Why Trader Joe's is better than the Catholic Church!

The Catholic Church has cancelled all of their masses because of the bogus corona virus. Just at the time when people need the comfort of their faith they are closed for business. It's too dangerous. The bishops and the priests would rather sit in their palaces and count their money while watching Netflicks.

Meanwhile Trader Joe's is still open. Here is the wife all bundled up and waiting to get in They only let a limited number of people in. Basically one goes in after one leaves. They gave you wipes to clean your cart. Everyone was wearing gloves in the store. Somehow they could handle it.

Why can't the Churches have Mass? With the sparse attendance it would be no problem for everyone to sit six feet away from each other. If  not then you could just have more Masses. When I was a kid they had six Masses a day to accommodate everyone. If too many people show up they can wait in the car until it is less crowded. Or you can send out tickets for particular masses. A red ticket for the 9 o'clock and blue for the 10, You can figure it out so some old lady who has been going to Mass for eighty years can go to church. It is just laziness sand fear. Greed and corruption. Father Damien didn't worry about it when he was picking lepers fingers off the floor. St Lucy didn't stop because they put her eyeballs on the plate. The Church has fallen so far because a fish rots from the head.

How come Trader Joe's can figure it out and the Catholic Church cannot?

Sometimes I feel like todays Gospel is in Response to my Musing

You see I was sitting in church today thinking about Donkey Chocolate. Well that is not exactly true. It was after the first reading I started to think about Donkey Chocolate.

Thus says the LORD:
Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion,
shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.

Now I wondered. Did they make chocolate form that ass's milk? Did they even have chocolate back then? Where does chocolate come from? The colt was the foal of the ass but is the candy bar the tasty treat from an ass? Am I being an ass? Should I pay more attention instead of thinking about chocolate?

The answer to the the last question was yes.

Today was the first Sunday in Ordinary Time. Father Chris spoke about Ordinary Time and how he had to wear the same vestments all through it until November. He had worn Red last Sunday and someone said he should wear that color more often. He talked about Ordinary time and how it was a long stretch until Advent.

When Mass was over everyone lines up to say thank you and goodbye. It is your chance to interact with Father. So when it was my turn I said "I love ordinary time. Now every thing is back to ordinary. I can go to Mass and do the normal things I do on a normal Sunday. Don't knock ordinary time until you lose it. Then you will really miss it."

I need a phone booth to don my mantle of self-rightousness again.

I got accused of being self-righteous and aggressive in the thread that Michael Haz put up at  Lem's place. I guess I realize that I have tendencies in that regard. You know the same way Palladian has tendencies to chase after Peruvian busboys and ricpic has tendencies to throw nickels around like they are manhole covers. We are all who we are after all. A product of both nature and nuture.

When I was a kid in the days talked about in "Joey Gallo's Lament" I used to go with my entire class to the nine o'clock Mass. 150 strong we would sit through a Latin Mass where the only thing you would understand was the homily. So you waited for that and looked forward to it.

The priests were always straightforward about sin and punishment. You did bad things and you would burn in hell. You could go to ask for forgiveness and absolution but you had to change your evil ways. There was no forgiveness and no redemption if you stood by or continued in evil practices. You had to exercise your free will to change the wrongs that you might have committed. If you didn't you would be punished in the firey pits of Hell.

Everyone has to determine what level of sins they can live with. Cheating on your taxes. Cheating on your spouse. Sexually abusing your adopted daughter in the attic. Fingering borrowed dogs in the park until they whimper in shame. What you can't do is expect to make an excuse and be forgiven like nothing happened. That there is no consequence for what you do.  I think we have lost that. The theme of guilt and punishment has been leached out of modern society. Wait I take that back. You will be excoriated and destroyed if you are not sufficiently subservient to liberal shibboleths such as racism or gay rights or feminism. Then the villagers gather the torches and pitchforks. But if you speak against unfettered abortion and the murder of the unborn as a sin or that you will face consequences for supporting such you are branded as out of step. As being a soldier in the "War on Women." As being aggressive and divisive and wrong.

Revenant made a big stink a while ago that abortion critics should murder abortion doctors and raze the clinics if they were serious that it is murder. He was just being a dick but I can see his logic. I always think I am not doing enough. When I met that girl who was the product of a botched "legal" abortion I wanted to bust out crying like a big old faggot. I thought about how little I do to effect change. But what can you do? There is evil in this world. I don't understand how some people can not see it. The most I can do is pray about it and contribute to charities that help young women make a different choice.

I guess it takes all kinds to make a world. Even Catholics like Andrew Cuomo who would kill a baby that could live and breath on it's own as if it wasn't a child of Gob but just a lump of protoplasm.

I am just glad that Father Delvechio and Mother Assunta and the people that taught me are not alive to see what we have come too.

Sunday is a tough day when you don't go to Church.

I have been very sad that I haven't been able to go to church since I got back from the hospital. Even though Father Chris called me up and told me not to worry about it and to get better first. The wife doesn't let me out of her sight and she doesn't want me to have to deal with everything if I went. I mean everyone would come up to me and give me best wishes which is great but kind of overwhelming. Plus all the kneeling and singing and stuff.

Still I really miss it. I am able to get Communion as one of the ministers comes by to give it to me and drop off the bulletin and the Tablet. And many of the members stop by the store to ask about me or stop me if they see me toddling around in the street. And Father Chris is always checking on me. So I still feel connected.

But I really miss going to pray and hear the stories every Sunday. I have done it almost every Sunday of my life. I think it is vital to a healthy lifestyle. You need to take some time to reflect on your life. Listen we all screw up. We can be selfish. Arrogant. Stupid. Mean. But we can still realize that we can do better. That we can try to be better. Even if we fail miserably in the week past there is hope for the week to come.

I do think the some people who don't have religion just don't relate to the world the right way. That is why I get along much better with religious Muslims like the car service guys like Omar or Hussan than I do with the likes of Alcohol Annie and Leisure Suit Larry or the Crack Emcee. I think I could relate better to somebody who is a Scientologist or Amish.

Ultimately they are just sad bitter people. Life is too short. I mean it is good clean dirty fun to poke them with a stick and I loved to do it. So I don't criticize anyone who wants to do that. I know it is a lot of fun. So have at em.

I know some say my sense of humor is such that it is hypocritical when I talk about religion. Which is ok. They just don't get it. You are not all of a piece. A rough guy who does bad things or says bad things can still be religious. He can just be weak and fallible. Wrong often. Imperfect. Human.

We are all products of original sin after all.

Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?

It is really tough for a parish when they are assigned a lousy pastor. The Brooklyn diocese has the bad habit of mixing it up and moving priests around just when they are really making a difference. You see there aren't that many good pastors and when they find one they often move him to a failing parish to prop it up. Of course the place he built up starts to go down hill because the next guy doesn't measure up at all.

The Parish I grew up in was Sacred Hearts and St Stephens on Hicks Street. Monsignor Delvecchio was the pastor for about thirty years all through the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. The bishop wanted to move him but he was afraid of him. You see he was known as one of the "mafia" priests. Not that he was in the mafia but he buried a lot of hoods from out of his church. They made some pretty hefty contributions. His real power base was the fact that he went to school back in Italy with the Cardinal who became the Vatican Secretary of State. So it is who you know not what you know.

After he passed a way they had four different pastors in ten years. They moved guys in and out. I had moved on to St Agnes in the meantime as it was closer to our house and my Mom couldn't walk so far anymore. That church had the same pastor for twenty years but then the same thing happened. They had four different pastors in five years. One was the chaplain of the Fire Department but had to move because of that duty. Another left the priesthood. A third was a professor and left to teach at Notre Dame. Finally they put in this German guy who had spent thirty years in the Army as a chaplain. Big mistake.

You see the parish was run by Spanish ladies. In Brooklyn normally one ethnic group dominates the parish and the rest of us go along or you go somewhere else. Sacred Hearts was all Italian. St Mary's Star of the Sea was Irish. And St Agnes was Puerto Rican. This guy comes in and starts to tell them how to run things. You know. The fund raising. The parish dance. The coffee get together. When they told him this is how we do things he was all "Not anymore." So they all quit. Left the parish rudderless. He was out in a month. They brought in a new guy and it was back to business as usual. But you know what. The parish never recovered. It now shares a priest with three other churches.

Father Chris Cashman does a great job at St Mary's even though the bishop is always on his back. He has brought a lot of young families into the parish because they like the way he does things. He keeps the sermons short and to the point and he has been very good to me. He visited me in the hospital a couple of times and calls me every week to see how I am doing. In fact a lot of folks from church call or stop by to ask how I am. One of them who is a retired nurse comes by every day to take my blood pressure until I get my new fangled monitor. This is what people who don't belong to an active parish miss out on. And all of it can go away quick if people get apathetic or there is a bad priest who doesn't care and is just going through the motions.

This is what worries me about the new Pope. He might have the best of intentions and be a holy and good man. But if he just decides to turn things upside down he might lose a lot of people that have been the bedrock of the church for all these years. I mean look at the Anglicans. They went all socially liberal and are getting schisms left and right. I just pray that doesn't happen if Pope Francis goes off the rails. Because they can't just transfer him to the Bronx like they did with that Army guy. We are kinda stuck with him.

Hey I made the bulletin!

One of biggest supporters is our parish priest Father Chris Cashman. Every week he always asks how it is going with the show and what is happening with us. He wanted to put an announcement in the bulletin and kept reminding me about it. But I was so busy I never got a chance to bring it to the rectory.

So when I walk in he is in the back of the church getting ready to do the entrance march and runs over to me. "Hey I went on the website and got all the information and put it in the bulletin!"

That's the first time I made the bulletin since 1969 when I broke the church window.

He told me something I will be hearing a lot as time goes on. He saw the new promo that you can see here and said "That promo is great but they should have more of you in it."  But TV is a lot like Highlander: There can be only one.

Still it is a pretty cool promo. The last bit with the both of us was from the big commercial shoot in early January. We are going to see a lot more of that.

I still am uneasy.

One of today's readings was the story of Abraham and Issac. You know when God told Abraham that he had to sacrifice his son to honor him and the prophet was all ready to do it before the Angel of the Lord came to him and said that it was just a test and he didn't have to go through with it.

Do you think the Good Lord still sends us tests to see what we will do?

I still have the uneasy feeling that I failed a test with the Ashes on Ash Wednesday thing. I am very ambivalent about it. I feel I should have taken a stand but greed or fear or something made me acquiesce. I didn't have to sacrifice my first born. I didn't even have to lose my job or be a martyr and get eaten by a lion or something. I just had to stand up to someone who hates religion and religious people and Catholics in particular.

This came up again this weekend. We have a friend of ours who flies in from Florida to do Lisa's hair so she can have the color and cut she wants for the show. It is very important to her so it is very important to me. This friend flies in from Ft Laudable at his own expense and the only day he could do it was on Sunday. So we had to go to Mass on Saturday night. We were filming on Saturday and I went in and told them the we had to leave at twenty after five to get to church on time. The show runner said "Sure no problem." We proceed to film all day and they are rushing things along going "We have a hard out at 5:20 so lets not waste any time." I wait humbly and patiently through all of this until it is time to go. They are filming but I come out and say "We have to go." "Yeah but one more thing." "Wait I have a guestion." "I have some clips you can see but I guess we have to wait till you get back." He was doing every thing he could to delay us and keep us for going or at the least to make us be late and walk in the middle of the Mass. Which everyone knows I hate to do because I want to get there for first pitch.

We were firm and left and were only a few minutes late. I didn't get angry because I gave up rage for Lent. But I keep thinking I should have done something different. I should have said "I am wearing my Ashes and you can call the network if you have a problem with that." I don't think they know anything about this. Or I coiuld have insisted that we leave for the 7::30 distribution and they could have cut filming short that day because we walked out.

In St Mary's they have a giant mural of Abraham about to sacrafice his son and the Angel who stays his hand. I sat at Mass and stared at it as they did the readings and thought how far I am from Abraham and his faith. How I fell short. Again. How I have to do better. To be a witness. To stand up to those who attack religion and the people who practice it. The might be big name bloggers. They might be media personalities. They might be Presidents.

 I have to try to do better.

Sometimes when you turn the other cheek you just want to fart!

Yesterday we had a great customer who took us back to how we made the store work in the first place. This woman came in with her husband who insisted that she go out to get herself some clothes. She hated to spend money on herself as she was a caretaker for family members but he insisted that she go out and spend some time and money on herself. He wanted to take her to the city but she remembered shopping with us two years ago and always wanted to come back. So they did.

Now I came out of the back to talk to the husband. That is what I used to do all the time but it got away from me a little because I have been so busy with other things. Anyway they were there for the long haul. Four hours worth. About half way in the wife goes to her husband "You should go out for a beer." But he didn't want to leave her so we went and got beers from the bodega next door. When game back the wives went "Hey where's our beer." So it was beer all around while they were shopping.

Now these guys were your typical new types to Brooklyn. They had a lot of dough and own a building in Park Slope. And they love the new trendy restaurants. In fact they were talking about how much they love "Prime Meats" which is a German style restaurant on Court St. They server all of Allies favorite dishes that I bet she remembers as a child. They even put out a sidewalk cafe in the warm weather.

Now I went into my normal song and dance about how there are two types of places. The trendy new person place and the regular guy place that normal people go where it costs a lot less and you get a lot more food. He was naming his favorite joints and one after another were yuppie scum touristy traps. Which is fine for him. I don't begrudge him his success and he was a very nice guy and his wife is a doll. I am so very grateful that they came to shop in my store. I just told him my story about "Prime Meats."

You see every Sunday as you leave Mass all of the old people walk up Court St and pass the rich elitist yuppie scum hipster douchebags who are eating brunch outside. They walk up the street to "Good Food" the Italian Salumeria and get the stuff you need to cook breakfast and dinner. You know. Eggs. Bacon. Bread. Milk. Tomatoes. Pasta. Basil. The works. They you carry it home and you cook it. I am right in there with the old ladies as we buy our stuff for Sunday dinner. It is a ritual. You go to church and then go home for Sunday dinner with the family. It is what you do.

But it is not for everybody. I get it. Some people want to just get the New York Times and have brunch at a cafe and mock the honest working people who don't have their advantages in life. These scumbags are uniformly big time liberals but have no friends of another race or ethnic origin. They don't even know the names of the people who serve them in the stores they go to in the neighborhood. That's their life. I leave it to them. I would rather try to be humble and acknowledge the people who help me every day with my shopping and getting and spending. The countermen at the deli. The mailman. The girl at the bakery. The dude at the hardware store. They deserve a Merry Christmas and maybe a couple of dollars. It can make a difference for them.

Just a thought on the week before Christmas.

Now is the time to remember the summer!

I hate when it gets cold. Today is a particularly cold day in Brooklyn. Our breath smokes when we went outside to church today. I just wanted to think about our vacations to the Bed and Breakfast we took this summer. Lazing on the couch. Reading the kindle by the pool. Floating in the pool in the heat of the afternoon. Heaven.

They had the parish Christmas party today and it was amazing to see all the little kids in the parish. We are very kid friendly. Well the parish is not me. I got out of there as fast as possible. But it was very nice. It's Christmas and that is really for the kids.

We won't be able to get away somewhere warm this year as we had the previous three years so we will be stuck in the cold. But we can see our parents which makes up for it.

I just want to be in the pool.

I got the Chalice!

Our cousin Anthony is about to become ordained as a priest and he stopped off to show us his new chalice that he just got from the chalice store. It is a beauty. It has representations of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and some rubies and a cross on it made of Amethyst.

He used to be an FBI agent but he retired and became a Priest. We are going to his first Mass in a couple of weeks before he goes down to Delaware to get his parish assignment. He is having a party where half the people will be FBI agents and the other half Mafia guys he arrested.

The wife thinks she will get a discounted penance but I wouldn't count on that.

Don't look now but somebody died.

I spent most of the day at a funeral today.

Actually it wasn't most of the day. But we had to be at the funeral home at 9 in the morning for a brief wake. One of the aunts of one of the wife's cousins passed away. Now this is our favorite cousin who is the one who does everything for everybody. I mean she goes to every event and always helps out when people need help. So her fathers sister died. She was a bitch on wheels.

You must have one of those in your family. You know the spinster or widowed aunt or grand aunt who is just a major league pain in the ass. Nothing is ever right for her. Nobody does a holiday celebration or a meal or even talks properly like "the family" did in the whole day. Just generally a querulous nitpicking pain in the balls. But you put up with her because she is an old lady and she is family and what are you gonna do.

Now my cousins family is Greek and I had to sit next to the aunt one year at Greek Easter. You see I was low man on the totem pole that year because I had just started dating my future wife. Now the aunt started out complaining but I diverted like I always do. I started asking her questions about the food and how it was prepared and the customs of Greek Easter (breaking the eggs and all that stuff). So she was as happy as she ever got because she could talk and someone was listening. And paying attention and asking relevant questions. So we sort of got along. Not that she wasn't miserable because she was. But like I said what are you gonna do?

Anyway she is up in the box at the wake and there is an extremely small crowd there. About 12 or so people. The wife and I came to support our cousin. What struck me was that everyone was in the back of the hall talking about this and that. No one was talking about the aunt. I guess everyone figured that the old saw is true "If you don't have something nice to say about someone don't say anything at all." So she was pretty much ignored until it was time to box her up and bring her to the church. Everyone did a quick pass through and drive by prayer at the box and then we went to the church.

It was a Greek Orthodox church since that was the tradition she was born in. Now it always gets me when people are christened, or married, or especially buried at a church where nobody knows who the hell they are. The priest has to ask the family for a few things to say about the deceased. So he asked for some nice things to say. That was a stumper. I know when I get planted the padre will have a whole bunch of things to say, some good, some nots so good. But at least he will have some idea of who the heck I was. (Just a pet peeve of mine).

Some other members of the family showed up at the church for the funeral mass which was very interesting to see the differences in the prayers and the liturgy between the Eastern Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Masses. Afterward, they went to the cemetery. Several of us did not go so they came back to my house for lunch.

Proscuitto Balls, Rice Balls and hero sandwichs all around. Even my mother-in-law enjoyed her lunch. And it wasn't turkey. Which is another whole story.

Don't sweat it, she might go up to be a English Professor. Hee.

We had a very busy morning and I go out of the store to get myself a cup of coffee and the wife cappuccino. I go across the street to the bakery where I usually go and there is like twenty hipster dofus shitheads buying one cannoli and a cup of coffee. So I turn right to go to the Fancy Pants cafe on the next block.

So I have to walk past Carroll Park and as I do I see this family turn the corner and walk alongside me. I say hello because I recognize them from church. The husband always has to chase his hyperactive little daughter who is about five as she would run up the middle aisle during mass. He is one of several fathers who do this. Now in the old days the priest would freak out when kids would cry or act out in church. But Father Cashmen said "Hey let them run up to the alter, they are just curious, there is no reason for them to be afraid or punished. They just want to get closer to the baby Jesus." So we have all these kids who run up the aisle trailed by their dads who shepard them back to the back of the church where all the strollers are lined up like all the abandoned B-17's at end of "The Best Years of Our Lives." And you know this might be the best years of that kids life when she could go to church with Mom and Dad and her grandparents and her friends and neighbors.

Anyway the wife is pushing one of these mega strollers with their two year old in and the five year old is riding the back like Sarah Palin in the Iditarod. She is holding on for dear life and singing at the top of her lungs. And what is she singing so enthusiastically? Twinkle, twinkle little star? Along came a spider? Well no.

She was screaming out "I kissed a girl and I liked it."

Now her Mom and Dad and I all had to laugh. She didn't know what the song was about because she was a true innocent. But I think if she decided to kiss a girl and like it her parents wouldn't freak out and lose it. She might just be curious. Or it might be who she really is. We never know what the future might hold. But I am sure that she will know that she is loved. And that's what counts after all.

It was just pretty funny.

It's a beautiful new day!

It's a beautiful new day today!

After the 10 o'clock Mass today, our friends John and Julie baptised their beautiful new little baby girl. The whole family gathered together to celebrate and to go to a wonderful brunch at a local bistro. Everyone was so happy and cheerful.

So it's time to leave Lady Gaga and her attempts to stir the pot in the dustbin of history.

Let's concentrate on what's really important: James Bond, Moneypenny, Marcus Welby, Dr. Kildare and of course Julie Newmar.

Oh did I mention that the Giants have an off week and so we don't have to talk about football this week?

Oh did I mention that I ain't the only guy who ever goes 'Oh did I mention?"

Shout out to NOLA, the Saints will fall this week on the road to oblivion. Wait and see baby!

St Lucy Pray for Us.

This is a photo of the shrine to Saint Lucy the patron saint of eyes and eye problems. This shrine is in the front of a brownstone and is dedicated for the intention of one of the owners realtives.

I have one rule for when I visit a Catholic church. I always look for the statues. If they have St Lucy with her eyeballs on a plate then it is a "real" church. Otherwise it is too Protestant for me.

By the way this photo was taken by Glenn Kenny a sometimes contributor to Althouse who is a great film critic and whose blog "Some Came Running" is being added to my blog role.

I always see him sitting at the bar which is right next door to the shrine. A shrine of a different sort so to speak.

Hey what he said!

So I had to give a speech today. Actually yesterday and today. At both Masses. The bishop started a new program where he was trying to increase the collections at the weekly masses. Now nobody wants to hear about money and how they should give more. I know I feel that way.

But the bishop mandated that they wanted a parishioners should also speak not just the priest and the pastor asked me to do it. So I reviewed the financials of both the parish and the diocese as whole so I could speak intelligently.

Of course I couldn't give a technically speech with numbers and all boring stuff like that. So I decided to talk about pizza.

You see when I was a kid my mom would give me a quarter to go the pizza store and I would get two slices and a grape drink. Then on Sunday should would put a dollar in the collection plate. Now a slice of pizza costs $2.50 or so! Are you still putting that dollar in the plate. Com'on people. Put two slices of pizza in there for the baby Jesus.

We finished the Comunion photos

The communion photos are done and they came out great. Now the thing is to get everyone to go to church on a regular Sunday. Even when you are vacation. That's what religion is all about.

Showing up when there isn't a party. Cause every mass should be a party.

Let's find Common Ground!

President Barack Obama was granted an honorary degree and honored at Notre Dame University today. Critics of this honor who protested the fact that a Catholic University choose to honor someone who promotes abortion (and would put no restrictions on it up to and including killing a baby who survives an abortion) were arrested and detained when they disrupted the ceremony. Charges of trespass and Lèse majesté are pending.

The President "acknowledged that there is little common ground on the fundamental question of whether abortion should be legal. 'At some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable,' he said in his prepared remarks. 'Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.'"

In a related story, Senator Stephen Douglas is receiving an honorary degree from Howard University and will be giving his famous speech "Slavery, What's the Big Deal."

They are sitting in our seats again.

Well it happened again. You might remember how I was talking about how when you go to church you usually sit in the same spot each week. And how you can get discombobulated if someone who never came to your church before is sitting where you usually sit. I mean you really shouldn't get mad because you want people to come to church. But it kind of throws you off. It makes things awkward if you pay attention to what is going on around you.

Someone was sitting in our pew and the wife went to sit in the pew right in front of that. I had to stop her. You see you have to walk through the pew to go to Communion in the center aisle of the church. Now in the next row these two little old Italian ladies sit on the side closest to the center aisle. Only one of them goes to communion. The other one stays in the row. And she barely moves as you are trying to get by her to get to the middle aisle. You are squeezing by her and she just barely moves back and you have your butt in her face and it is a big production. Plus the line is held up while you squeeze through. So I grabbed the wife's arm and we moved up three or four rows to about the third row from the front. Which kind of freaked her out. Being right under Father Cashman's nose so to speak. Me I was fine. You see I have a clear conscience.

Anyway our granddaughter called today and she is coming to stay with us for a month. She told my wife that while she is here she wants to make her first Holy Communion. She always goes to Mass with us when she is in Brooklyn and loves the old school style Mass. She told us she wants to receive her first Communion here instead of Florida where she lives. She doesn't care about the party or the big fuss that so many people make when they are cafeteria Catholics. She would be happy to do it at a sparsely attended week day Mass without all of the fuss. She just wants to get her Communion. She knows that is what is really important.

I am really proud of her.

Hey no patty fingers in the pew.

The gospel today was about Jesus showing up when two of his disciples were preaching and freaking them out. He asked for something to eat and they gave him a baked fish. How about that.

Anyway Father Cashman preached about how some people tell him they are good Catholics even though they don't go to church. He told a story how someone told him that at his old parish and he was gentle in correcting them. But his pastor took him aside and told him not to let them off the hook so easily. You don't have to hammer them but don't tell them it's no big deal. See that s a recurring problem for me. When friends or family want to make a big show at a religious observance like a christening or a communion and they never go to church. I mean we were exhausted today but we dragged our ass out of bed. I don't want any credit for that. It was you are supposed to do. But I don't want to listen to anyone's bullshit because no one is busier than us and no one is more exhasuted.than us. So get your ass out of bed and go to church you lazy fucks.

My Sunday message to you. Amen.

Theo you made me jealous man!

One of our favorite commenter Theo Boehm just said that for Lent he was giving up posting or commenting or tweeting. The idea behind giving up something for Lent is to deprive yourself of something you really like to in a small way mimic how Jesus gave up so much for our sins. You know to get a feeling of sacrifice and repentance. Now it is easy to give up something that is easily replaceable. For instance I could give up wine for Lent and just drink beer. What does that prove? Or you could give up hot dogs and just eat pizza or knishes all day and night. You have to pick something that you love or really enjoy and will miss and that you can't replace too easily.

So I am thinking cookies. And Cake. And Pie. Any kind of baked desert. That might be a good thing to give up for Lent.

Oh yeah, I am also giving up making fun of Mort for Lent. That's gonna be really hard.