Furthermore…

Priest to plumber, about broken toilet:

“The spurt is filling, but the flush is weak!”

I heard a Monsignor on the radio discussing Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. In a slip of the tongue, he said ‘the good Samaritan woman,’ then quickly corrected himself. I waited in vain for him to say she was the ‘bad Samaritan woman,’ but if it crossed his mind, he stopped short of it. It was the Gospel reading this past Sunday, and just in a few days I have heard several circuitous arguments to the effect that she was likely a blameless product of her circumstances and not the local tramp. “Have it your way,” I think.

The conversation she has with Jesus seems charged with a kind of playful sparring for one-up points such as goes on in a pickup confrontation. Such might have been old hat with her. Her repeated use of the  honorific ‘Sir’ seems a kind of mock, distancing formality that she would be quite willing to set aside for a more informal personal relating, should such develop.

But she quickly sees that she is not being hit on, but rather redeemed, a far more exciting eventuality! 

Moses to Aaron as they look at footprints in the desert sand:

“Appears a large multitude passed this way about forty years ago!”

 When I go for my morning walk, and  I remember to pray instead of to randomly ruminate, I like to say “Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God/ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.” The beautiful pre-dawn sky, the morning star, and a  personal preference seem to somehow come together to make this the choice.

This morning for some reason I got to thinking how the Lord must find it especially loving to pour out His mercy on people who are humble; correspondingly, the people who are of  humble outlook must find it particularly easy to ask Him for mercy, because they realize how much they need it. So: synergy!

Then, mumbling my Promises prayer to Mary, I saw a correspondence in it to the Mercy/Humility synergy: saying ‘pray for us’ arises naturally out of a feeling of humility, a sense of  ‘Boy, do I need your intercession, such as I am.’  And ‘the promises of Christ’: they must certainly include His mercy,  at the top of the list.

Man is putting sign on front lawn reading

BEWARE OF DOG.

Next door on church lawn  priest puts sign reading

BE AWARE OF GOD.

I once saw a list of logical fallacies that might pop up in argument. I not sure if  ’as everyone knows’ was one of them, under a different name, but it seems to be getting a heavy workout lately in the secular media. Another name for it might be ‘Assume We are right and They are misguided,’ although that is obviously too long for acceptance by the textbook editors.

Salespeople have a related closing (the sale) technique called ‘Assume they’ll buy’ according to which they brusquely go forward with their scenario as though there is no doubt whatsoever that all parties concerned agree that the offer is absolutely delightful,  and all that remains is to take care of a few details like filling out and signing the order form.

What they have in common is the ‘assume’ part, which allows no room for considering whether what the other person thinks might be worth exploring. So: “As everyone knows, religion is opposed to science and clear thinking,” or “As everyone knows, the thing to do is to have safe sex whenever an attractive opportunity arises.”

Parents are familiar with this gambit, and spend a lot of time leading their kids through a chain of clear thinking steps to show that what ‘everyone’ knows, or does, isn’t necessarily valid.  Just having a compilation of all the wrong things that ‘everyone knows’ (according to the secular mind) would be an enormous boon, especially if it included  thumbnail explanations of where the hidden fallacies lie.

One archeologist to another as they study hieroglyphics:

“I believe it says

 A FREEWILL OFFERING WILL BE TAKEN AS YOU LEAVE!”

Every once in a while I run into someone with the notion that Jesus  either wasn’t, or didn’t claim to be, divine. Most of the time the person doesn’t seem to be really familiar with the Scriptures and what Jesus said.  Jesus, as the Son of God, did all things rightly, but I have to wonder, why was He so often rather obscure or indirect about what He said and His answers? Was it to make His hearers think more penetratingly? Was there a bit of holy playfulness at work? Or could it be that what seems obscure and indirect to mere creatures is clear and distinct to God? When Pilate asked Him “Then you are a king?” He answered “You say I am a king.” John 18;37) 

 Wow! Is that a way that people commonly answered questions back then? I suppose it’s almost impossible to do justice to the nuances of ancient speech in modern English, but that doesn’t seem to be the way people would talk. And it’s only one example.

Optometrist has sign SEEING IS BELIEVING

Church next door has BELIEVING IS SEEING.

There is an outstanding Catholic apologetics organization called Catholic Answers. I wonder about things from time to time, but I never get around to sending my wonderments to Catholic Answers, so I’m starting an exercise here called Catholic Wonderings.  That it may be little more than yelling into a barrel, or beaming into the ether ala SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), or casting a message inside a bottle into the ocean, I realize. But exercise can be its own justification.

Question. I listen to some Fundamentalist Christian programs on the radio which operate under the solo scriptura principle, and they seem to assume that this is the unvarnished, bedrock foundation of Christian belief to which all true believers must repair. The “once saved, always saved” magical simplification of what the spiritual life is about is another one.I’m wondering how and when this narrow-mindedness got cooked up. 

 These interpretations are usually presented as having been timelessly central to the life of all Christian believers. They seem to be part of a closed system which excludes all free inquiry.   Sometimes I think we Catholics are guilty of the same kind of ‘having all the answers’ mentality, if maybe to a lesser or less strident degree.                       Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â