Safe Haven

Father was late. After we pray the Angelus, we have five minutes before Mass actually starts. The silence grew. I thought back to last year, when we had a priest who didn't come at all. We ended up having a Communion service that day. If you believe that they're the same, you are mistaken. When we heard that it was an emergency call at the hospital, well, that's the life of a Catholic priest. Could have been Last Rites; could've been anything. No one seemed to mind. When he said, "Francis, our Pope" during the prayers, I was overcome with a great affection for the Holy Father. It's not the first time. I doubt it'll be the last. It is an affection deeper than the news cycle; I have never felt such an affection for the President of the United States, for example. Unless and until you live within the household of the Catholic Church, you can't understand. It's the feast day of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne. She must pray for me a lot, because...

Why does the story of the creation of humanity happen twice? Well, I mentioned that one of the purposes in these early chapters is to distinguish God from His creation. The language of chapter 1 has been called, "elevated prose." It's not poetry, but it isn't historical narrative, either. Moses uses "elohim" as the word for God early on, a singular object with a plural ending. To add to the intrigue, 1:26 says, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." You can bet the Church fathers didn't miss that one! They said it was our first hints of the Blessed Trinity. After we read about the creation of Adam and Eve in chapter 2, the word for God changes, from "elohim" to "YHWH". We'll just call this "the Name." When Moses asks God what His name is, God says the Name. Why the change? I think one excellent reason is that "elohim" emphasizes God as the Lord of all creation, while "YHWH" em...

I've got a good friend who watches The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. You may recall that he took over for David Letterman as the host. Colbert (pronounced like 'cole-BEAR') got his way to fame as a "correspondent" on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. All these people are liberals. Fair enough. I still think Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show) is the best late-night host. Jimmy doesn't need famous people to make his show work. He's funny, he's got musical talent, and he has this gift for nurturing nostalgia without sacrificing "cool" that people my age and slightly older (he's 40) seem to want. Actually, I think he makes famous people feel normal, and normal people feel famous. I digress. But I've watched a lot of Colbert lately, and I must admit that his monologue the night after the election was great. I understand how liberals feel this time. I don't share this disdain conservatives have right now for ordinary liberals who are ...

61 years ago today, Darla Dee Thompson was born. Because of this, you are reading this post, and this blog in general. I won't belabor things with details I don't remember, but I don't know a tougher, more sacrificial person, besides Our Lord. (And Our Lady) That's pretty good company. You become aware that nothing lasts forever on this side of Heaven, and tragedy will teach you even faster to say what needs saying, so here it is: I love you, Mom. Anything good in me is a gift that is partly yours. Thanks for teaching me that serving others and sharing life with them is how to truly live. Here's hoping we get a little break from tough times, so we can appreciate everything.

As I read Genesis 1-3, there are 3 main things that stick out: Firstly, God alone is Creator, and He is distinct from that which he has created. It was a point of emphasis for Moses, (and the Lord God) because he knew that the surrounding cultures worshiped "gods" in such a way that creation and deity weren't so distinct. Secondly, that mankind and creation were both created good, and in some sense, both remain good. Thirdly, it is proper to worship God, and now, living with the reality of sin, both original and personal, we know that forgiveness must be part of the story, our journey back to life with God. Let me talk about these in reverse order. Adam and Eve both worshiped God before the Fall. It will always be right to do so, and we know this because our pictures of Heaven from later in the Scriptures tell us this. After our first parents sinned, the Scriptures here say they heard the Lord walking in the garden and hid themselves! We have to be careful here, because...

I want to move on from politics. I really do. We'll see if it happens. I still hold the same views about Trump, Trumpism, and the GOP. (I hold none in high esteem, in case you hadn't noticed.) Perhaps I should have joined the Democrats the night of the Ohio primary; I would love to hear how I'm actually responsible for the deaths of little children, simply because I want nothing to do with the president-elect. The whole matter does prove one thing: A sizable chunk of the American people don't care what the Left thinks about anything. I'm in this weird place where I agree with pretty much every criticism of Trump from Clinton and the Democrats, but I don't want to live in the world that they imagine. I don't want to live in the world that they imagine. So we'll be living in it anyway, since Trump is pretty much them. He's a product of the culture the libertines created. You didn't actually believe anything he said, did you? That's nice...

I have taken my title from Will Smith's remake of "Just The Two Of Us." This particular version has Will Smith encouraging his oldest son Tre, and giving him advice. This song gets me every time. But that's not why we are here. The full quote is, "And you can cry/Ain't no shame in it." Why are we mocking people upset about the election? I'm upset about the election. I had no overly fond preference for either one, yet even so... Have you ever poured your heart into something, with everything you are, and it fails? It's tough. That doesn't even cover it. But that's what people are feeling, at least part of it. You could say that people shouldn't put so much of themselves into a finite thing, but for one, that's easy for some of you to say, and we forget in our cynicism that politics is actually important. I will thank God if the new president is not an unmitigated disaster. I also won't be either surprised or sad if he ...

I heard this 80's tune last night. I still like it, if you will forgive me, but it does go on about a minute too long. The eighties, when any lyrical absurdity is forgivable, as long as you have a synthesizer. Synth covers a multitude of sins. But the thing I love about the '80s that no one gets anymore is, even the most ridiculous songs had a sheen, a chorus, something to say, "You'll tell everyone you hate this song, but you are lying." So here you go . It's OK, you don't have to thank me. [We could get the Schmitz family to do an '80s album, and call it, "Schmitz Schmaltz"! Genius!--ed.] Oh, dear.

I'm sad today, because I was Never Trump, and I really believed in it. I still do. Things which never should have taken place are now normalized; winning makes for short memories. I want nothing to do with religious bigotry, ethnic stereotyping, draconian immigration policies, the mainstreaming of sexual violence, and so forth, and so on. And the thing is, because the Left used the same words, told the same story--and on account of their arrogance and hypocrisy were utterly eviscerated--some people think we don't need to talk about these things, that they are fictions. Whether the people who hold this view are swept up in a populist fervor, or they are just sick of hearing it from what they regard as the usual suspects, I feel compelled to say that they are not fictions or lies. I'm sad because this outrage of a campaign has been vindicated. I'm outraged that none of this scandal has been called to account, and won't be, by any human, as far as I can tell. It mi...

I would like to think I am an elitist in the best sense: I am highly educated, sensitive to the concerns of the marginalized, deeply suspicious of cheerleading for ideologies at the expense of individuals, families, communities, and nations. I value decorum, respect, and constructive debate. I'm a secret peacenik and believer in international institutions. I have never felt so alienated from the Republican Party as I do today. I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton. If you can't get me, you can't win. The reason is abortion. Democrats are extremists on abortion. It's not the only reason you lost, or maybe it is. But it's wrong, and now it's impractical to defend it for political reasons. This is free advice: give it up. Let your pro-life members out of the shadows to speak the truth. Maybe even nominate a defender of life, from conception to natural death! Just a thought.

I abstained from the presidential vote. Missouri leans Republican, mind you, for president. If indeed Mr. Trump wins here by some 15 points, it indicates to me that Missouri has lost its bellwether status, and frankly, that the voters here have lost their minds. Which is not to say that I welcome a Clinton victory here, or in the nation as a whole. It is absolutely to say that for all their faults real and imagined, we are unworthy of George W. Bush, his father George Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney,  Ronald Reagan,  Dwight Eisenhower, and all the rest up to this point. We have failed them. We have failed our children. We have failed our fellow citizens, and the world. No, I don't think it's overstated. One further thing: there are those who would dismiss these words as sentiment or virtue signaling, as some are calling it. My only reply is that it is in fact those who have deadened themselves to virtue who cannot recognize its opposite. I will not go on as though the game ...

We Catholics pray to all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. Frankly, besides that, we pray to a lot of people. But I never thought I would have to defend the licitness of praying to Jesus, or to the Holy Spirit. The argument went like this: Should we pray to Jesus alone? A: No. Prayers should be directed to God alone. The unstated premise of this argument is that Jesus isn't God. Friends, Christians, if you ever get to, "Jesus is not God," start over. I beg you. And people wonder why I sought full communion with the Catholic Church.

Generations lived and died, waiting for the Cubs to win the championship of baseball. My Cardinals have won it 11 times since 1908. Think about that. And now, all the waiting is over. I live and die with every pitch, so I get it. Then again, I never could. Winning is tradition in St. Louis. A season without a playoff appearance (like this last one) is a total loss, and it'll be going on 6 years since the last championship. The natives are getting restless, if you can believe that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to all the beleaguered fanbases out there. Winning does nothing, if not breed the desire for more winning. The fans in Chicago will get arrogant. Fans always do. On the other hand, if you're a die-hard, the other teams in the way always seem bigger and badder than they probably are. Your team is unlucky, behind the 8-ball, opposed by the umpires, et cetera. I have never seen a team in my life that didn't talk about "adversity." Even if they won 103 ga...

I was eating leftover chicken wings. I don't know if you know this, but I try not to throw any actual food in my trash can. Assume the worst in a scenario of bachelorhood, and you might be able to guess why. So, I put the bones on a plate in order to take them downstairs, with the aim of throwing them in the glorious municipal trash can on the corner. They rolled off my lap. On to the floor. Every. Single. One. I would love to tell you that I handled this moment with trademark grace. I would love to tell you that the world is full of sunshine and rainbows, truly. I'd love to tell you lots of things. I cursed with the ferocity I normally reserve for Robert Urich's acting, and untimely double plays. Even on the best of days, I have a long way to go. Maybe "someone dropped the bones" could be code for, "I completely overreacted to the smallest thing." You wouldn't know anyone like that, would you?

There was a TED talk once by a woman in Australia. She had a significant physical disability, and she talked a lot about how she wanted to be treated normally, and how she hated people being patronizing. "I'm just like you!" she said in many different ways. In the "community," as it were, we call it "inspire-a-porn." I get it. I really do. But. Who am I to decide when people are allowed to be inspired? Who am I to decide that I'm not carrying a cross? If other people see it, what reality am I trying to live in, pretending it's not there? There's a guy in our parish who is mentally ill. I think it's schizophrenia. He shakes my hand after Communion every single day. He used to say I was his inspiration, when there was more time. All I have to say is, "Brother, I'll be your inspiration as long as you want." I'm getting over the idolatry of "normal." The pride of it. If you met me, you might realize I...

I stayed up late this morning to watch it. I laughed the entire half-hour! No wonder this guy had two sitcoms. Are you kidding? I wish I had that kind of timing. This episode guest starred Rene Auberjonois as a sketchy French psychologist who brings his wife on an exchange trip to the United States. His wife is revealed to be his mistress. Yikes. But nor does he understand US currency, leading to two hilarious exchanges with a snarky cab driver. I'm gonna have to watch this show again.

Prior to the first world war, there had been a dominant liberal hermeneutic for Scriptural interpretation: this "Jesus" was anti-cultic, anti-institutional, and the goal was to embrace the Kingdom, which transcends these especially Old Testament notions of sacrifice, Temple, and people. The war destroyed that consensus. Part of what Ratzinger calls the "moralism" of this view was upended by the savagery of the conflict. The second war deepened the disillusionment. Old ideas die hard, though, and its proponents reformulated this anti-cultic tendency with an eschatological twist. A new angle was that this re-formulated concept meshed easily with ascendant neo-Marxism, and its morality play of oppressed versus oppressor. They could pit the "institutional" Church against the popular Church. Ratzinger says that these views are bad candidates for reality as it is, precisely because they bear the marks of the times in which they were created. We can be resp...

Among faithful Catholics, there is a confidence that Christian history bears out the conviction that the Church of the New Testament, the Church that Christ founded, is the Catholic Church. Consequently, all Christians should be members of the Catholic Church. At the popular level, you might hear someone say, in response to a question about them seeking full communion with the Catholic Church, "I read the Church fathers." It's kind of a quick answer that may not tell one anything at all. And you might be well aware of Protestants who read and know the Church fathers. I believe that one can say there is a theological significance to the passage of time, and to the gradual refinement of the articulation of dogma. The Incarnation and the totality of the paschal mystery means that the world as it was made, and all the people therein, belong again to God through Jesus Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit. So, it would be reasonable to expect that the same faithfulness...

I'm actually shocked, shocked (!) that middle-aged (and older) white guys in trucker hats think Trump is obviously the better choice. Of course, this isn't an argument. But the funny thing is, the Democrats have always said we were trying to turn back the clock. Maybe they are right this time. I have to admit that there is a real generational aspect to this whole thing. I'm 36. I couldn't even finish Trump's introductory 3 minute commercial. I get nostalgic about Nintendo games, and Matlock, not about an America that never actually existed. Call it liberal if you want, but I think it's actually pretty patriotic to realize that not everyone got a real slice of the American pie in the "good old days." Tell the truth, make amends, (if possible) and go forward. But there's nothing forward-looking about Trump. There's nothing reflective or self-critical about him. Can you honestly say you feel proud of what he represents? Forget about the Democrats;...

Welp. The GOP got itself stuck with Trump. This articulates pretty well my thoughts since last November. I don't agree that Never Trumpers have simply failed to put on their "big-boy" and "big-girl" pants, to just vote for him. Judicial myopia. With a hat-tip to Anderson for some help there. I have never responded to the battle-cry, "Judges!" before now, and I'm not starting now. If I could disregard social issues, (abortion, gay unions/"rights", etc.) I'd vote for Hillary without hesitation.  If you don't live in the thought-world where that might be an option, well, there are no locks on the metaphorical doors; I will leave you to whatever emotivist rage against me you are feeling. The argument goes something like this:  As her e-mails and Goldman Sachs speeches might show, she is a relentlessly triangulating careerist. She's no progressive ideologue. She's tough as nails; that's why we don't like her. She...