So I'm somehow in a loop, but feel so far outside it. So I'm just going to do what Whiskey did.
7 cosas hacer antes de morir
1. become fluent in Spanish - it's tough when you understand most of it, but for some reason one side of the brain doesn't let the other in on the fun.
2. attain vocational security
3. stretch and be able to touch the back of my feet
4. lead as many souls to God as possible
5. allow God to lead my soul to him
6. legitimately run and touch the rim on a 10ft b-ball court
7. read as many books as all my friends have
7 Dinge, die ich nicht machen kann
1. not be in awe of the beauty of femininity
2. multiply loaves or fishes
3. write an impressive essay more than 8 pages
4. refrain from singing in the shower
5. redeem myself
6. maintain the life of anything vegetative
7. stand when people hold back laughter
7 things that attract me to my other half (going along Whiskey's lines)
1. its big toe is shorter than its neighbor
2. it always tries to compete, keeps things interesting
3. the way it cracks my fingers
4. I love how it scratches my back
5. it always inspires the song, "how am I supposed to live without you?"
6. it always inspires the response, "how will I live without you?"
7. I love how nothing can keep us apart
7 things I say
1. Uh
2. Dang it!
3. Shoot!
4. Ahh man
5. yeah?
6. ooh ooh
7. hhhckkow are eh yoo eh doins?
7 books I love
1. Manalive - Chesterton
2. Mere Christianity - Lewis
3. Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky
4. Purgatorio - Dante
5. Nibelungenlied - anonymous
6. LOTR - Trio
7. Parzival - die deutsche Version - Wolfram von Echenbach
7 movies I love (keep in mind, I'm an 80s man)
1. Goonies
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. Tombstone (I liked it first Whiskey!)
4. I Confess (Hitchcock)
5. Rocky 1, 2 or 3
6. Back to the Future 1
7. La Bamba
7 people to meme (at this point everyone's been taken!!!) - Like everyone else, here's 4
1. Ladybird
2. My Lady Tongue
3. Flannery
4. Whiskey
**Addendum**
Where I come from "meme" is usually part of a much longer phrase, "to make memes," which is a euphemism for sleep. Usually at around age 2 or 3 it's customary to hear an aunt or uncle say, "come on mijo, you want to go and make memes?" Just thought you'd all like to know.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
Fast vs. Feast
Remember, the only difference between "fast" and "feast" is the letter "e." Notice, it's not "ez?"
(insert uncontrollable laughter here)
I just love how there is a rhythm to our life, a rhythm assumed by the liturgical calendar and how it takes into account our frail humanity. On one level, I would like to think that I love my Lord so much that even if there wasn't a season specifically focused on self-denial and self-offering, I would still be committed to living that life. But it's precisely because my Lord loves us--you and me--so much that the Church gives us Lent just in case.
And it's this just in case part that has occupied my thoughts and what follows in this post. Lent has as its focus the whole pascal event; the life AND death AND resurrection of Jesus Christ is encapsulated in it. In the same way that Jesus' suffering and death--and by the same token his entire life--are ordered to resurrection, so our Lent is to be ordered to a resurrected life in Christ and in the Church.
Thankfully then, Lent is a gift to us BEFORE it is a gift of ours to the Lord. For many of you this is probably a simple truth. But for me, Lent for so long has been about what I'm going to do for God, and not about my allowing his mercy to purify me. More often, Lent turns into an extended exercise of white-knuckle will power. I'd much rather strain than admit my weakness. I think I have somewhere hidden in my mind that my self-worth is at stake and that each new Lent I'm actually going to redeem myself. There have been Lents where I haven't even asked the Lord what he wants for me to give up! I just do an interior inventory and assume God's invitation.
Truth be told, Lent is all about the Lord. It's encountering our weakness and dying to our own visions of what holiness is. Just the other day the Lord said to me, "go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy not sacrifice.'" For the first time in I don't know how long, the Lord opened this verse to me and humbled me, showing me that in fact I do need to "go and learn" what it means for the Lord to desire mercy. That I might be able to go a whole Lenten season without the consolation of a warm caffeinated beverage means nothing if I haven't allowed the Lord to show me mercy and then shown mercy to those around me (<-subject of future Lenten post). My sacrifices will never get me to heaven if they're divorced from his mercy.
My brothers and sisters, this Lent I pray for us all to openly receive the gift of Lent: the awareness of our sinfulness, the necessity of God's grace to heal us and to inspire our penances, and to beg for the grace to answer the call to lavish mercy on all those around us. I also ask for your prayers and for your mercy. It's so consoling to know that we share this journey together.
ad maiorem dei gloriam
(insert uncontrollable laughter here)
I just love how there is a rhythm to our life, a rhythm assumed by the liturgical calendar and how it takes into account our frail humanity. On one level, I would like to think that I love my Lord so much that even if there wasn't a season specifically focused on self-denial and self-offering, I would still be committed to living that life. But it's precisely because my Lord loves us--you and me--so much that the Church gives us Lent just in case.
And it's this just in case part that has occupied my thoughts and what follows in this post. Lent has as its focus the whole pascal event; the life AND death AND resurrection of Jesus Christ is encapsulated in it. In the same way that Jesus' suffering and death--and by the same token his entire life--are ordered to resurrection, so our Lent is to be ordered to a resurrected life in Christ and in the Church.
Thankfully then, Lent is a gift to us BEFORE it is a gift of ours to the Lord. For many of you this is probably a simple truth. But for me, Lent for so long has been about what I'm going to do for God, and not about my allowing his mercy to purify me. More often, Lent turns into an extended exercise of white-knuckle will power. I'd much rather strain than admit my weakness. I think I have somewhere hidden in my mind that my self-worth is at stake and that each new Lent I'm actually going to redeem myself. There have been Lents where I haven't even asked the Lord what he wants for me to give up! I just do an interior inventory and assume God's invitation.
Truth be told, Lent is all about the Lord. It's encountering our weakness and dying to our own visions of what holiness is. Just the other day the Lord said to me, "go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy not sacrifice.'" For the first time in I don't know how long, the Lord opened this verse to me and humbled me, showing me that in fact I do need to "go and learn" what it means for the Lord to desire mercy. That I might be able to go a whole Lenten season without the consolation of a warm caffeinated beverage means nothing if I haven't allowed the Lord to show me mercy and then shown mercy to those around me (<-subject of future Lenten post). My sacrifices will never get me to heaven if they're divorced from his mercy.
My brothers and sisters, this Lent I pray for us all to openly receive the gift of Lent: the awareness of our sinfulness, the necessity of God's grace to heal us and to inspire our penances, and to beg for the grace to answer the call to lavish mercy on all those around us. I also ask for your prayers and for your mercy. It's so consoling to know that we share this journey together.
ad maiorem dei gloriam
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
