Safe Haven

Most people who get upset about wars on Christmas and such don't really fully celebrate Christmas. Christmas itself lasts 8 days, and the season lasts until Epiphany (typically January 6). Also, if you don't actually attend Mass on Christmas, you haven't really kept Christ in Christmas, at least not fully. I guess I could get upset that a bunch of secular types want us all to say "Happy Holidays" instead. But the thing is, "Holidays" is short for, "holy days," and I can think of nothing better than sanctifying particular days to annoy those stodgy, heretical Puritans. Yes, I went there. You'll live. If I'm being completely honest, I don't really mind other people's religious holidays, either, unless they happen to celebrate by doing evil. To actually believe in Jesus, and to further believe that our world should be different because of Him is so radical that it seems pointless to fret that some greater past has been lost. To...

So that's been happening. It's mostly in my ears now. I can hear two things: Jack, and Squat. I had an antibiotic, but I had some unfortunate and inopportune side effects, [Are side effects ever opportune?--ed.] so I stopped. Yes, I know that's bad. But some effects are merely unpleasant; others, in context, prevent you from doing anything. In other news, "Mittens" didn't get the Secretary of State job; it's probably for the best, sir. At least you won't be tainted. Too harsh? I think not. But who knows? Everything may work out. The lesson for the week is this: peace at the cost of the truth is not peace at all.

This is the entire theme of the Bible. There are others, of course, but this is the heart. God is  steadfast love. There are many people who worry that talking about how God is Love waters down religion. I suppose that is a valid concern. But when we realize that we have not attained what we hope for, then we know the cost of failing to tell the truth about sin. Sin keeps us from loving communion with God forever. That's what we hope for. If we don't tell someone about something that is holding them back from the greatest gift they could ever receive, do we really love them? I think some people have a vision of what they want the Church to be and do, so they listen to people who "tell it like it is" and they try to start a culture war in the Church; who said what to whom, who's "soft," "faithful," et cetera. In short, a huge waste of time. There appears to be others who personally get stuck where they are. They might even make a to-do about...

Covenant theology is the study of how God has chosen to relate to humanity, both before our fall, and after. God makes covenants--sacred binding agreements detailing what God promises to do, and what promises He expects his people to keep. Through all the history of salvation in the Old Testament, it has not been a story of success on our part at all. But God has chosen to renew those covenants throughout the story, forgiving and blessing His people continually, and repeating the promise of a Savior and King who would finally deliver them from sin, once for all. There are two major bookends to the story of Israel in the Old Testament: the Exodus from Egypt, and the Babylonian Exile. The first showed God's power of deliverance, and the second showed the wages of Israel's breaking of the covenant. In short, death. The context of the New Testament when you start is God's people in exile, waiting for deliverance. That's why in one place it says a holy person was "w...

I was watching Rachael Ray this morning. She's a celebrity chef. She still cooks on her show, but you can tell she is trying to branch out. Anyway, she had a financial planner on to give advice. The planner asked an audience member she was helping about expenses. The young woman offered that she was engaged. As the planner began describing one of her savings plans, she said, "You can keep this in your room, you and your fiancé." An innocuous comment about a money jar got me thinking. I live in a subculture where unmarried people don't live together. They don't have sex, unless they mess up. Think about this for a second: it's not even about mercy and compassion; people like you and me mess up all the time. But the whole point of naming sin is to say that sin is part of a culture, a way of being, that we don't want. If you are one of those people who fears being "judgmental," ask yourself if you are witness to a behavior that you would accept ...

I learned long ago that you had better bring the goods, if you are going to argue with Bryan Cross. Actually, I hope he has a good spiritual director, because I just assume I'm wrong, at this point, and it may not help in his cultivation of the virtue of humility! In general though, have you noticed how little actual argument is in the public square? Once you realize it, that data point may be distressing. I believe that our lack of reason is the presenting problem in public discourse. One could argue that the common good is the beating heart of the social doctrine. Any philosophy which denies that the common good even exists is incompatible with the Catholic social doctrine. It doesn't help some people to tell them the Church is our mother, because they don't listen to their mothers, anyway. They react as though the Church said, "I don't want you hanging around with Tommy Pandolfo from down the street! He's always in trouble!" "OK, Ma! I'...

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?