Furthermore…

Bishop showing off the fish in his fishtank:

“I gave them all names: John, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecelia, Anastasia, and Omnia Sanctorum.” 

One of the Saint of the Day emails I receive (Nov. 2) commented, in connection with praying for someone we love who has gone before,  ”In prayer we stand  in God’s presence in the company of someone we love…”

I’ve started to think of prayer as always a flow of love, one way or the other.

One way, our love is going to God, as in praising, remembering His Greatness, adoring, and all.

The other way, love is coming from God to us as we ask for things, thank Him for what we have received, are blessed, led and inspired.

Lots of our prayers are a mixture of loves, some flowing one way, some the other.

Kid answering question in religion class:

“St. Duncan? Was he the first one to serve donuts after Sunday Mass?”

Today we discussed the Easter Sunday readings, following a study guide leaflet provided by the parish. With reference to Jesus’empty tomb, I wanted to mention something I heard on the radio during the last few days, about how the Jewish custom was to place the bodies on shelf-like areas in the tomb for a period of time until they decomposed, and then transfer the remaining bones into an ossuary or storage jar where they would rest in perpetuity.  A tomb might be used more than once in this manner, which to a degree illuminates the reason for the distinct mention in the scriptures that the tomb which Joseph of Arimethea provided was unused.

Tangently, I keep hearing various alternate ways of presenting the chronology of the days and hours  from the Last Supper through the Resurrection, based on different understandings of the calendar and customs of the time, and I hope all this is or can be pinned down with certainty if it is not already, as the existence of these conflicting interpretations lends an air of bumbling or incompetence to a most serious area of study. 

Police detective to priest:

“Let’s see if I have this right, Father.  What the burglars stole was a stole…?”

One time I was watching a TV show, and an older person asked a girl, about some male in her life, “Are you giving yourself to him??!!” I guess anyone would quickly grasp the exact  focus of the question, and yes, I believe she was, to the great consternation of the older parent, or teacher, questioner.

But I was struck with the choice of words, and had a sense that there were layers and shades of meaning wrapped up them, beyond the obvious “Are you having sex?”

One layer, I guess, derives from the aspect that the girl was hitherto a virgin, and so was involved in  something beyond “doing it” and was surrendering her promising future, her purity, her youth and innocence, and if I remember correctly, her common sense (because the ‘him’ was not right for her).  Another shade of meaning was “have we failed to prepare adequately you for life?”  Or could it have been meant to convey “Are you placing so little value on your finer qualities that you have handed them over to ‘him’ unreflectingly?”

The answer in the girl’s mind might have been some version of “It’s my gift and I’ll give it away if I want to!” Or: “Grow up, why don’t you! I just did!” Her corresonding sisters today, as coached by the media, seem to say, “So?”

I want to relate the general idea of giving oneself to another to the way Christ gives Himself to us in the Eucharist. It is first necessary to jetison the sexual layer. The parts that carry over is the understanding that giving oneself is a deep, meaningful act of ultimate generosity, and that the recipient may be disappointingly unworthy. And, of course, that Jesus’ gift to us is unimaginitively more to be desired than any other person’s gift of themselves.

Little boy to mom:

“No, I didn’t make my bed. I think God made it!”

Biologists trying to reduce or eliminate the population of creatures they have identified as pestilent or unwanted sometimes use ‘biological control.’ This might involve releasing great numbers known predators on the target species, or releasing sterile individuals. The target species will ‘mate’ normally but with the sterilized individuals no progeny will be produced, and population numbers will significantly decline.

This is now being used by the Devil as one of his methods of attacking the people of God. The natural course of reproduction among us is being thwarted by such satanic devices as contraception and abortion. Our sterilized females continue to ‘mate’ in the manner normal to our species, accommodating males more or less oblivious as to whether any fecundity is being quickened  in the performance of their acts. 

The populations of many nations are now not reproducing at a rate sufficient to maintain, much less, increase their numbers. Of course, the Devil and his minions would like everyone to believe that there is a threat of overpopulation, especially of ‘undesirable’  people against whom there is prejudice or distrust.