Furthermore…

Now a couple of us go to a Friday men’s Emmaus breakfast group in addition to our Wednesday afternoon group which discusses the previous Sunday Readings. But as it happens the Friday group treats the readings for the upcoming Sunday, so it serves as a kind of preparation and familiarization for the Wednesday meeting.
Wednesday we talked the most about the First Reading (Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25) and the Psalm (41:2-3, 4-5, 13-14) which are related to some extent with regard to their concentration on the rescuing and forgiveness of God. On Wednesday we draw upon some printed study material, but the Friday group concentrates almost entirely on the scriptures themselves, so it is a somewhat more free-wheeling, generating many stories containing the language and experiences typical of men. The Wednesday group is mixed, so it doesn’t veer off into a masculine world-view.
Anyway, on Wednesday we read a bit more of the Isaiah than is included in the actual reading. Perhaps our moderator felt the reading did not stand on its own too well. There were a few names and concepts which needed to be expanded on — Jacob, wild beasts, rivers, holocaust, and “the ban” (’reviling’ or ‘curse’ in some versions), so that I don’t think we came to a particularly good grasp of what the text contains.

Pastor to gentleman seeking a volunteer assignment:

“We really require more of those taking up the Sunday offering than working several years in a collection agency!”

Back before TV there was a children’s radio show on Saturdays called “Let’s Pretend.” Each week the children would be taken on a magical journey to a land where classical fairy tales would be presented in dramatic form.

The media are much more sophisticated today technologically, and instead of dramatizing classic fairy tales each advocacy group generates new fantasies which try to portray the real world, not as it is, but as the self-appointed elite would like it to be.

So Let’s Pretend:
Developing babies are medical garbage
There are too many people in the world
Well-run corporations are villains
The Government will fix everything with money
Illegal aliens are just regular folks
That’s five, but let’s not pretend there aren’t plenty more.
Sodomy is marriage

Priest, after distributing ashes in a retirement home:

“This was a great pleasure because most of your foreheads are so nice and big!”

One of the people in the Catholic Friends group in the Multiply social network posted a short item based on Sirach 6:14. I’ve liked the passage in which this verse occurs for some time for its down to earth wisdom about human friendship.
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A kind mouth multiplies friends, and gracious lips prompt friendly greetings.
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Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant.
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When you gain a friend, first test him, and be not too ready to trust him
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For one sort of friend is a friend when it suits him, but he will not be with you in time of distress.
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Another is a friend who becomes an enemy, and tells of the quarrel to your shame.
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Another is a friend, a boon companion, who will not be with you when sorrow comes.
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When things go well, he is your other self, and lords it over your servants;
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But if you are brought low, he turns against you and avoids meeting you.
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Keep away from your enemies; be on your guard with your friends.
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A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure.
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A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth.
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A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds;
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For he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.

Sirach, one of the books of wisdom literature in the Bible, has been the source of some of the daily readings at Mass this week, but this particular passage was not read.

One monk, patting his midriff and feeling well fed, to the others at the refectory table:

“Ah, brothers, what a blessing it is to enjoy the fullness of faith!”

I heard that Mother Teresa said something to the effect that the American people are the poorest of all because they so lack love. Thoughts of people hungering for love lead in my mind to “understanding.” I’m sure that to some extent the two are the same, except that love is a wider, more inclusive concept than understanding. Still, I think that understanding alone opens the possiblity of love, even encourages it. True, we can love without understanding a person because we know that person is a child of God. And we can love God without understanding Him, because He first loved us.

The Catholic Friends group on the Multiply network has set up a place where members are encouraged to post personal testimonies about their faith life.
“We are starting a Sharing Group within Personal Testimony Corner… Once a week [they] are going to post a blog on some spiritual topic based on a Bible Reading. We would love [members] not only to treat it as another regular blog entry, but as something addressed personally to each of you. We would love to encourage each of you to SHARE a bit of your spiritual life with all of us in the comments – all to edify one another, to learn from one another how to better respond to God’s calling in our lives.
“Thus, in the comments to each ’sharing group ‘ post write something personal about yourself with reference to our sharing question. Try to enrich others who are going to read your comment by being honest and natural, even if you do not always have too much to ‘boast about’.”

“Maybe there was a ‘turning point’ in your faith. Or a person whose faith made you realize you were missing something they had. Sometimes a trip to a shrine, or a parish mission brings a person to a new level. Reading a life of a saint, or another good book might be life changing. Sadly, even the death, or loss, of a loved one can be a spiritual catalyst, the kind of thing to share as a testimony …”

Pastor to real estate agent trying to sell the church building:

“When you show them the pews, pick the ones up in front, they’re like new!”

I’m calling a design conception I am hoping to realize in cooperation with a computer art wizard the “Divine Family Cross” because it includes both the Holy Trinity and the Holy Family. It can only be seen on a computer or other electronic medium. As I conceive it, it is ornate and golden. The vertical bar has an image of God the Father at the top, an image of Jesus at the center nexus, and of the Holy Spirit below. The cross piece has Mary depicted at the left end and St. Joseph at the right end with Jesus, again, in the center. The image of Jesus is serial, going through a series of His depictions, from Babe, Child, Young Man to Teacher, Crucified, Resurected and Ascending to Heaven, back to Babe, etc. At the foot of the cross is a sampling of humanity.