Do you feel "put off"?

Sun, 08/12/2018 - 11:28 — frlarry
Topics: 
Issues

One of the more amusing characters from the Popeye comic strip (created by E. C. Segar in 1934, called then the "Thimble Theater") is a hamburger ravenous fellow named J. Wellington Wimpy (although usually just "Wimpy") who is a sort of charactature of an intellectual con-artist. His famous tag line is "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." Surprisingly, he seems to be impossible to find on Tuesdays.

What is "positive"?

Fri, 08/03/2018 - 10:29 — frlarry

A visit to Dictionary.com's definition of the word "positive" turns up 33 definitions! Why so many, you ask? Perhaps a broad reason is that it's a value word, and in our culture, values are in a tangled mess.

I say "perhaps", because I'm not positive about that.

In this last sentence, I used meaning #4 in Dictionary.com's lengthy list.

Ersatz love and ersatz truth

Fri, 07/27/2018 - 10:00 — frlarry
Topics: 
Reflections

Are people aware of how much social conservatives have in common with social "progressives"? For instance:

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Thu, 07/26/2018 - 10:26 — frlarry
Topics: 
History
Issues
Reflections

Jeremiah was a prophet of the Kingdom of Judah, prior to, during and after the conquest by the Babylonians. He was, so to speak, a "gadfly on the wall" as great tragic events swirled around him, events that were inevitable as the people, especially their leaders, abandoned faith in the Living God. Instead, they sought refuge in all the wrong places. Their leaders even fled to Egypt to escape the Chaldeans (whose capital was Babylon)… Yet, their alliance with Egypt proved fruitless.

What is Fascism, really, and why is it regarded as "right wing"?

Thu, 07/05/2018 - 09:44 — frlarry
Topics: 
History
Issues
Reflections

I find it puzzling that serious intellectuals can find it so difficult to recognize that fascism has nothing to do with either conservatism or liberalism. Indeed, calling it extreme right-wing shows a fundamental ignorance of the fact that political ideology is inherently a multi-dimensional phenomenon. A more accurate assessment would be that fascism is not even on the same multi-dimensional axis as liberalism vs. conservatism.

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This web log is a place to conduct a conversation on the elusive nature or features of listening to and following God’s will. That is, it is concerned with the “how and why” of seeing with Eyes of Faith. Besides the “how and why” it is also about the “what.” What does one see in the world through Eyes of Faith? This component of the weblog is, alas, likely to be the preponderant content for some time. There are fundamental axioms that I propose here for what it means to “see with eyes of faith.” Seeing with eyes of faith is ultimately about viewing the world as a creature of a personal God.

 

 

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"What did you go out to the desert to see--a reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine garments? Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom scripture says: 'Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you.' I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."

Jesus, commenting on John the Baptist — Luke 7:24b-28, NAB

Desert scene, originally uploaded by Bitterroot

If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Jesus commenting on the perennial project of evil to co-opt the good — Matthew 24:23-28, KJV

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
[Isaiah 1:18-20]

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, "We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn." For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, "He has a demon"; the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!" Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.
Jesus comparing how people received him, John the Baptist (and the prophets) — Matt 11:15-19, RSV

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves; let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me." For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
[Romans 15:1-7]

A good hermeneutic cannot mechanically apply the criteria of inspiration, or absolute truth, in the extrapolation of a sentence or expression. The level on which it is possible to perceive Sacred Scriptures as the Word of God is that of the unity of God's history, a totality in which single elements are reciprocally illuminated and open themselves to understanding.
Pope Benedict XVI message to Cardinal William J. Levada, president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and the members of that commission. The message was issued on the occasion of the commission's annual plenary assembly, which focused on the theme of "Inspiration and Truth of the Bible," and made public on May 5, 2011.

If I ever do wind up in hell, I suspect my punishment will be to teach math to politicians and journalists. Then again, it might be, instead, locating and fixing all of the grammatical and spelling errors in everything I've ever written. (Myth of Sisyphus, anyone?)
Fr. Larry