Nothing noteworthy happened yesterday. There was just a lot of blather about some political thingy Wednesday. I couldn’t figure it out well enough to disagree.
Have a nice Friday and a great weekend. Blogging doubtful due to travel and commitments at the destination.
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From The American Conservative digest for September 20:
Daniel Larison argued that “a Romney administration would represent the return to most of what went wrong with the right during the Bush years.” He also responded toRod Dreher’s post on the prospect of a GOP civil war.
Gleanings from the linked items:
The Joe Donnelly camp came out swinging at Republican Senate nominee Richard Mourdock, arguing that his promise not to cooperate with Democrats is extreme and not in the national interest.
Mourdock replied that it’s okay to compromise about policy, but not about principle.
I have been a very big fan of Rick Santorum in the past, but life moves on, circumstances change, nuances emerge from shadows as light shifts — pick your figure of speech. Continue reading “A few kind words for Santorum”
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. It’s enough to make me keep blogging another year.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
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This always, for some obvious reasons, brings joy to my heart. It also brings a smile to my face.
Today is born of a Virgin He who holds the whole creation in His hand.
Today is born of a Virgin He who holds the whole creation in His hand.
Today is born of a Virgin He who holds the whole creation in His hand.
He whose essence none can touch is bound in swaddling clothes as a Child.
God who in the beginning established the heavens lies in a manger.
He who rained manna on His people in the wilderness is fed on milk at His mother’s breast.
The Bridegroom of the Church summons the wise men. The Son of the Virgin accepts their gifts.
We worship Thy birth, O Christ.
We worship Thy birth, O Christ.
We worship Thy birth, O Christ.
Show us also Thy divine Theophany.
My Arabic is essentially non-existent, but here’s a rendition of the same hymn (I think) in a concert setting by an aging Lebanese Cantor who’s a real inspiration:
I appreciate Mark Shea’s thoughts on the culture wars this time of year:
Since I acknowledge that there is indeed hostility to Christmas, then what’s wrong with complaining about the War on Christmas?
Answer: Culture warfare is not spiritual warfare. The devil is the ape of God. He constantly offers us counterfeits. So magic looks like miracles, divination looks like prophecy, and seance looks like prayer to the saint. In the same way, culture warfare looks like spiritual warfare, but it’s not. It’s a politicized counterfeit of spiritual warfare. Culture warfare takes Christian things and subtly fills them with pagan content. The worship of some creature such as “America” or “traditional values” or “Xmas” or “the good old days” gets all balled up with the worship of Jesus and replaces it like stone replacing bone in a fossil … Demagogues manipulate pious Christians into defending … idols with the weapons of this world (especially anger and resentment against the ideological enemies of the demagogue) often while thinking we are defending Christ with the weapons of the Spirit. How can we tell when this is happening? When we stop, take our pulse, and realize that we are speaking about Christmas with anger and resentment at its enemies far more than we are speaking of the Incarnation of our Lord with joy.
Conversely, spiritual warfare takes created things and fills them with Christian content. It takes a glass half full approach by letting grace build on nature instead of teaching us to sullenly regard the imperfect as the enemy of the gospel. Does somebody wish us “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”? They at least recognize something sacred about the season … The Christian faith dares to be merry in a world full of grievances and petty tribal enmities.
Tipsy Teetotaler ن 