Mine vs Yours

Last night my daughter was telling me about a "Facebook war" regarding some video about Jesus and Religion.  I was amazed today to see it with over 10 million views.

"Religion: it will continue its slow progression back towards traditional.  Extreme religious behavior will continue to become more prevalent.  How we differ will become more important than how we are the same.  You say God, I say Alla or Yahweh."
Random Roving, January 1, 2012

"As this cycle continues downward, it will be important to know what you believe in. You will be challenged to stand up for what you believe in whatever that is."
Random Roving, November 6, 2009
 

Happy Easter

I wish everyone a blessed Easter!

A re-post of some wise words from the late Father David Kirk:

"If you want to find God, really find God, go to where people are suffering. There, if you can open your eyes to the needs of others, and let your heart respond to see.....you're in for a great adventure! May this Sunday be a day for beginning to DO the word of God and not simple hear the word of God. Amen."

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!!



The only time that Linus ever drops his blanket!

Origin Of The Sheeple

If you've read this blog for some time, you know that I adore the term "sheeple".  I can't remember where I first heard it, but it just makes me laugh.  The mammalian nature of humans is sometimes comical.  The Google Elves even provided me with this great image.

I was at church Sunday, and this reading from John was read:

"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.' He said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'  He then said to him a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.' He said to him, 'Tend my sheep.'  He said to him the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, 'Do you love me?' and he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' (Jesus) said to him, 'Feed my sheep'."   John 21:15-17

So there you have it.  The term "sheeple" has biblical roots!

A Note For Lent

by Father David Kirk

A preface about Lent:
People “give up” things during lent:
Pizza, beer, lobster, whatever.
But does it move us closer to God,
Closer to one another, to ourselves?
Maybe what we should work on at Lent
Is CHANGING ATTITUDES.
Leaving behind frustrations, fears,
Cultural attitudes
Which box in others.
TO GIVE UP NEGATIVE, DEFEATIST ATTITUDES
To see temporary setbacks as permanent
To escalate disappointment into catastrophe
To experience problems as insurmountable.
To try to see other possibilities
When things don’t go as we had hoped or planned.
Sometimes I set myself up to feel like a failure
Or to feel badly
About things I cannot control;
And I get out of this only by deciding
That if things can’t be one way,
Well, maybe they can be another.
Its possible, I think, even for me,
To still make inner changes,
To move old emotional garbage out
Permanently
To see the world in a whole new way,
To come closer to God.
So I’m not sure what I’m giving up this Lent
But I think its
HOPELESSNESS.
I think I learned this attitude
At an early age,
As a lonely adolescent,
As a young man whose people die young,
Whose sister died of alcoholism.
But God keeps seeking me, the lost lamb,
And in intervening in my life
Converting all these things into HOPE.
So I put all hopelessness on the altar
As a sacrifice to faith and joy.

As God Lives in me, I determine who I am.
[Mark 9:14-29]

*Reposted from Ash Wednesday 2009

http://fatherdavidkirk.com/

Will The Real Christians Please Stand Up

Some of the comments over the past few days from the "Republican Right" are just shocking. Being a non-party carrying member, I'll make an unbiased, direct comment. It is my personal opinion that the people known as the "Republican Right" are the most non-Christian behaving people that I know. If I remember correctly, Jesus was about love and compassion.

“There goes Obama again – he lives to help the downtrodden. The Haiti earthquake was made to order for Obama. Obama will use Haiti to boost credibility with the light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.”
Rush Limbaugh, The Big Babbling Buffoon

"They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal."
Pat Robertson (one day after the Haitian earthquake)

"The mob will get even more angry. Beware of the angry white American man carrying the Bible. Xenophobia will continue to increase. Muslims and Mexicans will continue to be the easy targets. Which group or culture is next?"
Random Roving - January 1, 2010

A repost from a few months ago:
"The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery. They're the kind of people who'd stop to help you change a flat, but would somehow manage to set your car on fire. I would be reluctant to entrust them with a Cuisinart, let alone the economy. The Republicans, on the other hand, would know how to fix your tire, but they wouldn't bother to stop because they'd want to be on time for Ugly Pants Night at the country club." Dave Barry

Father David Kirk On The Prodigal Son

Being Holy Week, I'll take a breather from the crazy events in the world and present some writings from Father David Kirk.

"This Gospel is about forgiveness, and it is about conversion, which means to change attitude and heart, but also conversion which brings us back to reality. The Gospel also speaks about someone "dead" and "ruined": he lost his possessions, because he squandered his wealth; he lost his worth, a son of a rich man living like a pig now; he lost his power, because no one receives him with honor. And in a negative way, he found his freedom because he lost the things that enslave, all these externals.

Even though he was God, Jesus emptied Himself and became a poor man; some of these things, power, so-called worth, possessions, should be renounced. There is danger to the young man in all the things he was given. St. Paul says: "those things I used to consider gain I now reappraise as loss in the light of Christ."
Father David Kirk

For more on Father David Kirk:
http://www.fatherdavidkirk.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_David_Kirk

http://emmaushouse-harlem.org/

Is Anyone Alive Out There???

Every once in a while you have one of those great days that you wish that you could wrap up and relive again some time in the future. Sunday was one of those great days. I started the day at an early Palm Sunday Mass. It's one of my favorites because it always calls for crowd participation. We, the parishioners, got to play the voice of the angry mob. The great story weaves very diverse themes of love, deceit, prophecy, disapointment, loyalty, cowardness, bravery, weakness, and sadness. Once again, the women in the story, Mary and Mary, stay strong while the eleven men flee and wander aimlessly. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

After mass, it was off to Austin, one of my favorite cities. A beautiful drive with the convertible top down and Texas bluebonnets in full bloom across the pastures. Lunch on Lake Travis, a brisk hike along Town Lake, and then off to the hotel to prepare for the finale'. An attempt at a nap was terminated by my discovery of Braveheart on TV.....can't nap through that one! It was as good the 20th time as the first.

Some ritas and Tex Mex for dinner and then off to stop #1 on Springteen In Texas Week. Bruce and the E Street Band played 3 hours in the Texas Longhorn Drum. No breaks, no halftime. Three hours of great tunes interweaving the two themes of "tough times" and "hope". He opened up with Badlands that laid down the foundation for these times: "Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland. Got a head-on collision, smashin in my guts man. Im caught in a crossfire that I don't understand." Then on to the new song, Outlaw Pete....could have been Outlaw Madoff! Back on top with Lucky Day and Working On A Dream. His one sermon came during Working On A Dream where he proclaimed that "we're going to build a house of hope, joy and faith".

The show included many classics and some I hadn't seen in some time. The band continues to deliver after all of these years. When the crowd was slowing down, Bruce yelled "is anyone alive out there?".

So back to my earlier story. It's Holy Week. Is anyone alive out there??

Land of Hopes & Dreams

Grab your ticket and your suitcase

Thunder's rolling down the tracks

You don't know where you're goin'

But you know you won't be back

Darlin' if you're weary

Lay your head upon my chest

We'll take what we can carry

And we'll leave the rest

Big Wheels rolling through fields

Where sunlight streams

Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

I will provide for you

And I'll stand by your side

You'll need a good companion for

This part of the ride

Leave behind your sorrows

Let this day be the last

Tomorrow there'll be sunshine

And all this darkness past

Big wheels roll through fields

Where sunlight streams

Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

This train

Carries saints and sinners

This train

Carries losers and winners

This Train

Carries whores and gamblers

This Train

Carries lost souls

This Train

Dreams will not be thwarted

This Train

Faith will be rewarded

This Train

Hear the steel wheels singin'

This Train

Bells of freedom ringin'

This Train

Carries broken-hearted

This Train

Thieves and sweet souls departed

This Train

Carries fools and kings

This Train

All aboard

This Train

Dreams will not be thwarted

This Train

Faith will be rewarded

This Train

Hear the steel wheels singin'

This Train