John 3:16

Holy Week in 2 Minutes

Holy Week is wholly different

It is like a yearly retreat and it is like a heartache. 

We start out rejoicing on Palm Sunday, ringing out sweet "Hosannas!" and then abruptly crying out with the crowd, "Crucify him!"

We are overcome, sent to our knees in repentant silence.  It is so still you can almost hear the temple cloth tear in two.

But that was just yesterday, just Palm Sunday. We will be at Church almost daily this week. This is a week. The week. This is the time when Church Time and actual time, historical time march in step for a brief blip in the Liturgical Year. This week we follow His final week, from the washing of the disciples' feet to His fulfilling of the Passover Supper with the Lamb of God's flesh and blood. We suffer through the betrayal, arrest, and trial with the Sanhedrin. Pilate washes his hands, Barabbas walks amongst us again as our God takes His final tortured steps to Calvary. He breathes His last. His side is pierced. We are splashed in the flow of water and blood.

We don't understand. We weep or stand in dry eyed shock. He is taken from us into the tomb on Friday, and we wait.

Holy Saturday is such an empty day.

We contemplate a world where God is dead. Dead because of us. Because of me...

Personally.

Then, as it does every other Saturday, the sun goes down.

Alleluia.

After an empty Saturday, the empty tomb.

He is Risen. 

My Lord and my God!

7 Quick and Late Random Takes

--1--

When the telltale signs of immanent regurgitation briefly interrupted our bedtime bedside chat, my nine-year-old son and I resumed with a new topic.

"Hairballs," he reflected, "that's not one of His finer creations."

"No," I replied, "and I wasn't too appreciative of the cat's gift."

"Or God's!" he said giggling.

Catching his giggle, I opine in my best God voice, "'Oh, my child, this steamy hairball is for your greater good! That you may grow in holiness!'"

Mimicking me, mimicking God, he deadpans, "'And besides, it's Lent.'"

Catholic humor. You just have to love it.

--2--

Speaking of Kids

America has stopped having them. We slipped below the replacement rate and are holding at about 1.9 children per woman. There's not a peep about this out there? Really? I guess we can all go quietly off into a demographic winter.

Here's an article on it for further study...What to expect when nobody's expecting

A link to the documentary released in 2009 entitled Demographic Bomb.

--3--

Speaking of low birthrates

There are forced sterilizations all over the world. The most widely known program, which is still little known, was during the 1990s when the World Health Organization swept through Peru taking women's fertility by stealth or bribery, often without the woman's consent or full understanding. The public outcry over the lack of follow up care made a stir on the fringes of American media. The practice is continuing. I know of a woman in Zimbabwe who had a tubal ligation performed on her without her or her husband's knowledge or consent while undergoing an unrelated procedure. The evidence of it was discovered as they investigated the cause of repeated miscarriages. Women's rights, indeed.

--4--

What, me marry?

According to the stats in this article about this article, young men are giving up on the idea of marriage. Predictably, not only are women angry about that, feminists are angry about women reporting about women being angry about that.

--5--

Spring Snow

It's snowing. It's freezing. It's Spring.

--6--

It's getting cheesy!

I made my first mozzarella of the season this week. For the first time in several years we have reliable air conditioning so I shall dabble once more in aged cheeses as the season progresses. Whoot!

--7--

A recipe

My Momma's Cereal

5 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup oil
1 cup honey
Add nuts and various dried fruits as desired, 1 cup each

Heat oil and honey in a good sized pot until warm. Add oats and extras. Stir until well mixed.

Place mixture in a greased 13x9x2" pan and bake at 275 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Pour onto waxed paper and spread to cool. Break up and store in tightly lidded container.

Serve as a cereal or a yogurt or ice cream topping.

True Friendship Requires Truth

Friends are very much like gems, you must remove a lot of rubble to discover them. Like a gem, friends are precious because they are so very rare. The friend is the one who is left after all the others have left, so they are acquired by a process of attrition. A friend will be able to dislike or misunderstand your ideals and still value you. Never be afraid to look a friend in the eye and say, "I disagree. I love you anyway, but I disagree." Be polite, be clear, and be true. You have nothing to lose. If the friendship can't survive your differences, it won't survive anyway. Losing a real friend is actually hard to do and is as rare as friendship itself.