two

lately

I've been mostly not watching television for the past year or so. Well, mostly since getting out of Mundelein. Kicked the habit in San Antonio and am having no trouble with it here in Mahwah where there's a pretty nice wide screen TV right down the hall. But I rarely feel the need to use it. I just go in sometimes, if somebody else is in there. Just to be sociable. I know I'm not any better than you who do watch it, but I don't miss it.

What have I missed? I've missed being daily disappointed by the Obama administration. I've missed daily being assaulted by all of television's yelling and selling. I've missed the general sleaze ... I know something's going on about Tiger Woods ... but only via fourth- or fifth-hand echoes over the internet ... and lunch-table chat.

I've certainly become an under-informed person ... and am willing to risk becoming an uninformed one.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against screens the way Mr. Wendell Berry is against screens. I'm loving old movies more and more, it seems. I watch them on my computers and only very rarely on that big TV down the hall. So, I'm still willing to let myself be entranced by electricity. I watch these dvds over and over again, picking this one or that depending on my mood.

But ordinary TV cuts into my movie time and my internet time. And any day now I'm going to slow down on the internet because it cuts down on my book-reading time & walking around time. It may even cut into my thinking about stuff time, but I'm not so sure about that since here I am ... right now on the internet, thinking about stuff.

And maybe it's time to think a little life back into this blog. We'll see.

oh dear

Pope Reinstates Four Bishops, Including Holocaust Denier - NYTimes.com.

Pope Benedict XVI, acceding to the far-right of the Roman Catholic Church, revoked the excommunications of four schismatic bishops on Saturday, including one whose comments denying the Holocaust have provoked outrage.

another inaugural prayer

What Bishop Robinson said Sunday - Joan Walsh - Salon.com.

“O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears -- tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless this nation with anger -- anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.

Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.

And God, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for all people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.

Give him stirring words; We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand, that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace. Amen."

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, 18 January 2009, Prayer before the Inaugural Concert

pope to president

ZENIT - Pope to Obama: Rediscover US Spiritual Heritage.

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington, D.C.

On the occasion of your inauguration as the Forty-fourth president of the United States of America I offer cordial good wishes, together with the assurance of my prayers that the Almighty God will grant you unfailing wisdom and strength in the exercise of your high responsibilities.

Under your leadership may the American people continue to find in their impressive religious and political heritage the spiritual values and ethical principles needed to cooperate in the building of a truly just and free society, marked by respect for the dignity, equality and rights of each of its members, especially the poor, the outcast and those who have no voice.

At a time when so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world yearn for liberation from the scourge of poverty, hunger and violence, I pray that you will be confirmed in your resolve to promote understanding, cooperation and peace among the nations, so that all may share in the banquet of life which God wills to set for the whole human family (cf. Isaiah 25:6-7). Upon you and your family, and upon all the American people, I willingly invoke the Lord's blessings of joy and peace.

here today

We have a chilly morning right now in SA. It's 41º and overcast, but that's fine by me. After all, this ain't Southern California or Florida. And I'm told it's -17º back in Mundelein and a balmy -3º in Petersburg, so I'm happy to be here ... and hoping everybody up yonder can cope—and maybe even revel in your toughness. But weather isn't everything; it just gives us something to talk about.

Where am I? I am here. And here has the makings of a very good place. I am here with twenty-five other men and women. We are members of various religious orders and dioceses. We are all on our (mostly) best behavior, which is the best approach when suddenly thrown into a mixed salad such as us.

This physical building is beautiful, spacious, welcoming. I couldn't ask more of my own room space. What have I done to deserve this? Nothing, not a single thing. But here I am. I'm sorry you can't be with me right now. I have two windows. Here's the view looking east toward OST:

And here's the southerly p.o.v., looking out across Oblate Drive toward a residential area:

As you note, this is not a particularly scenic section of SA ... though we are on the southwest edge of the attractive OST campus (pictures to come). My walks over to San Pedro Ave reveal that we're on a sprawling upland spot here in the near Northwest part of the city. It's not Chicago, but it's a densely developed commercial/residential area. There are, no doubt, more picturesque places. But maybe it's good to live in a spot near the gorgeous locales, but not right in them. So you'll always have somewhere to go.

More to come on the program here. First impression is that there will be no lack of stuff to do, but there's also plenty of open time. Breathing room. Stay tuned.

still just asking

Psalm 72

O God, give your judgment to the king; your justice to the son of kings; That he may govern your people with justice, your oppressed with right judgment,  That the mountains may yield their bounty for the people, and the hills great abundance,  That he may defend the oppressed among the people, save the poor and crush the oppressor.

you got it, ray

The Irascible Poet: Just Think About Today.

Just let all of this sink in- and don't let those who would diminish it say anything...

class

¡BEMSHA SWING! gets it right ... in my kind of ... uh ... dyslogy?

He wasn't a better man because he was urbane and supercilious.

hero

Part of the public art project 'HERO, the future of gods, icons and heroes' based on an anonymous post to the HERO blog and screened by Curzon Cinemas in London ...

See The Complete Hero project ... cultural activism by Martin Firrell ...

evo-cre

our principal is featured in: Evolution vs. creationism :: News Sun :: News.