I have been going to church every Sunday since I was old enough to remember what was going on. I very seldom miss Mass on Sunday. I love the ritual and the familiarity. The prayers. The sense of contentment and repose and renewal I get during the mass. The spirit of love that I get when I take Communion.
And I really like the stories.
They are always right on point.
This week was the gospel where Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. He turned his ribbons into whips and scourge the evil degenerates out of the Temple. Turning over tables. Throwing them out on the street with their money rolling down the street. Getting the evil and corrupt people away from his family and friends.
I kept elbowing Lisa and going "Are you paying attention?"
Father Chris said in his homily that we have to remember all the aspects of Jesus. The Jesus who sat with the children and the lambs. The Jesus who suffered and died on the cross. But there was also the angry Jesus. The Jesus who went out looking for fight. The Jesus who let his righteous anger let him unleash his power to defend his faith.
Father Chris said it was his favorite Gospel. When we were walking out and I shook his hand I said "That's my favorite Gospel too."
Sorry I didn't finish this post for Sunday.
ReplyDeleteI think three Hail Marys will atone for that.
ReplyDeleteYes, but Father Savage said we've got to be careful not to let Jesus' righteous anger turn into an excuse for our own personal anger, which is a grave sin. We sinners are seldom righteous but often angry. And, anyway, it is not for us to proclaim ourselves righteous.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Jesus made that whip to get the animals moving. Ever tried to convince an ox to go anywhere? There is no evidence Jesus used that on people, despite appearances in that picture.
Protestants are big on closely reading Scripture. They have a point in a text like this, which can act as a big excuse, unless we take a closer look at both it and ourselves than most ever do.
Writeous wrath!
ReplyDeleteBut what if the people you are dealing with are a bunch of asses? Just sayn'
ReplyDeleteHire someone to beat them up anonymously.
Deletewhat if the people you are dealing with are a bunch of asses?
DeleteFind the ring in their nosis.
I read it as telling us not to be afraid to call people when they are doing evil in his fathers house. To even get physical. To express your rage and anger.
ReplyDeleteBut I gave up rage for Lent so I have to wait until after Easter.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
ReplyDelete[/hackneyed cliche]
Capicolla, too.
DeleteOn the other hand pussy is not best eaten cold. Unless you are into that and work at the funeral parlor.
ReplyDeleteNot that there's anything wrong with that.
Nothin' wrong with Frijid Pink!
DeleteEw.
DeleteLittle Known Fact --
ReplyDeleteI went to school at St. Rosa Lima Catholic school in Roseville, MN, K, 1, 2. My mother was a Sicilian. By the third grade, it had become evident, I didn't fit in, and that year I started to go to the public schools for the rest of my academic years. My father was an Ojibwa Indian, not that had anything to do with it, but maybe. I quit going to confession around the time of puberty. I didn't want confession to take up half of the afternoon.
"Yes, Father, I would like to confess my sins.
ReplyDeleteI have impure thoughts when I watch Christie Brinkley trying to sell the work out contraption that Chuck Norris sells."
Christy Brinkley is the devil.
DeleteAllen, so I take it you weren't a choir boy.
ReplyDeleteAllie,
ReplyDeleteChristie Brinkley has been married 5 times, that doesn't mean that she's the devil, but maybe... oh, what the hell, who cares?
She devil! But yeah who cares? There is something enticing about bad boys and girls. I think it's some childhood thing. Or maybe we are getting senile.
DeleteI would say "Devil, get behind me", but that wouldn't work. I'd prefer the opposite arrangement.
DeleteIsn't the correct quote "Satan, get thee behind me!'
DeleteShould this go in the Nixon thread?
Well Sixty if you were Titus that would work out splendidly.
ReplyDeleteBefore Catholic School --
ReplyDelete1948.
Aw, back when you were just a wee little angel, was that an Ojibwa outfit?
DeleteOr maybe we are getting senile.
ReplyDeleteNot to harsh anyone's mellow here, particularly those who might be edging toward senile, but I once again would prefer to stand apart from rather than behind the Kollective Wee.
I was actually referencing Allen's comment, I wasn't thinking of you in any way when I said "we".
DeleteNext time I say "we" in any context, consider yourself excluded, no angst MamaM, we wouldn't want that, now would we?
Delete...but I once again would prefer to stand apart from rather than behind the Kollective Wee.
DeleteBut if that stance is wide enough, you're just as vulnerable as being behind. Also depends on wind velocity. (which is another reason to stand upwind).
I was actually referencing Allen's comment Whew. So glad to know you weren't speaking for anyone other than yourself. That royal whee is a tricky bugger.
DeleteWhe is?
Delete...we wouldn't want that, now would we?
ReplyDeleteBada Boom!! A majestically delivered double whammy flies through the air to land write on the Nosis!!
The patronizing "we" is sometimes used in addressing instead of "you," suggesting that the addressee is not alone in his situation, that "I am with you, we are in this together." A doctor may ask a patient: And how are we feeling today? This usage is emotionally non-neutral and usually bears a condescending, ironic, praising, or some other flavor, depending on an intonation: "Aren't we looking cute?"
I'm confused. Are you saying that Allie is more than one person? Or a patron not a matron?
DeleteWhy is there no perjorative word "matronizing" to go with patronizing?
ReplyDeleteSexiiiist!
Matronamazing covers influence of this color and variety:
DeleteFrijid Pink, so casually renamed from Frosted Pink by Richard's mother (Rick painted her room in pink, and one day she was in kitchen, stared at their Frigidare refrigerator and blurted out "Frigid Pink!", also then she suggested charging the "g" for a "j")
When I was akid there was a dry cleaners called "1 Hour Matronizing"
ReplyDelete"I love my Matronizing", is their new theme. Apparently they've been around since 1949, which would cover the creative action in the chickenlittle coop which yielded such fine result.
DeleteI'm just trying to have a bit of fun here, MamaM. Can't "we" just get along? Or am I misreading you? I am trying to understand and appreciate you for your obvious talents, but what is perplexing is why you seem to find what I have to say here at Troopers vexing to you somehow.
ReplyDeleteAs I said the other day life is just to damn short to engage in animosity toward someone on a daily basis.
I do consider this to be a special place. I save all my antagonizing for TOP & even EBL.
DeleteMoo's the word, bird!
DeleteAllie: MamaM is just channeling Althouse. Most of us recall the scorn the collective Althouse turned upon you when you failed to cooperate in playing Trooper's victim to a sufficient degree. MamaM is a Method actress. Going after you helps her stay primed for the role, which, unfortunately, has grown rather stale lately.
DeleteBeing the thespian she is, MamaM ought to refresh her online persona by taking on the identity of a tapeworm. Then, at least, she might be amusing treating the subject of "we."
Stealing lines from Twain without giving him credit is less than honest TT.
DeleteAre flukes tapeworms?
DeleteTTB, I really won't be bothered by people who behave as if they are mean drunks, I took care of them when I was a nurse, when I viewed that behavior as the product of an irrational mind, I didnt take it personally.
DeleteI remember one old drunk that would scream "fat ass" every time a nurse walked past him, even if the nurse was a size two. It got to be so bizarre that whenever he did it we cracked up and even some of the other psych patients laughed their asses off.
I learned to dismiss what I can't change. I won't waste my precious time.
Oops, forgot to change my moniker back from Althouse,lol.
DeleteI asume everyone knows that Mark Twain quote. I'm suggesting someone play the tapeworm and riff on the everyday foibles and scrapes of a parasite. Personally, I'm past role-playing, but I think "Toby Tapeworm" would be a smashing online persona for the right kind of person.
DeleteTT rounds out the thread with a "most of us" and an "everyone" to compliment the Majestic Plural and help it ring with singularity.
DeleteAh, Madam, are we today playing Strunk & White or the Chicago Manual?
DeleteYou see, Madam, not all of us would agree with you.
Your Prototype, dear Lady, is a tendentious Bore.
We regard you, Madam, as a purer Type: the simple Bore.
Ah yes, the Complex Bore is much more erudite but no less tedious. I've been kind you to TT, while you've bumbled along on your continuous hunt for the imagined Golden Hare, muttering about the numbers between 1 and M not matching up while tuning your fork to the harmonic vibrations of the same broken record. The new Method Actress explanation is actually quite clever, but the chunneling thing is out of the park.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMadam: Do not give yourself airs. It is not becoming to congratulate one's self as you do; nor is it polite to take up uninvited the office of literary critic among those with whom you ought to be on free and easy terms.
DeleteOffice of Literary Critic??? Was the earlier self deleted comment more or less connected than this one?
DeletePrima Toads
ReplyDeleteI need a Ducati. Seriously, before they go out of business. A red one.
ReplyDeleteChe bella moto. There's a dealer in Oceanside on PCH. I didn't realize they were in trouble.
DeleteVW and Audi, which is owned by VW, are both trying to buy Ducati. Desmodromic valve trains rule!
DeleteThe woman who does our repairs and is generally a brilliant woodwind technician rides a red Ducati. She also races, but not the Ducati. I'm very jealous of her age, as I am too old for anything but a sedate 6-cylinder Honda or a really full-dress Harley, neither of which I can afford. Her Ducati occupies about the same ecological niche my old Triumph did back when I was alive. Sigh.
DeleteAre flukes tapeworms?
ReplyDeleteI believe they're parasites of the reproductive tract.
I understand you catch them by eating sluts.
DeleteNot if the slut is well done
ReplyDeleteShould they be battered?
DeleteNo, that wouldn't be healthy, but dipped in butter and warmed through thoroughly on both sides until well done, that's the recipe.
DeleteI'm feeling the need to repent, or go to confession or something, all this spicy talk on the Jesus in the Temple thread is making me feel guilty and I'm not even Catholic.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that unusual, Allie. A lot of women have a little Catholic in them and don't realize it.
DeleteSomething to do with an Irish curse of some sort.