Prayers by the Lake…

Anoint my heart with the oil of Your mercy, my most merciful Lord.

May neither anger against the strong nor scorning of the weak ever erupt in my heart! For everything is weaker than the morning dew.

May hatred never make a nest in my heart against those who plot evil against me, so that I may be mindful of their end and be at peace.

Mercifulness opens the way to the heart of all creatures, and brings joy. Mercilessness brings fog to the fore, and creates a cramped isolation.

Have mercy on Your merciful servant, most Tender Hand, and reveal to me the mystery of Your mercy.

The Ultimate Man is the child of the Father’s mercy and the Spirit’s light.

All creation is merely a story about Him. The mighty suns in the heavens and the smallest drops of water in the lake cany in themselves one part of the story about Him. All the builders of heaven and earth, from the exceedingly mighty seraphim to rulers and the tiniest particle of dust, tell the very same story about Him, their fore-essence and fore-source.

What are all the things on the earth and the moon except the sun in stories? Truly, in this way all visible and invisible creation is the Ultimate Man in stories. Essence is simple, but there is no end or number to the stories about essence.

My neighbors, how can I tell you about essence, when you do not even understand stories.

Ah if you only knew how great the sweetness, the expanse, and the strength are, when one reaches the bottom of all thestories—there, where the stories begin and where they end. There, where the tongue is silent and where everything is told at once!

How boring all the lengthy and tedious stories of creatures become then! Truly, they become just as boring as it is for one who is accustomed to seeing lightning to hear stories about lightning.

Receive me into Yourself, O Only-Begotten Son, so that I may be one with You as I was before creation and the Fall.

Let my long and weary story about You end with a moment’s vision of You. Let my self-deception die, that would have me think that I am something without You, that I am something else outside of You.

My ears are stuffed with stories. My eyes no longer seek to see any display of clothing but You, my essence, overladen with stories and clothing.

Oh please…

A group is petitioning Children’s Television Workshop to allow Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie to get married. Oh, and they would also like a “tasteful” transgendered character added to the show as well.

A little reality from England…

They are an absolute deadweight upon society, because they contribute nothing yet cost the taxpayer billions. Liberal opinion holds they are victims, because society has failed to provide them with opportunities to develop their potential.

Most of us would say this is nonsense. Rather, they are victims of a perverted social ethos, which elevates personal freedom to an absolute, and denies the underclass the discipline — tough love — which alone might enable some of its members to escape from the swamp of dependency in which they live.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2024284/UK-riots-2011-Liberal-dogma-spawned-generation-brutalised-youths.html#ixzz1Uf8uQd00

Pedophilia?

I’m not sure but it’s really creepy and I think the people who took these pictures, authorized them for the magazine, and especially the parents who let their 10 year old daughter pose for “Vogue” magazine need a real wake up call. The darkness of adults just seems to keep on being pushed on children.

I'm looking forward to this Friday…

and rehearsals with a group of Christian guys thinking about forming a band. We’re not sure where to go yet. We’re not even sure if this is the final line up. The possibilities, though, are too good to not, at least, take a shot and see what happens.

I would never be very good in a bar band. I’d last about one show because I’d ask the crowd “Why are you here?  There’s a lot of life outside the door, don’t burn it up hanging around in this hole wasting daylight, money, and breath.” Around then I suspect the manager would be at the stage. I just don’t want to make money faking a good time to help other people fake having a good time.

I like the coffee shops, art fairs, farmer’s markets, and open mics. Those venues seem so much more constructive than dives and the people are usually not that interested in getting the show going so they can drink and find a new friend with benefits. The pay is low but you never find yourself in a ditch upside down and wondering what happened.

But to sing for the Lord, well that’s just another level entirely. It’s win / win. Play your heart out, rock your brains, volume up to 11 if you want to and lyrics where you never have to look over your shoulder. People who may never darken the door of a church will listen to a hot blues band and people of faith can let it loose without having to pick through the song like a person picking through garbage for pearls. There are places where my collar will never get me in but my bass will, and people I can talk to after the show that would never approach me after the Liturgy.

What will happen? I don’t know. We just pray before we start and then let it rip. If it’s to be it will and if not at least we tried and had a good time. Everything is in the hands of, to quote Larry Norman,  the Rock that never rolls.

I'm not always happy…

with the way things are going in the Church, the culture, the government, you name it. Yet I’m not hopeless. I’m counting on God to be in charge and me to do my best and that’s the only way to muddle through. Read the paper. Gnash your teeth. Say your prayers. Roll up your sleeves.

It's been over a year…

so I finally took the time to change the air filter on my car. The old one was in tough shape, no sunlight passing through and gunk on the back side. The box where it was placed had tree seeds in the bottom probably picked up by the cool air intake in the wheel well earlier in spring. The whole thing needed to be vacuumed and a new filter installed. I presumed the car breathed a lot easier when it was done.

Sometime soon it would be good for me to go to confession, for roughly the same reasons.

For your consideration…

In this respect, it is worth remembering that our English word “courage” translates what the ancient Greeks called andreia, literally “manliness,” and we insist, with Ambrose and other church fathers, that elementary manliness is an essential, irreplaceable requirement of the pastoral office…

Read more here.