Category Archives: Musings

Taking umbrage at an umbrella

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Umbrellas existed in many ancient societies, including those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and India, where they served to protect important people from the sun, serving also as a sign of prestige and power. From these societies, the umbrella spread to the Greek and Roman worlds, and into Western Europe. But as Europe slowly descended into the Dark Ages, eventually recovering, umbrellas seem to have disappeared from European use for about 1,000 years. It seems the difficult times threw some shade on the popularity and use of what we now think of as a common device. Which is ironic in that umbrella was borrowed from the Italian word ombrella, a modification of the Latin umbella, which came from umbra meaning “shade, shadow.” Continue reading →

A trip to the Library

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I have lived in the Washington DC area several times before and had taken advantage of the great museums and public buildings in our nation’s capital on the National Mall, near the Mall, and not so near the Mall. But, I had never been to the Library of Congress.  Until yesterday.

It was a remarkable day for several reasons: long-time friends from Tampa were in town and we spent the day together and Washington DC was on vacation – there were few people and no traffic. With an afternoon available, we chose the Library of Congress with its iconic Reading Room and the Thomas Jefferson Library (shown below in panoramic view)

At the end of the day, we visited the gift shop, and while chatting with the young man at the register, one of my friends mentioned that we were returning to their hotel with by walking, the Metro, or “by hitchhiking” as the classic “thumb” demonstrated the technique to petition passing drivers for a lift. The young man said something akin to “No way. That’s only in movies, right? You don’t really do that?”

In yesteryear we had all availed ourselves of the generosity of strangers as we occasionally hitched a ride. As we regaled the young man with stories of the road… it occurred to me that we were now living exhibits in a history museum with stories of a bygone era. Times were indeed different.

Image credit: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress, Public Domain
Image credit: George Corrigan, CC-BY-NC-SA

True Wisdom

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The first reading is from Paul’s “1st Letter to the Corinthians,” from the middle of the first of five sections within the letter. Chapter 2-4 are about divisions within the Corinthian community. The reasons for these divisions are several and some are explored in detail in following chapters, but in this section, the divisions are about the popularity of certain leaders leading to rivalries among them: “I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas.” (1 Cor 1:12)

His basic response is “You’ve got to be kidding me! You belong to Christ.” Continue reading →

The role of the prophet, the fate of the prophet

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Press Release Responding to John the Baptist’s Denunciation of Herod Antipas

A spokesman for Herod, tetrarch of Galillee, has denounced as “further authoritarian righteousness” a condemnation of his marriage by the preacher John. Herod recently married Herodias, the former wife of his brother Philip, tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis.

John, known locally as “the baptist” because of his practice of anointing sinners with water, has been attracting large crowds along the edge of the Judean desert where he is said to live. He has consistently condemned Herod for alleged abuses of power. Continue reading →

Exposed

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In this morning’s syndicated cartoons, “Pearls Before Swine” was particularly funny (to me anyway!). Copyright rules do not allow me to post the cartoon within this post, but if you are interested you can find it here. Here is the “411” on the content which center around a character named Honest Ernest who attends a meeting a movie fans who are going to review the latest film directed by Christopher Nolan. Nolan is not without skills or accolades., not only as a director but also produced and screenwriter. He has won 11 Academy Awards from 36 nominations. Some of his films are Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises (all from the Batman series), Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and the 2020 film Tennet. Among serious fans his work on Inception, Interstellar and especially Tennet are what garner praise and glowing reviews. The films are… well, no need for me to offer an opinion. Let’s allow the fans from Pearls Before Swine chime in: Continue reading →

Artemis

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Did you know that Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo from Greek mythology? And so the Artemis Space Program will pick up where the Apollo Space Program left off some 50 years ago – an eventual return to the moon.  Did you know that the first Artemis mission will launch tomorrow, weather permitting? After launching from Earth, Artemis I will go on a 42-day mission. The Orion spacecraft will travel 40,000 miles beyond the moon. It is the first step in deep space exploration. Orion’s trajectory through space will test the craft’s ability to maintain communication with Earth beyond the moon and protect its crew from radiation. All of the objectives for the inaugural Artemis flight will demonstrate capabilities necessary for when Orion carries humans to deep space. Continue reading →

Digital Spirituality

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Like most people these days, I have a mobile phone and use it for all kinds of things. There are the standard apps such as text messaging, email, news services, various “how to I get there” direction services, and the list goes on. Then we get into the specialty apps that are particular to your work, your interests, and avocations minor and grand. I have the iBreviary app on my phone/tablet. Can’t remember the last time I used the hard copy book. Its easy access has let me be far more consistent in the rhythms of daily prayer.

To say mobile devices are ubiquitous even seems like an understatement. Not only are mobile devices omnipresent, they have become de rigueur, mandatory, obligatory, universal, endemic, rampant….and I think I ran out of words. Admit it, when you want to get in touch with someone and they can’t instantly share their contact information using near-field technology, you begin to imagine a 21st century Luddite that might actually want to write the information down on a piece of paper for you.

My mobile phone tells me how much time I spend on it, which really is not too much. Yesterday my largest use was iBreviary. In a distant second place was a virtual tie between test message and email apps. Teens spend 7 hours and 22 minutes on their phones largely connected to the ubiquitous (there’s that word again) social media apps in all its variety and instances. By comparison I am carrying around a paper weight in my pocket.

We shouldn’t be so surprised. After all, at heart we are social beings. But all kinds of energies can be drained down the rabbit hole chasing what’s trending. But then all kinds of good can come about connecting with people/articles/sites that – before were unreachable – and now are a click away. Either way it affects your spirituality.

Take a deep dive into the internet searching for something akin to “cell phones spirituality” and you might be surprised by what turns up. There are a whole range of blogs discussing the meaning of the appearance of cell phones in your dreams. One of the blogs wrote: “God communicates with us through various ways, and that may sometimes come through a cell phone dream.” ….OK…but just because the birds don’t talk to me doesn’t mean they don’t talk.

Refining the query, here are results from a query about cell phones and one’s spiritual life.

  • 7 Ways Smartphones Can Enhance Your Spiritual Life
  • 3 Ways Smartphones Affect Your Spiritual Life – Southern Equip
  • The Spiritual Dangers of Smartphones
  • 5 Ways Your Phone Is Stealing Your Life (and How to Stop It)
  • Smartphone Addiction and Our Spiritual ADD
  • Cell Phone Spirituality: What your cell phone can teach you about life and God.
  • 10 Ways Phones Can be Used for Our Good and God’s Glory

Clearly there are admonishments, warning, encouragement and offered wisdom about you, your cell phone, and your spiritual life. Just something I was musing about on my day off.

Things you need to know…. or not

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The morning routine in our friary is that half the house are early risers and the other half…. not so much. One of the early rising friars retrieves the newspaper from the front lawn and reads while having breakfast. Later after morning prayer, the other friars will read the paper during their morning meal. Me? Maybe I glance at the paper. Today was one of those days. In the Tuesday “Health and Science” section was the following headline: “Nose picking is even grosser than you feared.” To read or not to read, that is the question. Will this be something we need to know…. or not? Continue reading →