Dot to Dust
Man begins as an embryo no larger that a dot or a speck, lives his life and after death, his body turns to dust. Man’s dignity a gift from God exists from that dot moment throughout his life. Though he may not always know or show it, or act with dignity, it still exists for God’s gifts are forever unless we deliberately choose to reject them.
How can we love a dot?
Jesus said: “Love one another as I have loved you”. There are no conditions, no qualifications, no time frames, no loopholes and no wiggle room to this instruction. God loved us so much He became one of us to show us the way. Jesus did not say love one another after birth, or only when they please us, or until they cease to be useful human beings. His instruction excludes no one at any time from loving others. We must see each other as God’s gift and not mere biological tissue.
Respect is a real form of love. When we respect the life of another, we allow them the dignity to decide the way they will live. Our respect can be personal, legal or societal. We work for laws that will protect individuals from the harm of others. We educate our society to respect the life of every human being regardless of his state in life.
How can I love everybody? There are many mean and nasty people out there. You cannot ask me to love abortionists, murderers, thieves, rapists and terrorists. Loving these people is not easy but no one said it would be. For me the only way I can love others is to seek some sign of Jesus in them or their lives. If Jesus said love this dot, it has to be good enough for me.
Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony, and his Passion and gave himself up for each one of us: "The Son of God . . . loved me and gave himself for me." He has loved us all with a human heart. No exceptions. No Compromise! This is the real message of Christmas.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Thoughts
Don't worry about what people think; they don't do it very often.
Going to a church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
It isn't the jeans that make your butt look fat.
My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.
For every action, there is an equal & opposite government program.
If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel good.
No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
Middle age is when broadness of the mind & narrowness of the waist change places.
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
Junk is something you've kept for years & throw away three weeks before you need it.
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
By the time you can make the ends meet, they move the ends.
Thou shall not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
If you must choose between two evils, chose the one that you've never tried before.
Going to a church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
It isn't the jeans that make your butt look fat.
My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.
For every action, there is an equal & opposite government program.
If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel good.
No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
Middle age is when broadness of the mind & narrowness of the waist change places.
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
Junk is something you've kept for years & throw away three weeks before you need it.
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
By the time you can make the ends meet, they move the ends.
Thou shall not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
If you must choose between two evils, chose the one that you've never tried before.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Family and Aging
I attended a family reunion near Scranton PA, last month and had a great time meeting cousins I haven't seen in over 30 or 40 years and even met some (2nd) cousins I had never met before.
One of the realizations I had was to understand how we are all aging, slowly, sometimes imperceptibly but we are aging. Aging is not voluntary. The only thing left to decide is how to accept this fact. Humor and acceptance help maintain serenity.
The following comments came by e mail this week and they serve to make this point.
Aging---
My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.--- Know how to prevent sagging? Just eat till the wrinkles fill out.---
I've still got it, but nobody wants to see it.---
I'm getting into swing dancing. Not on purpose. Some parts of my body are just prone to swinging.---
It's scary when you start making the same noises as your coffee maker.---
These days about half the stuff in my shopping cart says, "For fast relief."---
Don't think of it as getting hot Flashes. Think of it as your inner child playing with matches.> --- Don't let aging get you down. It's too hard to get back up!
One of the realizations I had was to understand how we are all aging, slowly, sometimes imperceptibly but we are aging. Aging is not voluntary. The only thing left to decide is how to accept this fact. Humor and acceptance help maintain serenity.
The following comments came by e mail this week and they serve to make this point.
Aging---
My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.--- Know how to prevent sagging? Just eat till the wrinkles fill out.---
I've still got it, but nobody wants to see it.---
I'm getting into swing dancing. Not on purpose. Some parts of my body are just prone to swinging.---
It's scary when you start making the same noises as your coffee maker.---
These days about half the stuff in my shopping cart says, "For fast relief."---
Don't think of it as getting hot Flashes. Think of it as your inner child playing with matches.> --- Don't let aging get you down. It's too hard to get back up!
Saturday, August 05, 2006
ON FAITH
Faith
When you get to the end of all the light you know
and it’s time to step into the darkness of the unknown,
faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen:
either you will be given something solid to stand on,
or you will be taught how to fly.
The Experience of Faith
"Most of the things we know are known by experience. The taste of chocolate ice cream, a day in the Autumn of the year, the sting of a bee. In fact, love itself is a matter of experience. Some psychiatrists deny the very existence of love. They say it is a delusion. But when one has either loved or been loved, it is all clear. Love exists. But we can know this only by experience.
In the movie, A Patch of Blue, the blind girl asks her grandfather:
“Old paw, what’s green like?” The irritated old man answers:
“Green is green, Stupid. Now stop asking questions.” There follows a pathetic scene in which the young girl paws the grass with her hand and rubs a leaf against her cheek. She is vainly trying to experience the reality of greenness.
The playwright, William Alfred, author of Hogan’s Goat, once said: “People who tell me that there is no God are like a six-year-old saying that there is no such thing as passionate love. They just haven’t experienced God yet.”
Does the condition of desperation release us to the power of God? I keep wondering if, when we finally decide we are nothing, and cannot make it on our own, God decides to give us the grace that will enable us to make something of ourselves. Maybe some of us have to be desperate.
Leonard Cohen once wrote a song called Suzanne. In it he says:
And Jesus was a sailor
when He walked upon the water;
only drowning men could see Him."
John Powell
When you get to the end of all the light you know
and it’s time to step into the darkness of the unknown,
faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen:
either you will be given something solid to stand on,
or you will be taught how to fly.
The Experience of Faith
"Most of the things we know are known by experience. The taste of chocolate ice cream, a day in the Autumn of the year, the sting of a bee. In fact, love itself is a matter of experience. Some psychiatrists deny the very existence of love. They say it is a delusion. But when one has either loved or been loved, it is all clear. Love exists. But we can know this only by experience.
In the movie, A Patch of Blue, the blind girl asks her grandfather:
“Old paw, what’s green like?” The irritated old man answers:
“Green is green, Stupid. Now stop asking questions.” There follows a pathetic scene in which the young girl paws the grass with her hand and rubs a leaf against her cheek. She is vainly trying to experience the reality of greenness.
The playwright, William Alfred, author of Hogan’s Goat, once said: “People who tell me that there is no God are like a six-year-old saying that there is no such thing as passionate love. They just haven’t experienced God yet.”
Does the condition of desperation release us to the power of God? I keep wondering if, when we finally decide we are nothing, and cannot make it on our own, God decides to give us the grace that will enable us to make something of ourselves. Maybe some of us have to be desperate.
Leonard Cohen once wrote a song called Suzanne. In it he says:
And Jesus was a sailor
when He walked upon the water;
only drowning men could see Him."
John Powell
Friday, July 21, 2006
RANDOM THOUGHTS
On inner peace
"I don't know what the future holds but I do know who holds the future"
Inner peace is easier to recognize in others. Inner peace comes from God
Essence of the Serenity prayer : Help me to know what to change and accept what I cannot change.
Questions for me;
What do I think is important?
How do I see problems?
Who do I think I am?
------------------------------------------
On Life
I learned what living really is when I learned to love.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"I don't know what the future holds but I do know who holds the future"
Inner peace is easier to recognize in others. Inner peace comes from God
Essence of the Serenity prayer : Help me to know what to change and accept what I cannot change.
Questions for me;
What do I think is important?
How do I see problems?
Who do I think I am?
------------------------------------------
On Life
I learned what living really is when I learned to love.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Truth is not relative
Truth.. .is. . .not...relative. The truth that guides us here is that life is sacred. This truth is not a matter of opinion. This truth is not negotiable. It simply is.” So spoke Erin Brady Worsham, a woman totally paralyzed as a result of Lou Gehrig’s disease, at a general session of National Right to Life convention in June. (She used a liberator communication device with wires taped to her forehead speaking through an amplified computer.)
She continued, “This is not to say that the circumstances surrounding our lives are always beautiful. They’re not. When I was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1994, I came face-to-face with my own mortality. I realized how much I had taken my life for granted. I was ashamed to see how many hours I had wasted doing nothing, and how little I had used the gifts God had given me.……. I discovered that I had gotten pregnant the day after my diagnosis. I do not believe in coincidence. In the face of death, God was telling us to think about life. “
Erin mentioned that her son, Daniel curry Worsham, just celebrated his eleventh birthday and what a tragedy it would have been, had I followed my doctor’s advice(to abort), The world would have missed out on a very interesting young man!
On “assisted suicide” Erin advised “Before becoming a member of the disability community, I couldn’t imagine anyone choosing to die by assisted suicide. Now, although I still think it’s wrong, I have a better understanding of why a terminally ill person might consider it. It says as much about our health-care system as it does about the person’s state of mind.
The reality of life, for many persons with serious illnesses or disabilities, is grim—even bleak. Often, their only alternative is institutional care. It is a lonely and sometimes a dangerous existence.” Erin pointed out that in a nursing home, if you couldn’t communicate, you were dead. “The nursing-home lobby is very powerful. They pull in most of the state funds, and very little is allocated for home-based care, which often is more cost-effective. Who would not rather be in their own home, when dealing with a long-term or catastrophic illness?
I acquired my communication device at the end of 1996. I could speak in complete sentences again. No more “yes” and “no,” unless I chose. Without communication, a person’s spirit dies long before their body does.
I have been asked if I support embryonic stem cell research, to help find a cure for ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease). I do not—though I do support adult stem cell research. I’m not willing to turn my back on the truth that life is sacred, in order to find a cure at any cost. I can appreciate the national goal of destroying these devastating diseases by all possible means. But I also believe that the choices we make on these life issues define us as a God-based people, living not just for today but also for tomorrow.
Truth is not relative. It’s not negotiable. It’s not a matter of opinion. I have no illusions that I will ever change someone’s pro-choice views. I prefer to concentrate my efforts on the people making these life-and-death decisions. We must take off our rose-colored glasses and find realistic, bearable alternatives for individuals considering abortion or assisted suicide.
Truth may not be relative. But maybe we can make it accessible to) all people.”
She continued, “This is not to say that the circumstances surrounding our lives are always beautiful. They’re not. When I was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1994, I came face-to-face with my own mortality. I realized how much I had taken my life for granted. I was ashamed to see how many hours I had wasted doing nothing, and how little I had used the gifts God had given me.……. I discovered that I had gotten pregnant the day after my diagnosis. I do not believe in coincidence. In the face of death, God was telling us to think about life. “
Erin mentioned that her son, Daniel curry Worsham, just celebrated his eleventh birthday and what a tragedy it would have been, had I followed my doctor’s advice(to abort), The world would have missed out on a very interesting young man!
On “assisted suicide” Erin advised “Before becoming a member of the disability community, I couldn’t imagine anyone choosing to die by assisted suicide. Now, although I still think it’s wrong, I have a better understanding of why a terminally ill person might consider it. It says as much about our health-care system as it does about the person’s state of mind.
The reality of life, for many persons with serious illnesses or disabilities, is grim—even bleak. Often, their only alternative is institutional care. It is a lonely and sometimes a dangerous existence.” Erin pointed out that in a nursing home, if you couldn’t communicate, you were dead. “The nursing-home lobby is very powerful. They pull in most of the state funds, and very little is allocated for home-based care, which often is more cost-effective. Who would not rather be in their own home, when dealing with a long-term or catastrophic illness?
I acquired my communication device at the end of 1996. I could speak in complete sentences again. No more “yes” and “no,” unless I chose. Without communication, a person’s spirit dies long before their body does.
I have been asked if I support embryonic stem cell research, to help find a cure for ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease). I do not—though I do support adult stem cell research. I’m not willing to turn my back on the truth that life is sacred, in order to find a cure at any cost. I can appreciate the national goal of destroying these devastating diseases by all possible means. But I also believe that the choices we make on these life issues define us as a God-based people, living not just for today but also for tomorrow.
Truth is not relative. It’s not negotiable. It’s not a matter of opinion. I have no illusions that I will ever change someone’s pro-choice views. I prefer to concentrate my efforts on the people making these life-and-death decisions. We must take off our rose-colored glasses and find realistic, bearable alternatives for individuals considering abortion or assisted suicide.
Truth may not be relative. But maybe we can make it accessible to) all people.”
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Who am I?
Why am I different from my siblings?
What is life all about?
How do find Happiness in Life?
If you are like me, you may have asked yourself some of these questions. One of the best responses I found are contained in a book by John Powell, SJ a popular lecturer and teacher, a former professor at Loyola University. Here you may find some possible answers for your consideration. Whether or not you believe in God, there are answers in the following:
The Importance of the Family
The family is the first and most important of all the influences that affect our lives.
When we come into this world, we are living questions. We ask: Who am I? Who are these other people? What is life about? The answers are conveyed to us in the hands that hold us and the voices that speak to us.
From the beginning of life, they also have been acted out in front of us and stored in us. We cannot recall many of these messages, but they are nevertheless active in us. In a sense, the hands that held us and the voices that spoke to us as infants still hold and speak to us. We tend to model our lives on these early lessons.
The family is the principal source of the first messages we record deep inside ourselves. Some messages are good and helpful, but others may be unhealthy and painful. Unless we learn to identify and edit them, we become prisoners of our recorded messages from the past.
The second source of family influence is based on a simple fact: All experiences become memories. Even the memories we cannot actively recall continue to influence us. Parents who take time to listen to or appreciate a child are not only offering a positive experience, they are creating a positive, lifelong memory. I am sure that much of what we are is determined by our memories.
Family messages and memories are vital and lasting influences, but there is a third ‘M” that also is transmitted by our families to us—meaning. Some maintain that the quality of our lives is determined by the meaning we find in them. Finding meaning is a constant effort. If we are to grow, we must find new meaning in every new day. We must find meaning in joy and in sorrow, in education and recreation.
To find meaning in something means to find some value in it. If a person values only physical beauty, for example, life for him or her may he over at age thirty-five. We have to find a deeper meaning or we begin to die.
We have to believe that there is a purpose in our lives. God sent each of us into the world with a definite message to deliver and a special act of love to bestow on others.
Psychiatrist Carl Jung believed only religious faith and love could supply this kind of meaning. And while faith and love are really God’s gifts, God channels these graces through the faith and love of others—our families—who touch our lives.
Our parents are our first life models. If they were people of faith and love, the seeds of faith and love were planted in us. We took them on just as we took on other family traits. But if the messages, memories, and meaning in life are really family endowments, why do children of the same family often turn out so differently?
First, I suppose, because they heard different messages.
It is not what we say, but what others hear that matters. And children are notoriously poor at interpreting their parents’ messages. One child can hear love in the command to go to bed; another may conclude: ‘You don’t want me around,” It follows that if the messages are perceived differently, the experiences will be different.
It remains true that the script of our lives is written in our family relationships. Consequently, each of us must stop and reflect on the messages we are sending out.
We must investigate the memories that are shaping our lives and ask what memories we are creating in the lives of those we love. We must also ask whether we are really sharing with others the things that make life meaningful for us. Are faith and love the legacy we are leaving to those we love?
We must ask God to shape the messages our lives give to others, to let us be a positive experience and memory for them, and to deepen our faith and determination to make our lives acts of love.
We must investigate the messages, memories, and meaning that have been passed along to us, so that we may live fully and he a source of blessing to the lives we touch.
Why am I different from my siblings?
What is life all about?
How do find Happiness in Life?
If you are like me, you may have asked yourself some of these questions. One of the best responses I found are contained in a book by John Powell, SJ a popular lecturer and teacher, a former professor at Loyola University. Here you may find some possible answers for your consideration. Whether or not you believe in God, there are answers in the following:
The Importance of the Family
The family is the first and most important of all the influences that affect our lives.
When we come into this world, we are living questions. We ask: Who am I? Who are these other people? What is life about? The answers are conveyed to us in the hands that hold us and the voices that speak to us.
From the beginning of life, they also have been acted out in front of us and stored in us. We cannot recall many of these messages, but they are nevertheless active in us. In a sense, the hands that held us and the voices that spoke to us as infants still hold and speak to us. We tend to model our lives on these early lessons.
The family is the principal source of the first messages we record deep inside ourselves. Some messages are good and helpful, but others may be unhealthy and painful. Unless we learn to identify and edit them, we become prisoners of our recorded messages from the past.
The second source of family influence is based on a simple fact: All experiences become memories. Even the memories we cannot actively recall continue to influence us. Parents who take time to listen to or appreciate a child are not only offering a positive experience, they are creating a positive, lifelong memory. I am sure that much of what we are is determined by our memories.
Family messages and memories are vital and lasting influences, but there is a third ‘M” that also is transmitted by our families to us—meaning. Some maintain that the quality of our lives is determined by the meaning we find in them. Finding meaning is a constant effort. If we are to grow, we must find new meaning in every new day. We must find meaning in joy and in sorrow, in education and recreation.
To find meaning in something means to find some value in it. If a person values only physical beauty, for example, life for him or her may he over at age thirty-five. We have to find a deeper meaning or we begin to die.
We have to believe that there is a purpose in our lives. God sent each of us into the world with a definite message to deliver and a special act of love to bestow on others.
Psychiatrist Carl Jung believed only religious faith and love could supply this kind of meaning. And while faith and love are really God’s gifts, God channels these graces through the faith and love of others—our families—who touch our lives.
Our parents are our first life models. If they were people of faith and love, the seeds of faith and love were planted in us. We took them on just as we took on other family traits. But if the messages, memories, and meaning in life are really family endowments, why do children of the same family often turn out so differently?
First, I suppose, because they heard different messages.
It is not what we say, but what others hear that matters. And children are notoriously poor at interpreting their parents’ messages. One child can hear love in the command to go to bed; another may conclude: ‘You don’t want me around,” It follows that if the messages are perceived differently, the experiences will be different.
It remains true that the script of our lives is written in our family relationships. Consequently, each of us must stop and reflect on the messages we are sending out.
We must investigate the memories that are shaping our lives and ask what memories we are creating in the lives of those we love. We must also ask whether we are really sharing with others the things that make life meaningful for us. Are faith and love the legacy we are leaving to those we love?
We must ask God to shape the messages our lives give to others, to let us be a positive experience and memory for them, and to deepen our faith and determination to make our lives acts of love.
We must investigate the messages, memories, and meaning that have been passed along to us, so that we may live fully and he a source of blessing to the lives we touch.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Pithy
Life is a journey. NOT a guided tour.
Some people bring happiness wherever they go.
Some people bring happiness whenever they go.
Gossip is telling or hearing something you like about someone you do not like.
Let Go or get dragged
Don’t believe everything you think.
When I first heard the saw “ if you can’t say anything good about a person don’t say anything” I was speechless.
Some people bring happiness wherever they go.
Some people bring happiness whenever they go.
Gossip is telling or hearing something you like about someone you do not like.
Let Go or get dragged
Don’t believe everything you think.
When I first heard the saw “ if you can’t say anything good about a person don’t say anything” I was speechless.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
What is real?
What is real?
On Sundays I try to take some time for what I call deep thinking, some might have other terms for it. When my world closes in with the pressures of time and desired tasks, I find it helpful to slow down, (Easy does It) using the slow period, trying to determine what life is about.
Awhile back I read a passage by George Weigel that presented a window through which I can look for some answers. (The Truth of Catholicism p 55)
“A better prism through which to see what is at stake here comes from Evelyn Waugh’s Men at Arms, the first in a trilogy of novels about the Second World War. In one memorable scene the trilogy’s protagonist, Guy Crouchback, a Catholic, is attending his first formal dinner as an officer-in-training of the Royal Corps of Halberdiers. The champagne is flowing freely, and amid the post-dinner skits and games, Guy finds himself in conversation with the regiment’s Anglican chaplain. “Do you agree,” Guy asks, “that the Supernatural Order is not something added to the Natural Order, like music or painting, to make everyday life more tolerable? It is everyday life. The supernatural is real; what we call ‘real’ is a mere shadow, a passing fancy. Don’t you agree, Padre?” “Up to a point,” the obviously uncomfortable chaplain replies.
A theologian might quibble with Guy Crouchback’s description of the “real world” as “mere shadow,” but every influential Catholic thinker in history would have agreed with Guy’s basic proposition: that what we call the “supernatural” is, in truth, the most real of real things, and that the supernatural makes itself known to us through the materials of the “real world.” In the Catholic imagination, what we call the “real world” is not buttoned down and self-enclosed. The “real world” is a world with windows, doors, and skylights. Into it streams the light of what is really the real world, which is the world of the supernatural: the world of God.”
After reading this, I see much clearer through this prism, Things and situations previously confusing or nettlesome to me become clearer and I begin to understand that all I confront, be it good, bad or neither, are preparing me for my eternal future.
C.S. Lewis once wrote “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.
Nations, Cultures, Arts, civilizations ___ these are mortal and their life to ours is as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit –immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
Wow! I will be keeping my eyes on you for supernatural clues.
On Sundays I try to take some time for what I call deep thinking, some might have other terms for it. When my world closes in with the pressures of time and desired tasks, I find it helpful to slow down, (Easy does It) using the slow period, trying to determine what life is about.
Awhile back I read a passage by George Weigel that presented a window through which I can look for some answers. (The Truth of Catholicism p 55)
“A better prism through which to see what is at stake here comes from Evelyn Waugh’s Men at Arms, the first in a trilogy of novels about the Second World War. In one memorable scene the trilogy’s protagonist, Guy Crouchback, a Catholic, is attending his first formal dinner as an officer-in-training of the Royal Corps of Halberdiers. The champagne is flowing freely, and amid the post-dinner skits and games, Guy finds himself in conversation with the regiment’s Anglican chaplain. “Do you agree,” Guy asks, “that the Supernatural Order is not something added to the Natural Order, like music or painting, to make everyday life more tolerable? It is everyday life. The supernatural is real; what we call ‘real’ is a mere shadow, a passing fancy. Don’t you agree, Padre?” “Up to a point,” the obviously uncomfortable chaplain replies.
A theologian might quibble with Guy Crouchback’s description of the “real world” as “mere shadow,” but every influential Catholic thinker in history would have agreed with Guy’s basic proposition: that what we call the “supernatural” is, in truth, the most real of real things, and that the supernatural makes itself known to us through the materials of the “real world.” In the Catholic imagination, what we call the “real world” is not buttoned down and self-enclosed. The “real world” is a world with windows, doors, and skylights. Into it streams the light of what is really the real world, which is the world of the supernatural: the world of God.”
After reading this, I see much clearer through this prism, Things and situations previously confusing or nettlesome to me become clearer and I begin to understand that all I confront, be it good, bad or neither, are preparing me for my eternal future.
C.S. Lewis once wrote “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.
Nations, Cultures, Arts, civilizations ___ these are mortal and their life to ours is as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit –immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
Wow! I will be keeping my eyes on you for supernatural clues.
Friday, April 28, 2006
More on Retirement
While employed so many time demands left little time for reflection.
In our middle years we start to ask the question, What is the meaning of Life? In retirement, we begin to find some answers.
We have already made life choices that bear mightily on our retirement years. Now new choices present themselves each and every day if we are aware of them.
Stay Awake!
In our middle years we start to ask the question, What is the meaning of Life? In retirement, we begin to find some answers.
We have already made life choices that bear mightily on our retirement years. Now new choices present themselves each and every day if we are aware of them.
Stay Awake!
Friday, April 21, 2006
Murphy's Laws
My Favorites
LaGuardia’s Law
Statistics are like expert witnesses—they will testify for either side.
Law of Retrospection
You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the track
Aigner’s Axiom
No matter how well you perform your job, a superior will seek to modify the results.
Jacobson’s Law
The less work an organization produces, the more frequently it reorganizes.
Weller’s Law
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.
Seventh Law of Kitchen Confusion
The more time and energy you put into preparing a meal, the greater the chance your guests will spend the entire meal discussing other meals they have had.
Young’s Law of Bureaucracy
It is the dead wood that holds up the tree.
Corollary
Just because it is still standing, doesn’t mean it’s not dead.
LaGuardia’s Law
Statistics are like expert witnesses—they will testify for either side.
Law of Retrospection
You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the track
Aigner’s Axiom
No matter how well you perform your job, a superior will seek to modify the results.
Jacobson’s Law
The less work an organization produces, the more frequently it reorganizes.
Weller’s Law
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.
Seventh Law of Kitchen Confusion
The more time and energy you put into preparing a meal, the greater the chance your guests will spend the entire meal discussing other meals they have had.
Young’s Law of Bureaucracy
It is the dead wood that holds up the tree.
Corollary
Just because it is still standing, doesn’t mean it’s not dead.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
A letter on Catholic Liturgy
Liturgy doesn’t need improvement
Dear Editor:
Catholics need worship, as Jesus said, “in spirit and in truth.” We need the liturgy celebrated rightly, where we meet Christ and offer true worship. We do not need innovations and creative improvements.
The liturgy is not the property of any individual — not the pope, not the bishop, not any priest nor liturgy committee. The liturgy belongs to the church and is to be passed on, not “improved,” not modified. It does not belong to any man; it belongs to us all. In “The Spirit of the Liturgy” (Ignatius, 2000), then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote strongly against liturgical improvisations. The liturgy is not subject even to the pope. Even he is the servant of Sacred Tradition: “The authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition. Still less is any kind of general ‘freedom’ of manufacture, degenerating into spontaneous improvisation, compatible with the essence of faith and liturgy. The greatness of the liturgy depends - we shall have to repeat this frequently —on its unspontaneity” The pope reminds us of the power of the liturgy: it is of God. The most any man should do is to be faithful to the gift: to trust its power from God. Innovation will only muddy the pure living water that is the right of every Catholic. The pope wrote:
“This kind of creativity has no place within the liturgy The life of the liturgy does not come from what dawns upon the minds of individuals and planning groups….. Yes, the liturgy becomes persona],true, and new not through tom-foolery and banal experiments with the words, but through a courageous entry into the great reality that through the rite is always ahead of us and can never quite be overtaken.”
Many Catholics do not understand the liturgy. This is the problem that needs to be addressed: not by reducing the liturgy to something understandable and shallow, not by making it “entertaining,” not by speeding through its mysteries and dwelling on its human dimensions, but by rightly forming and educating the people.
Thomas Richard
Lady’s Island
Written to Catholic Miscellany - Printed on April 6, 2006
Dear Editor:
Catholics need worship, as Jesus said, “in spirit and in truth.” We need the liturgy celebrated rightly, where we meet Christ and offer true worship. We do not need innovations and creative improvements.
The liturgy is not the property of any individual — not the pope, not the bishop, not any priest nor liturgy committee. The liturgy belongs to the church and is to be passed on, not “improved,” not modified. It does not belong to any man; it belongs to us all. In “The Spirit of the Liturgy” (Ignatius, 2000), then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote strongly against liturgical improvisations. The liturgy is not subject even to the pope. Even he is the servant of Sacred Tradition: “The authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition. Still less is any kind of general ‘freedom’ of manufacture, degenerating into spontaneous improvisation, compatible with the essence of faith and liturgy. The greatness of the liturgy depends - we shall have to repeat this frequently —on its unspontaneity” The pope reminds us of the power of the liturgy: it is of God. The most any man should do is to be faithful to the gift: to trust its power from God. Innovation will only muddy the pure living water that is the right of every Catholic. The pope wrote:
“This kind of creativity has no place within the liturgy The life of the liturgy does not come from what dawns upon the minds of individuals and planning groups….. Yes, the liturgy becomes persona],true, and new not through tom-foolery and banal experiments with the words, but through a courageous entry into the great reality that through the rite is always ahead of us and can never quite be overtaken.”
Many Catholics do not understand the liturgy. This is the problem that needs to be addressed: not by reducing the liturgy to something understandable and shallow, not by making it “entertaining,” not by speeding through its mysteries and dwelling on its human dimensions, but by rightly forming and educating the people.
Thomas Richard
Lady’s Island
Written to Catholic Miscellany - Printed on April 6, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Retirement
Rest is the Best medicine
Retirement can open new vistas and lead to most exciting and interesting time of your life.
It may also present health and wealth challenges like never before.
When positively viewed this time may allow you to continue your current pursuits on a part time basis, start a new career, or simply take into account the beautiful life that surrounds us.
Retirement can open new vistas and lead to most exciting and interesting time of your life.
It may also present health and wealth challenges like never before.
When positively viewed this time may allow you to continue your current pursuits on a part time basis, start a new career, or simply take into account the beautiful life that surrounds us.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
He is risen
He is risen.
Why is this important to a person who does not believe Jesus Christ is God made man?
Because there is one God Who revealed Himself in His son, Jesus Christ, there is one salvation history, centered on Christ.
God gives everyone the grace (means) necessary to be saved (attain Heaven) including those who never even heard of Jesus Christ.
Yet everyone who is saved is saved because of what Jesus Christ did for the world and humanity in Jesus Christ.
This may not be easy to accept in our current culture that rates tolerance above all other virtues, there is a tendency to be indifferent to Truth and the truth of things. Our culture feels there are your truth and my truth, their truth and our truth.
In this I’m OK you’re OK society, the world and Christianity stands on the answer to the age old question He asked “who do you say that I am”.
( For a more in depth reading on this subject see “ The Truth of Catholicism by George Weigel.)
Why is this important to a person who does not believe Jesus Christ is God made man?
Because there is one God Who revealed Himself in His son, Jesus Christ, there is one salvation history, centered on Christ.
God gives everyone the grace (means) necessary to be saved (attain Heaven) including those who never even heard of Jesus Christ.
Yet everyone who is saved is saved because of what Jesus Christ did for the world and humanity in Jesus Christ.
This may not be easy to accept in our current culture that rates tolerance above all other virtues, there is a tendency to be indifferent to Truth and the truth of things. Our culture feels there are your truth and my truth, their truth and our truth.
In this I’m OK you’re OK society, the world and Christianity stands on the answer to the age old question He asked “who do you say that I am”.
( For a more in depth reading on this subject see “ The Truth of Catholicism by George Weigel.)
Friday, April 14, 2006
IF NOT YOU
· be the voice of the lord?
· speak for the unborn?
· go To March for Life in DC?
· attend the SCCL rally for life in Columbia?
· represent the order in full regalia?
· attend the local prayer Vigil for life?
· write the letter to the editor in support of life ?
· contact their Congressman on life legislation?
· financially support those who defend life?
· organize a prayer vigil at a baby killing center ?
· Join a local pro-life group?
· be informed on the spread of the culture of death?
· support our pro-life church leaders?
· pray for the unborn, defenseless elderly and disabled?
· WHY NOT YOU?
· speak for the unborn?
· go To March for Life in DC?
· attend the SCCL rally for life in Columbia?
· represent the order in full regalia?
· attend the local prayer Vigil for life?
· write the letter to the editor in support of life ?
· contact their Congressman on life legislation?
· financially support those who defend life?
· organize a prayer vigil at a baby killing center ?
· Join a local pro-life group?
· be informed on the spread of the culture of death?
· support our pro-life church leaders?
· pray for the unborn, defenseless elderly and disabled?
· WHY NOT YOU?
What if?
What if every newspaper, TV network and media outlet supported life from conception to natural death?
What if pastors in every church, regardless of denomination, courageously defended the sanctity of human life?
What if every believer spoke up, witnessed tirelessly at the killing fields in defense of innocent life?
What if every politician, regardless of party affiliation, affirmed life regardless of the political fallout?
What if every judge. in every state, district and Supreme Court vigorously defended innocent life?
What if every teacher, professor at private or public schools and colleges promoted a culture of life?
What if every doctor, nurse and drug company protected all life, from conception to natural death?
What if every bank, business and abortion supporter, funded Pro-life causes instead of the culture of death?
What if Hollywood and the music industry produced films & music promoting life, modesty, chastity and moral values?
Impossible? Not really! Jesus taught us to pray “ Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven". We all have a role to play in bringing the truth to those who profit from the innocent blood of others. Until Jesus returns, we are God’s hands , feet and voice right here and now. (Christian Action News April 2006)
What if pastors in every church, regardless of denomination, courageously defended the sanctity of human life?
What if every believer spoke up, witnessed tirelessly at the killing fields in defense of innocent life?
What if every politician, regardless of party affiliation, affirmed life regardless of the political fallout?
What if every judge. in every state, district and Supreme Court vigorously defended innocent life?
What if every teacher, professor at private or public schools and colleges promoted a culture of life?
What if every doctor, nurse and drug company protected all life, from conception to natural death?
What if every bank, business and abortion supporter, funded Pro-life causes instead of the culture of death?
What if Hollywood and the music industry produced films & music promoting life, modesty, chastity and moral values?
Impossible? Not really! Jesus taught us to pray “ Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven". We all have a role to play in bringing the truth to those who profit from the innocent blood of others. Until Jesus returns, we are God’s hands , feet and voice right here and now. (Christian Action News April 2006)
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