A journal of byzantine digressionS
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The Luminous Mysteries: the Broken Road
Antiphon: God, bless the broken road that led me straight to you. In your baptism, O Christ, our God, you opened the pathway of initiation for us, into your Mysteries. I thank you for all who have moved me along this path, awkward and jerking though I have been. I’ve been on my way in…
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Joyous Mysteries: Addiction
The Angel came to Mary. Most of us won’t ever get there. But our conscience calls out to us. That comes from Latin works meaning “with knowledge” and St Paul says we have the law of God written in our hearts… When that voice calls out we can listen like Mary. It never calls us…
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Dolorous Mysteries: Addiction
When Christ is praying in the garden he faces the darkness. He knows the reality of sin, the hardness of the world. The fear is real. He is at rock bottom. Everything he thought he had, all that he is, all that he has said and done is over. There is only one way out.…
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Interactive Birthday!
Happy August – or Fogust, as we say in SF (see above)! Birthday #53 is coming up at the end of the month. I’d like to do something fun, but I need all my social media peeps to play along. So… I’d like scratchers – IE those scratch-off lottery tickets – from as many American…
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The right way to end scandal
Today’s readings: Exodus 33:7-11; 34:5B-9, 28 Matthew 13:36-43 Mittet Filius hominis angelos suos, et colligent de regno ejus omnia scandala, et eos qui faciunt iniquitatem.The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.Matthew 13:41 This is one of those…
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Don’t Judge me, Bro. Love me.
Today’s readings: Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34 Matthew 13:31-35 Dixitque ad Aaron: Quid tibi fecit hic populus, ut induceres super eum peccatum maximum? Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you should lead them into a grave sin?” Exodus 32:21 Recently, I’ve been blessed to have two friends who are on my back…
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It’s all Good. I mean ALL. ALL OF IT.
Today’s readings: 1 Kings 3:5-12 Romans 8:28-30 Matthew 13:44-52 Scimus autem quoniam diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum, iis qui secundum propositum vocati sunt sancti. And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints. Romans 8:28 The…
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You gotta dance.
Today’s readings: Exodus 20:1-17 Matthew 13:18-23 The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word… Matthew 13:19 In Matthew (as we heard on Sunday) seeds are not the abstract “Word of God” that they are in Luke and Mark. Seeds are symbols of us who have received the Word. Often you hear sermons…
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To Them It Has Not Been Granted
Today’s readings: Exodus 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20B Matthew 13:10-17 Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. Matthew 13:11 I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may always…
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Book Meditation: Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay (Part 2)
This is part 2, thinking about Daniel C. Mattson’s Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay. For part 1, now see here. Parts 3, 4 and 5 of Mattson’s book move in a wide arc from theology to friendship, from love to loneliness. There are ample quotes from his journals, and there are odd moments where I…
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Book Meditation: Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay (Part 1)
TL;DR – Good book. Although I’ve some style issues in Part 2 and 4, all the parts are all engaging and thought provoking. All parts, too, are educational both in a spiritual way (if you want to be a faithful RCC) and in a “getting inside the mind of” way if you don’t want to…
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Run that up the Crucifix and see who genuflects
July Fourth always leaves me wrestling with my identity as a person born in this country. I have very little problem identifying with our past (even the bad parts) but the present has been a problem since, about 1980. That was the time I started to see through our Mythology. I remember one of the…
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Seven Storey Mountain – reading along
At the tweeted suggestion of Steve, aka Steve the Missionary, as part of my post-RCIA Catechesis (Adult Reading for the Catholic N00b) I’ve been reading Thomas Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain: An Autobiography of Faith (from which edition all the page numbers are cited below). I very much dislike autobiography, to be honest, as of course would anyone…
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A Blessed Feast!
The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
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It’s your choice, really…
Today’s Readings: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14B-16A 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 John 6:51-58 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” John 6:52-53You may know…
Orthoparadoxy 