Catholic Action; or the escapades of three children endevouring to save souls.

Plenary indulgences may usually be gained only once a day and for each one must receive confession and communion and be detatched from their sins. Well, for the first 9 days of November, the month of the Holy Souls, one may attain an indulgence each day for the poor souls in Purgatory if one visits a cemetery and prays for the dead.

My sister, brother, and I were endeavouring to save as many souls as possible and had visited cemeteries for the first six days consecutively. At around 9pm on a school night, we realized "oh no! we didn't visit the cemetery today!" Lucky for us, a mile down the road is a little Mennonite church, behind which is a little Mennonite cemetery. We hopped into the 93 Oldsmobile and coasted down to the church, our teeth chattering since it usually takes about 10 minutes for the heat to get warm in that car.

Upon our arrival, we parked in the deserted parking lot and set off into the blackness behind the church. (CHRUNCH!) (CRRRRAACK!) the dried leaves and twigs beneath our feet. We tried to walk quietly, but we couldn't see a darned thing. "What if somebody seeeeees us?!?" came a harsh whisper. "They won't. It's too dark" I reassured her. "Yeah...it's so dark that if there was a murderer out here we wouldn't see him until it was too late...or a snake or something." "Oh NO!" "Stop it you two!" I whispered hoarsely, feeling goosebumps crawling up my neck.

There they were. The tombstones. We knelt (for we are very pius young Catholics) in the moist ground and commenced our Paters and Aves and Glorias in hushed voices. We stood to finish our prayers (because our knees were wet) when the whole world lit up. A frantic "hit the ground! from my brother and we were down on all fours. It was only a neighbor turning on his backyard flood light to ignite his grill (Who does that at 9pm!?!), but we felt the need for secrecy and slunk out of there double quick and doubled over.

All for the holy souls.

Ah the well-read child

The other day, a groggy Saturday morning, I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth in an attempt to freshen up. My 11 year old brother came up to me with a very worried expression on his face. "My feet hurt really bad, and they are numb!" came the urgent complaint. I looked at him through my droopy eyes, and said "did thoo hust wake upf?" through my brushing. "Yes!" He is now running warm water into the bathtub behind me as I brush my teeth.

I spit. "well, it's probably cause you slept on them wrong or have a cramp. Or maybe its growing pains."

He looks at me a moment, dolefully, then back at his submerged feet. "No," he decides, "I think I have gout."

Me. "uh, Joseph, gout only happens in your big toe." (not true, but I wanted to get his mind off of it."

Joseph, panic stricken, "Now it's only in my big toe!!!"

Sheesh...hypocondriac. I think it was Little Lord Fauntleroy who introduced this illness to him.

Wonder of Wonders

Satan was the most celebrated of Alpine guides, when he took Jesus to the top of an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth. But the joy of Satan in standing on a peak is not a joy of largeness, but a joy in beholding smallness, in the fact that all men look like insects at his feet. It is from the valley that things look large; it is from the level that things look high; I am a child of the level and have no need of that celebrated Alpine guide. I will life up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help; but I will not life up my carcass to the hills, unless it is absolutely necessary. Everything is in an attitude of mind; and at this moment I am in a comfortable attitude. I will sit still and let the marvels and the adventures settle on my like flies. T...here are plenty of them, I assure you. The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.
~Tremendous Trifles, G.K.

Fraternal Correction

fraternal correction: what it is and what it is not.

All good Christians have an obligation to Christian charity, to "love one another as Christ has loved us." The most important fact of this love is that we do whatever is beneficial to the salvation of the one who is loved. If I love someone and he is blindfolded walking towards a fire pit, am I not guilty of murder if I simply let him just walk into the fire and be burnt? If I did not correct him from his deathly path, he would have been lost, or at least quite badly injured. Christian charity therefore charges us to admonish the sinner, that is to guide one's brother in charity out of dire straights.

However, this virtue like others can be abused and become a vice. There are many folks who go around correcting everyone because they see it as their duty. These misguided but (hopefully) well intentioned individuals purport to be doing an act of charity, acting out of concern for another's spiritual well being, or "instructing the ignorant" when they are really judging, nagging, or simply picking on others. Fraternal charity is a virtue only when it is exactly that: charity. At times it is compulsory, that is we must say something or risk sinning. However, there are criteria to be met in order to make it compulsory, and if any particular criterion is not met correction is not compulsory and may even be inadavisable.

1) The delinquency to be corrected is a serious matter
That is, it must be something dealing with grievous sin or harm
2) There is no reason to believe that the sinner will adequately correct himself.
That is, if he doesn't know it is wrong and he will not figure it out for himself, then we bring it to his attention. If he realizes that it is wrong and is sorry, we don't rub their face in it and lecture them on it.
3) There is a well founded expectation that the advice/correction will be headed.
If we will be ignored there is no reason to offer correction that we know will not be headed. Furthermore, if the correction will cause scandal or increased or just make things worse for them we don't do it.
-we don't have coercive power
4) there is no one else present who can do it (i.e. the preist or someone in authority) I have to do it or it won't be done. Also, make sure that you protect the person's reputation and keep it private. Also, you must be qualified
5) there is no special trouble or disadvantage to the correction. we do not need to inconvenience ourselves greatly in order to get the correction around.

Makes sense to me, huh?

The delight of a child

These inventive sibs put hollow ice cubes on a stick and thereby invented a happy little snack for themselves.

"Til the Last Shot's Fired"

(One of the most touching songs I've ever heard)

I was there in the winter of '64
When we camped in the ice at Nashville's doors
Three hundred miles our trail had led
We barely had time to bury our dead
When the Yankees charged and the colors fell
Overton hill was a living hell
When we called retreat it was almost dark
I died with a grapeshot in my heart

Say a prayer for peace
For every fallen son
Set my spirit free
Let me lay down my gun
Sweet mother Mary I'm so tired
But I can't come home 'til
the last shot's fired

In June of 1944
I waited in the blood of Omaha's shores
Twenty-one and scared to death
My heart poundin' in my chest
I almost made the first seawall
When my friends turned and saw me fall
I still smell the smoke, I can taste the mud
As I lay there dying from a loss of blood

I'm in the fields of Vietnam,
The mountains of Afghanistan
And I'm still hopin', waitin', prayin'
I did not die in vain

Say a prayer for peace (for peace)
For our daughters and our sons
Set our spirits free (set us free)
Let us lay down our guns
Sweet mother Mary, we're so tired
But we can't come home (No
we can't come home)

Spring is here!

Some pictures of the beautiful season to share.

Transportation Medium 2010!!!

I finally got a car!!! a Hyundai Sonata 2010....took forever to find something I like, but it will do.

Wow...no posts in nearly 2 months...that's pretty long. Sorry folks. I've been alive though struck with a rather severe case of inertia and lack of motivation. As I haven't found the curative recipe yet, it may be yet alittle while until I get around to posting more after this.

Two weeks ago, I was privilege to be able to spend large amounts of time exclusively with my littlest brother who is only 9. The rest of my siblings have grown so much and are becoming grouchy adolescents and teens, which often leads me to forget that even though he has such older companions and influences, he's still only 9. In anycase, I was test driving a jeep around town with him in the back seat, and asking him car questions, if he liked it, and so on. I was saying something along the lines of "you should check out the new subarus" to which he sighed and replied, "and you should check out the new cherios...they've got tons of new flavors including chocolate." I had to laugh outloud...cars to chocolate cherios in 5 seconds flat. But really, why would I try to have an adult conversation with a kid? he's a child, not a small adult. Still simple minded and innocent.

I've noticed lots of folks speaking to their offspring in elementary school as if they were adults. "why would you do that???" one exasperated mother yelled at her 4 year old. The kid just stood and blinked at her, hands at his side, tears in his eyes, as if to say, "why what? what do you mean?" I want to say "he would because he's a kid, and he thinks like a kid, and he rides his tricycle as if there is no other person or object on the road. how was he supposed to know that he didn't move over far enough and smashed the headlight. Ah life.

where would we be without children.

Leisure

Lying in bed this morning, I was thinking how wonderful it is to live in the way of leisure. It was the first time I could just lay there this week, didn't have to get up afore 6am. (hehehe...makes me happy I don't have kids) Leisure, as opposed to laziness (and it is very different) is not only beneficial to the health of a person as it helps to nip stress and anger in the bud, but also healthful since a person isn't pressed to do anything. Prayer is more effective if one isn't thinking "O my gosh, I need to get this from the store, then I have to write out the bills, taxes need to be done, Jenny's baby is due this week so I should call her, I need to pick up so and so's perscription, the laundrey should be done before this evening," etc.

yes we have many things to do in our everyday lives, but there really is plenty of time to do them, and the things that we stress out about need not be stressed out. Just take a step back and put it into perspective. As my mother's favorite music artists, Marie Bellet, sings, "it's the little things that get you a little at a time." If one lived in a leisurely fashion, they wouldn't get so hung up on the little things. Errands actually become very enjoyable when you've simply got plenty of time to get them done, when you can stop an extra place at some point. I think folks would be much happier too.

Some good reading on the subject (if you've time enough to digest it) is Josef Pieper's Leisure: the Basis of Culture. Absolutely fantabulous publication by a most excellent Catholic philospher of the 20th century. The 20th century has yeilded many excellent Catholic philosphers: Von Hildebrands, Chesterton, Pieper, C.S. Lewis (who was almost Cahtolic), JPII, and others.

ideas on life

Having been out in the workforce for only a wee bit thus far, I can easily see why so many folks are jaded and tired of life. There are many screwy things in this world, and there always have been and probably always will be, but one of the screwiest is people's ideas of life and it's value.

Just reflect for a moment on the history of the world. For thousands of years since the beginning of the world, almost without exception, people have longed for a time when they could see all of their children grow to adulthood, or perhaps they have wished to live long enough to see their children have children. Up until the last century, the average life expectancy was approximately 40 years (give or take) for a few hundred years, and in the middle ages was somewhere in the 30s. The most obvious reason for this was that nearly half of all children under the age of 5 would die from one cause or another...no one bothered with birth control or abortion because they simply went against the instinct of preserving the race, which seemed to be in danger of extinction. I speak here of the natural reasons against it, not the moral implications. Now, I have met so many people who don't want kids, or who have one but don't want another, or who meet me and find out I have 7 sibs and ask "is your mom on crack?" why would they think that? It has simply become unpopular to have children. The popularity of life is obsolete. Overall, I think most of my peers and coworkers would not act or be like that if it didn't seem to be the "thing to think." Amazing how strong peer pressure is. It is downright foolishness to put such a cheep value on life... we are horrified at slavery, that one person could own or put a price on another, but we do it all the time, in our thoughts, in our heads, we classify them as far as their worth or value. I don't think this is natural at all...despite the fact that everyone does it. I think it is depraved.

Braveheart

Having finally seen this epic film, the film which has been praised to the skies and supposedly represents the pinnacle of manliness. While I found it engaging and a lovely story...I was a little disappointed. Such a "great Catholic movie" full of adultery, vulgarity, and crude jokes just kinda numbed me up a bit. Yes, here is a man willing to give his life for freedom. He is an educated man, fluently speaking the language and the mind of the church, and also well versed in the manly arts of farming, fighting, and loving, which are certainly good things. Also, even though I am a little melancholy, I was a bit upset with all the sorrow in the movie, that his wife dies the very next day, etc. Strong story, but almost overwhelmingly sad. Fight scenes are excellent and exhibit the spirit as well as the ingenuity of Wallace.This is s a man who is strong, honorable, witty, and very intelligent. And then, he shoots all of that from the skies by sleeping with the queen! Sure he's a manly man, and she is the neglected wife of a fruitcake...but none of this excuses their breech of Christian virtue.

So therefore, I have been slightly disappointed in this movie. I liked it overall, but the fact remains.