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This is my first 7 Quick Takes! I've long admired Jennifer Fulwiler's writing at www.conversiondiary.com and it's very cool that she's cousins with one of the monks at Mt. Angel Abbey (one of my almae matres) I've read these in the past and thought, it would be nice to do the 7 Quick Takes someday... when I actually write on this thing more than once every three months. And here it is! Does this mean I'm a real blogger now? For more quick takes from all around the world, check out Jennifer's blog.
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| Maybe it's because I'm a visual person, but I really like the picture. You can understand without even reading that the purpose of Mass is to ascend to heaven. |
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Me being a bibliophile, there was a wonderful event today... Salem's YMCA has an annual used book sale. Don't tell my wife, but I walked out with about 10-12 books. Two great finds: a Douay Version of the Bible (I'm assuming it's what we know as the Douay-Rheims)... by the musty smell I’m assuming it’s a lot older than me; second was a pocket-sized Sunday Missal from the 1950s. It talked of this new thing called a “Dialogue” Mass, where the congregation joined the acolyte in his responses... and even the priest in certain places! (the Gloria, e.g.) Gee, that’s a swell idea! See the scan at the right, from Fr. Stedman's "My Sunday Missal."
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I’ll really miss Pope Benedict. I wish there were some retrospectives from the leftist media types who called him all sorts of unsavory things upon his election. I’m not really caught up in who gets elected next. The Italian, Canadian, Ghanan, Philipino... ??? Nobody saw John Paul II coming, and I didn’t think Joseph Ratzinger had even the slightest chance of getting elected. So what do the predictors know?
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The more I read about the prophecies of St. Malachy, the more I’m comforted and the less stock I put in them. Although my heart skipped a beat the other day... I was reading the blog/letters of Robert Moynihan and he called the Pope Emeritus “Petrus Romanus.” A little unnerving... but I still don’t give much credence to the prophecies.
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Work has been incredibly stressful as I’m transitioning into a new job. It’s funny, it’s like there are two competing parts of me. One part wants to succumb to the strain on my mental faculties and stare into a wall for a few hours. The other part of me knows that when I’m pushed like this, I have the capacity to excel. God bless my wife for putting up with my irritability after work last night...
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The Portland Timbers (of Major League Soccer) start their season on Sunday. I can’t wait! Timbers games are a blast to attend (nevermind what my wife says) and the crowd is really into it the whole game. I was trying to think why I like soccer as a sport when some in this country look down on it. My answer? It’s so fluid, it’s like a game-long fast break in basketball, or the deep ball in American football. Wait, did I just tarnish my credibility by calling football, American football? I promise I’m not wearing a scarf or a beret.
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Did I mention I’ll miss the pope? He was a great spiritual father to the Church. God bless him in his retirement! And God help his successor.
#3. Ratzinger actually was a favourite for election from the first moment, at least European media and Catholics predicted his election. So I guess there are people, who have pretty good predictions. I am almost sure that one of the 4 cardinals predicted by some of the articles I read will be elected.
ReplyDelete#4. Petrus Romanus is the next pope, so I'm not surprised that one of those four I mentioned above is Cardinal Péter Erdő. He is also my personal fevourite.
Thanks for your comments... I guess I should have specified better. Some predictors of the outcome of the conclave are spot on. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Ratzinger as a favorite--that I didn't specify either, the school I was attending in 2005 had many on the faculty & staff that never, ever thought something like that would happen. That's interesting that the Europeans had it right...
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