Category Archives: Musings

From guest to enemy

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The first readings all week are taken from the Book of Exodus and follow Moses from his birth to the encounter with the burning bush and then leaping ahead to Pharaoh’s refusal to let the Israelites go which leads to a description of the Passover meal and its preparations. Today’s first reading picks up the story from the end of Genesis. The Israelites had achieved most-favored immigrant status in the land of Egypt. The Egyptians had welcomed the Hebrew foreigners from Canaan because they were family to Joseph who, even as a non-Egyptian, had risen to second-in-command next to Pharaoh Continue reading →

What is a homily?

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Today’s “Word of Day” from our friends at Merriam Webster is “homily.” You’re thinking, “well of course he is going to mention this – it’s right up his wheelhouse.” Interesting expression that: wheelhouse. The word “wheelhouse” has gone from a nautical term, to a baseball term, to a term that describes a person’s area of expertise. Continue reading →

A Succession of Awards and Not

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Apart from National Football League games, the series Yellowstone is the most watched show on television, consistently averaging more than 12 million viewers per episode. Yet, in its five years of production it has never been nominated for a single industry award in any category. In that same period, the series Succession has garnered non-stop awards and accolades. Succession’s highest-rated episode got only about a tenth of the viewers that a typical Yellowstone episode did in the 2022 season. All this despite that Yellowstone is only available on one source while Succession is available across a number of streaming platforms. Granted that award shows are critic-based and not view-based, but one has to wonder if this disparity has underlying significance. Continue reading →

Joseph’s Revenge

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In the sequence of first readings for weekday Masses, we have just made a huge leap from Jacob (Gen 28) to the end of the story of Joseph and his brothers (Gen 41). A quick synopsis of the story would include: his brothers, all older, were jealous of Joseph and colluded to sell him into slavery in Egypt. Long story, short, Joseph eventually thrives and serves as a chancellor to Pharaoh himself. A famine hit Israel and Joseph’s brothers came to buy grain. That all serves as background to our first reading today. Continue reading →

Blink

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In the blink of an eye, I decided to add another post to explain the word “blink” as used in  the previous post on the post Groups of Three. In the previous post I noted the use of the word “blink” by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her dissent on the recent college admissions decision.

The word “blink” comes from the Old English word “blincan,” which means “to close or shut the eyes quickly.” It is related to the Old Norse word “blikna,” which means “to twinkle.”  Justice Brown wrote: “This contention blinks both history and reality in ways too numerous to count.” In the legal setting “blink” means to “neglect, fail to acknowledge.” She was arguing against the idea that the law must be colorblind.

I did not know that meaning and use of the word “blink.” But it gave me an understanding to one of my dad’s expressions which I always found intriguing but vague. He offered: “a blink is as good a nod to a blind horse.”  Or was it “wink”? Dad was rather flexible with that idiom.

Groups of Three

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While scientists have long known of the general problem known as the “group of three,” families have always experienced the problem. There is an old adage about kids that goes something akin to: one child presents the spoiled child possibility, two children begets the “mommy loves me best” retort, while with three children, one will be ganged up on by the other two. It is the third child which brings a new level of chaos to the family. Continue reading →

Repurposing

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In the first reading, Jacob, having fled from his brother Esau’s wrath, finds himself at a shrine, where he rests for the night, using a stone for a pillow. It is here that Jacob a divine revelation comes in a dream. Jacob sees a stairway going from earth to the heavens. It was believed in the ancient world that there were certain places on earth where the divine and earthly realms met. One such place was Bethel. Continue reading →

Mosquitos

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It’s that time of year again. Summer is upon us and we are drawn to the back porch, the deck, or whatever forms the backyard of your place. It is time to barbeque, hangout, or just enjoy the evening with family, friends, and the uninvited guests: the culicidae  – aka, mosquitos (…. and yes “mosquitoes” is also an acceptable spelling according to Merriam Webster). Continue reading →

The Dog Days of Summer

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The expression the “dog days” gives rise to the humid, hot days of summer when we are all just looking for a cool, shaded spot to wait out the sweltering day. I assumed that our canine friends got singled out and tagged with the expression. Turns out it was something different.

The dog in dog days is the Dog Star, aka Sirius, the star that represents the hound of the hunter Orion in the eponymous constellation. The star has long been associated with sultry weather in the northern hemisphere because it rises simultaneously with the sun during the hottest days of summer. (Thanks to Merriam Webster for this tidbit of etymology)

The appointed time

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In today’s gospel (Mt 8:28-34) we encounter the story of Jesus exorcising two men possessed by demons. It is a familiar story. The demoniacs recognize the nature and authority of Jesus, realizing that he is in total control, they request that they be cast into nearby swine. Jesus complies and apparently the swine have different plans and drown themselves rather than be possessed. Continue reading →