe-CM2IT92Tsg92WQwqPbad8VFazvGV1Og6ErV848QFhL_aKxUTG9jbfsptLbqCUkB5ngCu-8IWSpPxyYnI/s1600/Jesus-wept-large.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518755418777340674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF-7ws69t-nkGIRwIqJ2BfU1S1QjOZ3IMaJtYZjSJ6rwHWUJQ5hYWpOn6Fqe-CM2IT92Tsg92WQwqPbad8VFazvGV1Og6ErV848QFhL_aKxUTG9jbfsptLbqCUkB5ngCu-8IWSpPxyYnI/s320/Jesus-wept-large.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 230px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Pope Benedict's visit to the United Kingdom reminded me of St. John's account of the Last Supper. It begins with the breathtaking phrase</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><blockquote>... having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. (ch13, v1)</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">This finds its culmination in chapter 17, that majestic high priestly prayer in which Jesus commends the apostles to His Father's care, asking Him to keep them while He's busy dying on the cross. I find it a stunningly tender passage. Of course, He had already given them the lesson of washing one another's feet and the most precious Eucharist. He could have stopped there. But not Jesus. He loved them to the end. He wanted to seal them in the very unity of the Godhead.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Look at verses 21 through 23.</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">20."I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;</div><div class="MsoNormal">21."that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.</div><div class="MsoNormal">22."And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:</div><div class="MsoNormal">23."I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”</div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Jesus exhausts the possibilities of "in-ness", of who is in whom. Just as important is the "as" of His dedication. Read "in the identical manner". In the identical manner that the Father is in Jesus, He desires that the apostles (and all those who believe in Him through their word -<span style="font-style: italic;"> that's us</span>!) be in Them also. It makes me tremble to understand what He is asking, and what we know the Father will not refuse - that we be in Them and They in us - that the same Godhead that was fully in Jesus' clay be in our clay. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. (Ps 139:6)<br />
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Which returns me to the pope's visit to Britain. The Eucharist is certainly the premier sign of the unity Jesus entreated for that night, but it is not the only sign. The supremacy of Peter and his successors is another. He is the emblem of the very authority Jesus entrusted to the apostles that night, the Magisterium of the Church.<br />
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I spent many years wandering around as a lapsed-Catholic protestant. The first thing I noticed was the absence of a central authority, which I found exhilarating. Governance was decided by the local church, not some distant bureau in Rome. This resonated very comfortably with my notions about civic governance being decided without the interference of a bureaucrat in Washington. Moreover, it served the latent adolescence that was the spirit of the age. But in the fullness of time, I saw what can happen when the local body cannot decide - the local body ruptures and metastasizes. This is the great scandal of Protestantism. Fragmentation has been the order of the day for 500 years such that today there are hundreds of bodies with their own local take on matters of faith, morals and governance, usually determined by the pastor or by a board of deacons or by a self-styled bishop.<br />
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My wife and I experienced such a church split. When it was over, we all realized that what had happened had nothing to do with ecclesial or confessional purity - it had everything to do with ego and pride from which there was no way back. Surveying the wreckage, I vowed I would never go through such carnage again. The <i>cri de coeur</i> of the Lord Jesus on His way to cross was that we all may be one, yet we have made ourselves many and constitutionally incapable of unity. What were we to do? What would be the selection criteria for our next "church"? It was simple, really. Which had maintained the line of apostolic succession, teaching authority and doctrines? Which was faithfully handing on the faith which it received from the fathers who received it from the Lord himself? Which makes authoritative pronouncements and makes them stick, not because they're popular, but because they are the will of God? And so, I came back to the only real Church, the Catholic Church.<br />
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Simple is not the same as easy. I had to relearn the Catholicism of my youth, and to unlearn a great lot of protestant error. Recognizing an authoritative magisterium means having to submit to it, subordinating my will to God's will, my understanding to God's understanding, as interpreted by that same magisterium.<br />
<br />
I found my Church in a terrible state of disrepair, the beginnings of which had caused my departure in the first place. But I couldn't help believing that if I had stayed and done my part, it might not be as bad as I found it today. No matter. The God that prayed that we all be one is the same God that went on to resurrect himself from the dead three days later. He will have His way.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Please pray for our good and holy Holy Father. He bears the cross of his papacy with humility and grace.<br />
</div>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-13625744526333699852010-09-17T17:22:00.005-05:002010-09-17T17:41:02.660-05:00The New Official Portrait<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2cvSofzUvpjrkOuO5fDPimcKlS8VgidK9KBibC63FwXdX1A7ZMJhRiXX2-A23HgrtaGLWcu05VuNqmgs61H_Bgj8PM2aw7q5h6Vt3AzKkGUOs0_Sy9_Pisn-f_BgwbamB1JM4yvEDiv0/s1600/Pope_Benedict_XVI_Babilov_portrait.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2cvSofzUvpjrkOuO5fDPimcKlS8VgidK9KBibC63FwXdX1A7ZMJhRiXX2-A23HgrtaGLWcu05VuNqmgs61H_Bgj8PM2aw7q5h6Vt3AzKkGUOs0_Sy9_Pisn-f_BgwbamB1JM4yvEDiv0/s320/Pope_Benedict_XVI_Babilov_portrait.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518015437390952898" border="0" /></a><br />By Babilov.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></div>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-24599493653102695852010-09-11T10:08:00.007-05:002010-09-12T18:14:33.334-05:00Requiem for 9/11<p>I have labored to think of something worthy of the occasion. Angry denunciations would come so easily. It is just too sad. In such circumstances, not knowing what to do, I throw myself on the Lord and pray for mercy. I said the Office for the Dead this morning.<br /></p><p style="font-family: lucida grande;">Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.</p>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-29754217283642574192010-09-10T17:39:00.008-05:002010-09-21T22:39:36.995-05:00What a Mighty God We Serve<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_pWNs5b2v5X7gUJ0hjHV-TgsLsYi-MCSvCiUAquxv_rNbPYj3-V7qoJmnpkiGySQ8OeStg4BxoiaFxCzvG1k5VouH7eMED0pO_OgG3KEG4zljsaF6W7OSWj6wXiH2OlsaMvnjc05zF0/s1600/Bluesky2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515426861097434610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_pWNs5b2v5X7gUJ0hjHV-TgsLsYi-MCSvCiUAquxv_rNbPYj3-V7qoJmnpkiGySQ8OeStg4BxoiaFxCzvG1k5VouH7eMED0pO_OgG3KEG4zljsaF6W7OSWj6wXiH2OlsaMvnjc05zF0/s200/Bluesky2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 216px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 140px;" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">I have always been fascinated by clouds. Lately, it occurred to me that the amount of power needed to put a cloud into the sky is easily calculated with some elementary school math. (I <i>did</i> promise no deep thinking in these precincts.)</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Here’s the question: How much power (measured in horsepower, HP) is needed to raise a cloud 1 by 1 by 1 kilometers in dimensions to an elevation of 1500 feet in one hour? (I’ll straighten out the metric to English measures as we go.)</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Horsepower is a measure of weight over distance in a unit time. So we need to know how much a cloud 1 billion (yes, 1000 x 1000 x 1000 meters!) cubic meters weighs in pounds. Happily, the <a href="http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleatmosphere.html">US Geological Service</a> provides that answer: the density of a fluffy cumulus cloud is 1.003 kilograms per cubic meter. That means an astounding 1.003 billion kilograms or 2.211 billion pounds! (It floats up there because the air is even denser.)</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">The formula for horsepower is<small></small></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "; font-size: 100%;"><span style="color: black;">1HP = 550 ft-lb per sec</span><br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "; font-size: 14pt;"></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Substituting:<small></small></div><span style="color: black; font-family: "; font-size: 100%;">(550 x 1500 ft x 2,211,000,000 lb) / (60sec x 60 min) = 506,687,500,000 HP</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing"> The Space Shuttle engines develop 37,000,000 HP. So If I wanted to raise a single cloud according to specifications, I would have to produce enough power to launch 13,333 Space Shuttles. I have read that there is no precise measure of horsepower above 5000, but that’s still a prodigious amount of power. Yet the sun does it multiplied times every day and has done for billions of years.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Just one further calculation: how much power (in any measure you like) is required to do that and to create a being capable of pondering how much power it would take? I don’t know how to calculate it but I don’t think the power is available in the whole world. It has to come from outside this world. Pretty neat, huh?</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-34516784380277945742010-09-10T11:27:00.004-05:002010-09-10T11:56:42.748-05:00Lavacrum Interrumpum<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXrHx5Wwj_uvSI34fMdvzhCQhm9nsoNFnZQZUwRlzhq3jYoVkwVm_RVG8SzPQx6Nv9oWlEXr71kY1sgNq_USLt7FiA5LCdLxa8TigkRueGF12evxD-G8A1gd8fsQI2HcV7-7JD2b0LLrU/s1600/Robin+1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 170px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXrHx5Wwj_uvSI34fMdvzhCQhm9nsoNFnZQZUwRlzhq3jYoVkwVm_RVG8SzPQx6Nv9oWlEXr71kY1sgNq_USLt7FiA5LCdLxa8TigkRueGF12evxD-G8A1gd8fsQI2HcV7-7JD2b0LLrU/s200/Robin+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515329668214767122" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><!--[if gte 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mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Malgun Gothic"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults ext="edit" spidmax="1026"> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout ext="edit"> <o:idmap ext="edit" data="1"> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-42501939069961379362010-09-09T19:51:00.006-05:002010-09-09T20:27:47.271-05:00Jesus and His Brothers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfVi_1E1xrpsPITVMURrjSDYp1QWdjsvN7Mt9moUjsNjaL5TE83gIAD8TshGeqV2eSIV0TmTYMtPRaDMTssJGy6Ze-zq9weHDULl0M_8ARqd8gX13A78lHGzHf5lMBVY70RpQKchU_SU/s1600/Joseph_Forgives_His_Brothers.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 237px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfVi_1E1xrpsPITVMURrjSDYp1QWdjsvN7Mt9moUjsNjaL5TE83gIAD8TshGeqV2eSIV0TmTYMtPRaDMTssJGy6Ze-zq9weHDULl0M_8ARqd8gX13A78lHGzHf5lMBVY70RpQKchU_SU/s200/Joseph_Forgives_His_Brothers.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515087037821286242" border="0" /></a>The story of Joseph is one of my favorites in the Bible because it is so human. I especially enjoy the scene in chapter 45 in which Joseph, after having dismissed all the Egyptians, revealed his identity to his brothers.<span style=""> </span>But his brothers were too dismayed by his royal presence to comprehend it. What follows is especially tender: <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come near to me." So they came near. Then he said: "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.” <span style=""> </span>v. 4.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">I once heard a commentator say that Joseph showed him the sign of his circumcision, which they would understand never to be possible for an Egyptian satrap. We don’t know what he really did but clearly they believed him.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">Signs and wonders are the currency of the Lord. The Bible shows without detail that the Jews will someday rule the earth with Jesus as Lord and King.<span style=""> </span>I can imagine at some future time Jesus calling them all and saying, “Please come near to me. I am Jesus your brother, whom you crucified.”<br /></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">Lest anyone think I am engaging in anti-Semitic, God-killer rant, consider v.5:</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">"But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.”</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">We are all guilty of the crucifixion and death of Jesus for so we proclaim every Good Friday. The Jews were merely our proxy. What we all intended for evil, God intends for good. Jesus banishes Death and gives Life.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"> </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">Jesus will make some persuasive revelation of Himself and His forgiveness to them. Signs and wonders that they will believe as they did not in the past and do not now. Then perhaps we will all see how gloriously the wall of separation between us is broken down. (Eph 2:11-14)</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"> </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"> </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"> </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"> </p>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-20818092283712023272010-09-08T12:09:00.003-05:002010-10-02T14:38:07.465-05:00Happy Birthday, Blessed Mother!<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIeTikfff5uecmauArHTHPD-GFz9C-pScoeYShfBg1byezs2B6FIZkG91NVFf5XUFFO7uFfUSND_SIkSRrBRj6mCb_rSplmG6aOxGwZxIffRcf_VzFQ96XH9TQZIiNDbE3qfw3NlnGtwY/s1600/Mary+Birth-Murillo-thumb-400x262-17765.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 131px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIeTikfff5uecmauArHTHPD-GFz9C-pScoeYShfBg1byezs2B6FIZkG91NVFf5XUFFO7uFfUSND_SIkSRrBRj6mCb_rSplmG6aOxGwZxIffRcf_VzFQ96XH9TQZIiNDbE3qfw3NlnGtwY/s200/Mary+Birth-Murillo-thumb-400x262-17765.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514591400514661954" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Mary the Dawn, Christ the Perfect Day;<br />Mary the Gate, Christ the Heav’nly Way!<br />Mary the Root, Christ the Mystic Vine;<br />Mary the Grape, Christ the Sacred Wine!<br />Mary the Wheat-sheaf, Christ the Living Bread;<br />Mary the Rose-Tree, Christ the Rose Blood-red!<br />Mary the Font, Christ the Cleansing Flood;<br />Mary the Chalice, Christ the Saving Blood!<br />Mary the Temple, Christ the Temple’s Lord;<br />Mary the Shrine, Christ the God adored!<br />Mary the Beacon, Christ the Haven’s Rest;<br />Mary the Mirror, Christ the Vision Blest!<br />Mary the Mother, Christ the Mother’s Son.<br />Both ever blest while endless ages run.<br />Amen.</div>Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8434743967864215445.post-2735988890462272742010-09-03T09:26:00.006-05:002010-09-04T15:43:30.608-05:00Consider the Peach and the CoconutAs they might illustrate a person, which do you suppose God wants us to be? The quick, seemingly obvious, answer would be the peach. Someone cannier, suspecting a trap (you know who you are), would say the coconut. But why? Why either one?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPHR8HtHSHpUDtM1rdgUZ11paxJ1J1QoIFdOHbeEz6jYVqgSMWYNFOgJ1ZeTWn6ja-DRCig0HUdFjl_HDaqHj7Yt-3P2BIDDhtksJmSlgO5V3GBptERMDW7wysucxs2QZbEHjnbndgrA/s1600/00436905.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 58px; height: 58px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPHR8HtHSHpUDtM1rdgUZ11paxJ1J1QoIFdOHbeEz6jYVqgSMWYNFOgJ1ZeTWn6ja-DRCig0HUdFjl_HDaqHj7Yt-3P2BIDDhtksJmSlgO5V3GBptERMDW7wysucxs2QZbEHjnbndgrA/s320/00436905.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513149750146298802" border="0" /></a>The peach is beautiful to look at: golden and...well, peachy. Its flesh is luscious, its nectar sweet. The coconut is coarse and shaggy. Its rocky exterior makes the flesh a pain in the neck to get at, hardly worth the effort sometimes. So the peach seems like a good choice for our metaphorical person favored by God.<br /><br />But that's seeing the way humans see, superficial and carnal. The peach's flesh is soft, easily <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh253VOpBnyf2iqRMgIvwBP-JNQvmReJFgUUd19gjcee49-74PcN9dCobR9kQcDK9va_C-_N2IcEaPHO8q6o6eu_7NS3fjQ-7PAz-ZZMNDIUjzp1iTfOqg7NBKz4h2OgqWnPYUFhsjhUYA/s1600/Coconut.jpg.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 59px; height: 74px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh253VOpBnyf2iqRMgIvwBP-JNQvmReJFgUUd19gjcee49-74PcN9dCobR9kQcDK9va_C-_N2IcEaPHO8q6o6eu_7NS3fjQ-7PAz-ZZMNDIUjzp1iTfOqg7NBKz4h2OgqWnPYUFhsjhUYA/s320/Coconut.jpg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513160771990950290" border="0" /></a>bruised, and decays quickly. It's heart is a stone that no one wants. The coconut's exterior is hard as rock but its heart is large, hollow and filled with sweet nectar. I'd say Jesus was a coconut. He took all kinds of abuse and still had room in his heart for sinners, lepers, other human wrecks, and even his abusers. And for me.<br /><br />See? One of the losses of the Fall was our God-like vision. The veil of flesh falls over the luminous beings that we really are and we know to our shame that we are naked. We even become accustomed to think of this aberrant vision as the only way to see. We sometimes need to be reminded that "man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).Wild Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10102416427157404108noreply@blogger.com0