August 14, 2007

• Help!! Papal Infallability, Burning the Midnight Oil & The Lion King??

   

  

  Help, I need somebody,
  Help, not just anybody,
  Help, you know I need someone, help.

  When I was younger, so much younger than today,
  I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
  But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,
  Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

  Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
  And I do appreciate you being round.
  Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
  Won’t you please, please help me…

  Why have I reproduced these Beatle’s lyrics?  Because this song happened to be the #1 song the day I was born.  While hardly scientific, everyone I know who’s gone to this website to figure out “their” #1 birth song has found it telling in some way (Except for Lloyd, whose song was “I’m Too Sexy”.  LOL j/k).   I’m going to be 42 in a few weeks, and the older I get the more I realize how much help I need, and that I can’t do it all.  I’m sure this isn’t a big revelation to anyone who’s not in their teens or twenties, but as cliche as it is, it’s true.

  I got a call today from Billy.  He had spent quite some time composing a response to my “Godless Sodomites” post from a few days ago.  Unfortunately, as several of my friends outside of Xanga have reported, they have left comments only to find them lost in the Xangaverse.  Just a reminder, if you don’t have a Xanga account (which is free and doesn’t require anything besides an email address, no blogging necessary), the way to post comments is:

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  The gay Pope in his Prada slippers (boyfriend not pictured)

  Anyway, Bill called to relay his comments to me directly.  As always, his points were well taken.  It is easy to pick on anyone with extreme views, be they evangelical Christians or radical right wing activists.  As he is a devout Catholic, he urged me to investigate my claims about the Catholic church and the Pope’s recent proclamation.  Here’s what Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George wrote recently in the Catholic New World News:

  The Catholic Church understands herself as enjoying, only through Jesus’ own will and love, all the gifts that he left for his people. Other Churches and faith communities enjoy most or some of these gifts, depending on their history and their own self-understanding. We should try to understand people as they understand themselves. Many sincere followers of Jesus Christ reject the Catholic Church’s understanding of who the Church is. Some think Catholics are not even Christian; others say the Pope is the anti-Christ. They don’t want to be Catholic, and that should be respected. But the Catholic understanding of Church should also be respected. It has a two thousand year history. It seems somewhat strange that only the Catholic Church’s self-understanding should be a matter of public indignation.

  Finally, the recent statement of the Holy See says nothing about any individual’s eternal salvation. The linkage of the Church’s self-understanding about her visible gifts to conclusions about the invisible gift of an individual’s salvation is a different question. Nor does the Church’s teaching about her objective gifts draw any conclusions about an individual’s subjective holiness. One can be baptized and still sin; one can be ordained and still betray the Lord. Nevertheless, both baptism and ordination remain sacramental means of holiness.  Read more…

  My cousin wrote me today about a family in her neighborhood.  They have 3 beautiful children, who I took picture of at Dave’s memorial service a couple of weeks ago.  The father was recently laid off of his job due to the slowing local housing economy.  A few weeks later he was diagnosed with bladder cancer.  His kidney’s are infected and he will need them both to withstand the chemotherapy. 

  

  We all need help.  Whether you believe in prayer, Karma, the power of positive thought, the “Golden Rule” or even “The Secret“, there is much sadness in this world, but love is still the strongest force we know, and for my cousin right now, ”Love Thy Neighbor” takes on an especially poignant meaning.  I like how Lewis sums up religion, as the “pole that supports the soul”.

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  Finally a shout out to Sabine, who, after a terribly trying year academically and emotionally, is submitting her Master’s Thesis tomorrow.  She’s been burning the midnight oil for weeks now, and starting tomorrow she’ll be able to get some rest and concentrate on her upcoming nuptials.  Let me be the first to congratulate her, and let her know how very proud our entire group of friends is of her.  Congratulations Bine, on a job well done!  GLY!  This will be you in a week:

  

  And this will be you, once you finally (it’s about time), get a job in the real world and stop being a perpetual student.  I still don’t know the name of your degree, I just know you’ll be standing around in rivers a lot!  Have fun!!

  

  So in honor of Bine, here’s the Song of the Day, appropriately titled “Rivers Run Red” by the even more appropriately titled band “Midnight Oil”.  Congrats!

   

  Finally, if you haven’t already seen this, it is amazing and well worth the next 8 minutes of your time:

   

  • 12:45 am
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