Posts

Showing posts with the label holidays

Suicide, Sin, and Dealing with Depression

Like I said last week, 'tiz the season to be frazzled . It's also a time of year when folks get together with family, including folks like Yogi Yorgesson's "goofy relations:" " ...After dinner my Aunt and my wife's Uncle Louie Get into an argument; they're both awful screwy Then all my wife's family say Louie is right And my goofy relations, they yoin in the fight. Back in the corner the radio is playing And over the racket Gabriel Heater is saying 'Peace on earth everybody and good will toward men' And yust at that moment someone slugs Uncle Ben.... " (" I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas ," via eLyrics.net) Oddly enough, December is generally a month with the fewest suicides each year in America. (" Holiday Suicides: Fact or Myth? ," Injury Prevention & Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (December 31, 2013)) Digging a little deeper, I noticed that those 'December suicides' sta

Bah! Humbug! Christmas and Plastic Reindeer

Image
" ...'What else can I be,' returned the uncle, 'when I live in such a world of fools as this? ... If I could work my will,' said Scrooge indignantly, 'every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!'... " (" A Christmas Carol ," Charles Dickens (1843) via www.gutenberg.org) 'Tis the season to be frazzled. Advent is when some Americans max out their credit cards, buying presents and setting up holiday parties: while others kvetch over bright lights and holiday music played in stores.... More, or less, at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Advent: Another Year of the Long Watch

Image
Today's Gospel reading starts on the second verse of this excerpt: " 'But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. " Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. " It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. " Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. " May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. " What I say to you, I say to all: "Watch!" ' " ( Mark 13:32 - 37 ) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Guide, Friend, Counselor, Comforter: the Holy Spirit

Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter 2014: Acts 8:5 - 8 , 14 - 17 1 Peter 3:15 - 18 John 14:15 - 21 Sixth Sunday of Easter 2014 By Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas May 25, 2014 In an anonymous e-mail, we are told a story we need to hear on this Memorial Day weekend. It's about an old man and his wife sitting in the parking lot of a supermarket. The hood is up on their car. Evidently they were having engine problems. A young man in his early 20s with a grocery bag in his arms walks in the direction of the older couple. The older gentleman emerges from his car and takes a few steps in the young man's direction. He points to the open hood and asks the young man for assistance. The young man puts his grocery bag into his expensive SUV, turns back to the old man and yelled at him: "you shouldn't even be allowed to drive a car at your age." And then with a wave of his hand, he gets into his car and speeds out of the parking lot. The old gentleman pulls out h

Memorial Day: War; Celebrating; Remembering; and Building a Better World

Image
(From Remember, Spyder_Monkey; via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) " Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. " There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe, And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.... " ("Locksley Hall," Alfred, Lord Tennyson) As a youth, those were among my favorite lines of poetry. A half-century later, they still are: although I've learned to temper my optimism with patience. Remembering Today is Memorial Day, the third day in a three-day weekend that's the unofficial start of summer's vacation season. It's also a day when some of us honor those who died while serving in the United States armed forces. Following our custom, the American president will probably lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns . More at A Catholic Citizen in America

"They Have no Wine"

Image
This seemed a good day to talk about motherhood, family, and why Minnesota has the start of fishing season fall on Mother's Day weekend. My wife says it may be so that mothers can have some time alone . If that's so, Minnesota's DNR blundered. They say this weekend is "Take-a-Mom fishing weekend." Ephesians and Diapers 'Family' is very important to Catholics, or should be. The Catechism devotes quite a bit of space to what a family is, and how families should work. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2201 - 2233 ) . ( September 24, 2009 ) On the other hand, I'm not allowed see marriage as a casual agreement between consenting adults. For starters, we all have duties: children and parents (Catechism, 2214 - 2220 , 2221 - 2231 ). When I married my wife, I knew what I was signing up for. Ephesians 5:22 - 25 points out that as her husband, I must love my wife "even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her." That

Easter Eggs, Art, and All That

Image
Decorated eggs aren't a Christian invention: folks were trimming ostrich eggs 60,000 years back. I gather that folks in Mesopotamia started the Easter Egg custom: using real eggs. From 1885 to 1917, Peter Carl Fabergé supervised the design and crafting of several dozen very fancy 'eggs.' Fabergé eggs are still famous, one stayed in Russia, and that's another topic. In today's America, stores sell plastic eggs and egg-dying kits. The Easter Bunny is a hare, not a rabbit, emigrated from Germany in the 18th century, and that's yet another topic.... ...I like the matter-of-fact look of Francesca's " The Resurrection of Jesus Christ ." Quite a few artists took a more flamboyant approach.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The Eighth Day: Two Millennia and Counting

Image
(From Piero della Francesca, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) (Piero della Francesca's "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.") Easter is the big holiday for the Catholic Church. It's when we celebrate Christ's return to life. I enjoy the cultural trappings of this springtime holiday: pastel decorations; plastic eggs; and all. I'll get back to some of that in another post.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .