Category Archives: Musings

Bearing another’s burdens

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I thought Bishop Barron’s reflection on today’s gospel was particularly good. Here is what he had to offer:

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the necessity of constant forgiveness. Forgiveness is an act and not an attitude. It is the active repairing of a broken relationship, even in the face of opposition, violence, or indifference. When a relationship is severed, each party should, in justice, do his part to reestablish the bond.Forgiveness is the bearing of the other person’s burden, moving toward him, even when he refuses to move an inch toward you. There is something relentless, even aggressive, about forgiveness, since it amounts to a refusal ever to give up on a relationship. Simon Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus replies: “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Christians should never cease in our efforts to establish love.

The light to our path

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Psalm 119 is the longest chapter is the Bible. It is 176 verses of love poem to God for the gift of His Word. There are many verses that are memorable and oft quoted. Perhaps at the top of the list is v.105: “Your word is a lamp for my steps and a light for my path.” In today’s mid-morning Divine Office, here is the Psalm Prayer that accompanies this verse:

Let your Word, Father, be a lamp for our feet and light to our path, so that we may understand what you wish to teach us and follow the path your light marks for us.

I hope that each of you are lovers of God’s Word and that His wishes and path have been well illuminated…. and you have the courage to walk where that path may lead.

Being witness

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Today is the Feast of St. Lawrence of Rome, one of the early martyrs of the Church who died during the persecution of the Emperor Valerian in 258 AD. Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of Rome, directly serving the pope. Pope Sixtus II had been martyred just four days before. It is not clear what instigated the Valerian persecutions apart from the Roman Empire was beginning to fray at the seams with revolts in the East and the West. Perhaps the Christians were a convenient scapegoat. Continue reading →

Things trivial

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Always fascinated by the origin of words, today’s fare from the “Word of the Day” by Merriam Webster brought to my attention the word “trivial.” We moderns use the word to describe something barely worth mentioning. We adopted the word trivial from Latin trivialis in the 16th century. Then the meaning was just what its Latin ancestor meant: “found everywhere, commonplace.” But the source of trivialis is about something more specific: trivium, from tri- (three) and via (way), meaning “crossroads; place where three roads meet.” The link between the two presumably has to do with the commonplace sorts of things a person is likely to encounter at a busy crossroads. If we returned to the original meaning then Starbucks would become trivial – no less important to modern life – but “trivial” all the same.

Image credit: Dom J @ pexel.com

The Carina Nebula

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The Carina Nebula.Credit…NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

This is what a stellar nursery looks like. The “cliffs” in the image are 7 light years tall, just in case you wanted to know. You read more about this image at NASA.gov  Below is an embedded image from gettyimages. The cost for the image is $150-$750 (other than non-commercial embedded image).  Given that the original is Public Domain, I am wondering on what basis they are able to license it?   Did they enhance the image in a way that allows them to commercially benefit from the image? Copyright laws makes sense in most cases, but (to my mind), not so much here. This picture ran in lots of online news sources. Did they license the gettyimage? I know that several national publications also claimed copyright protection on the image – seemingly with themselves has the holder of the license.

Somewhat as a consolation, Getty does provide for the ability to embed images in non-commercial site such as this and does so without cost.

Embed from Getty Images

Unintended consequences

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Although often cited, but rarely defined, we are generally familiar with the “law of unintended consequences. Prohibition in the 1920s United States, originally enacted to suppress the alcohol trade, drove many small-time alcohol suppliers out of business and consolidated the hold of large-scale organized crime over the illegal alcohol industry. Since alcohol was still popular, criminal organizations producing alcohol were well-funded and hence also increased their other activities. Similarly, the War on Drugs, intended to suppress the illegal drug trade, instead increased the power and profitability of drug cartels who became the primary source of the products. Funding of the Afghan Mujahideen and the destabilization of Afghanistan contributing to the rise of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The introduction of exotic animals and plants for food, for decorative purposes, or to control unwanted species often leads to more harm than good done by the introduced species – think rabbits in Australia and kudzu in the Southern USA.

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Debut of the World Wide Web

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On this day in 1991 the World Wide Web (www) made its public debut. Not to be confused with the Internet that has been developing since the 1960s or with the “birthday” of www, but when the underlying technology and software was made available outside of CERN* where it was proposed and quickly developed with a goal of being a document management system for CERN researchers.  It became much more. For those old enough to remember here are some early web essentials: Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, Java and the used-to-be dominant Internet Explorer from Microsoft

CERN – a European research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world – located in Switzerland.

Mysteries

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In Bible studies and classes I have often advised that mysteries of our Faith and sometimes best stated and leave it at the that. Scripture has revealed it, so believe it and try to avoid our natural urge to explain it all in logical details – or even offer analogies. The most likely outcome of your attempt will be one the heresies that the Church has already condemned in the first five centuries.  The very nature of mysteries is that they are mysterious and beyond explanation. Want an good example? Explain the mystery of the Trinity – or rather take a moment and watch this video. Enjoy.

Distant Promises

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The daily readings are never meant to be a Bible Study per se, but unless one has a sense of the book or scroll from which it is taken, I think people unfamiliar with, e.g. the prophet Jeremiah, easily are lost as the reading is proclaimed. It just becomes words, strange sounding names and places, and a storyline that is not clear. Perhaps particularly true this week.

  • Monday’s reading has a prophet Hananiah proclaiming all will be well. Sure, the Babylonians are at the gates, but God will rescue – He always does. The problem is that the Lord’s prophet, Jeremiah, has been preaching the conditions of rescue – return to the Covenant and live as God’s own people. Judah and Jerusalem have already revolted against Babylon and now they are in revolt against God. It won’t go well.
  • Tuesday’s reading has the judgment of God given against Judah and Jerusalem: “Incurable is your wound, grievous your bruise; There is none to plead your cause, no remedy for your running sore, no healing for you. All your lovers have forgotten you…” (Jer 30:12-14a) Destruction is imminent.
  • Today’s reading reveals that even in the face of revolt, even though judgment will result, God does not give up on his covenant or his people. “With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you. Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt,” (Jer 31:3-4a)

Restored, yes! But for what purpose? As Monday’s gospel admonished, to be salt of the earth and a light to the nations – even the ancient enemies now gone, Babylon, and the enemies still present, the Canaanites. As with the Canaanite woman of great faith, so too the path to reconciliation and restoration begins with faith. That is the leaven and the light to come be a member of the family of God.

“Fallen stones from 70 AD Temple Mount destruction in Jerusalem by Romans, Jerusalem Archaeological Garden and Davidson Center” by Following Hadrian is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Holidays you shouldn’t miss…

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…or maybe it is totally fine to take a pass on some of the more quirky “holidays” out there. Here is a sample for this week:

  • August 1, Monday – National Mustard Day
  • August 2, Tuesday – National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
  • August 3, Wednesday – National Watermelon Day
  • August 4, Thursday – National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
  • August 5, Friday – National Oyster Day
  • August 6, Saturday – National Root Beer Float Day

I am pretty sure there is no “National Holiday Board” that screen these things – and these are just some of the holidays proclaimed on the days above (I went with the food theme). Since there is no official screening agency, I hereby declare:

  • August 7, Sunday – National Friar Musings Day

….y’all have a good day!