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DaveTown
Truth, Wit, Relevance. Or at least 2 out of 3 on any given day.
My
spiritual director—who, as fate would have it, is on vacation this
month (like the proverbial New York City psychiatrists, spiritual
directors apparently take off most of July and August)—gave me a
marvelous piece of advice last month when I complained of stress.
He is a humble priest in his seventies who punctuates his admonitions with the dangling question “yes?”
“Remember,” he said, “that ’stress’ is not a Catholic word, yes?
“The Catholic word is ‘Cross.’”
Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.
– Albert Einstein
TOP FIVE MOVIE LINES:(Not of ‘all times’ or anything like that, but rather in my own particular and admittedly odd view of great 20th Century cee-nee-ma)
(Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride)
(John Cusack in Sixteen Candles)
(John Cusack in High Fidelity)
(Bill Murray in Caddy Shack)
(John Wayne and Robert Duvall in “True Grit”)
“Cowardice … is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.”
– Ernest Hemingway
The losing of things is of the mercy of God; it comes to teach us to let them go.
–George MacDonald
New stuff over at my Blawg. Including a post about the horrible decision by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in the Bank Julius Baer v Wikilinks case.
Hello and Welcome, to another episode of MisconceptionBusters.
MisconceptionBusters . . . It’s not as fun as MythBusters, but just as important.
Today on MisconceptionBusters, we look at the idea that Wal-Mart is evil, through the eyes of a Canadian writer who makes a good argument that Wal-Mart deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
Money Quote:
On the basis of the evidence, it is impossible to argue that [2006 Peace Prize Winner Muhammad] Yunus or [2002 Peace Prize Winner Jimmy] Carter have done more than Wal-Mart to alleviate poverty.
“MythBusters” is a trademark of Discovery Channel LLC. MisconceptionBusters is not associated with MythBusters in any way shape or form, and is in fact a cheap ripoff. The views expressed on MisconceptionBusters are soleley those of DaveTown
Industries Inc, and do not represent the views, necessarily, of any other person, corporation, robotic android, animal, vegetable, or mineral. Unauthorized use, rebroadcast, or retransmission of MythconceptionBusters, without the express written consent of the Commissioner of Baseball, the Commissioner of the National Football League, and Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City, is strictly prohibited.
Not nearly as entertaining as MythBusters, but just as Important.
Today’s episode of MisconceptionBusters comes from the pen of Archbishop Donald Weurl of the Archdiocese of Washington DC, and speaks to one of those things we Catholics do that lots of people don’t understand properly: The Sacrament of Reconciliation (or, if you’re old school - Confession).
We know that only God has the power to forgive sins, but it was Jesus Christ, God and man, who entrusted to his Apostles the administration of that grace. We cannot presume to know God’s reasons, but perhaps he chose to use human instruments so that we would receive not only forgiveness, but also the assurance of that forgiveness by hearing it from the lips of someone acting in the person of Christ. As Jesus declared to Saint Peter: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).
This power to forgive sins is often referred to as “the power of the keys.” Saint Augustine pointed out that the Church “has received the keys of the kingdom of heaven so that, in her, sins may be forgiven through Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit’s action. In this Church, the soul dead through sin comes back to life in order to live with Christ, whose grace has saved us” (Sermon 214).
Before offering absolution, the priest imposes a penance which is suited to the person and the nature of the sins committed. This penance is certainly not understood to achieve our forgiveness or to offer adequate satisfaction to God for the sins we have committed; it is a token of our sorrow and a remedy in our own soul for the disorders caused by sin (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1459).
Also, and as a bonus, another misconception . . . This one deals with Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.
First, there were no cheap beaded necklaces in the Bible; I think all scholars agree on this point.
Second, the point of Fat Tuesday is not to go sin as much as possible right before Lent so you can “get it all in” or “get it out of your system”, as the case may be.
Though, truth be told, I understand the sentiment.
See you next time for another exciting episode of MisconceptionBusters.
“MythBusters” is a trademark of Discovery Channel LLC. MisconceptionBusters is not associated with MythBusters in any way shape or form, and is in fact a cheap ripoff. The views expressed on MisconceptionBusters are soleley those of DaveTown Industries Inc, and do not represent the views, necessarily, of any other person, corporation, robotic android, animal, vegetable, or mineral. Unauthorized use, rebroadcast, or retransmission of MythconceptionBusters, without the express written consent of the Commissioner of Baseball, the Commissioner of the National Football League, and Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City, is strictly prohibited.
This is without a doubt the best thing I’ve ever read on the subject of anger. It’s really no surprise it comes from the pen of Mark Shea
For righteous anger is not sin if we use it as God intended: as fuel for the engine of moral action. Anger only becomes a sin when we do not put it in the gas tank of action, but instead pour it on ourselves and others and set it on fire. Then it consumes us. The use of anger, like the use of gasoline, is not to bathe in it and drink it, but to turn it toward pursuing the redemptive, active love of God.
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“Keep us, Lord, from the love that deceives and from the candor that wounds.”
– Albert C. Outler
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Generally, I get the QOTD from something I’m reading or something I hear whilst living my exciting daily life. Today I’m lowering my standards, and swiping it from my Google homepage, because it’s just too good not to.
There’s so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy on the streets?
– Dick Cavett
“Fat is this year’s thin”
– John Lydon
Go read this fine essay by Frederica Mathewes-Green on the religiosity of science and they scientificness of religion.
(I know scientificness probably won’t be found in Websters, but I’m wordsmith here, I can create if I want.)
“The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.”
H.L. Mencken
That I have a blawg? I do. Go read it.