The Feast Of St. Joseph

We owe Joseph a great debt of gratitude for his obedience to God and for his care for Mary and her son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

From the Lectionary:

PRAYER

O God, who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and the spouse of his virgin mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to your commands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

There's A Wildness In God's Mercy

At church this morning, we sang the hymn, "There's A Wideness In God's Mercy". It's not a hymn that we sing very often, and since I've only been in the Episcopal Church 12 years, and our church musician and choir director tends to vary the music quite a lot, there are many hymns that I'm not familiar with.

As I looked at the words in the hymnal through my bifocals, I misread "wideness" as "wildness", and was brought up short. God, wild! Then, as sometimes happens in church - even during the sermon - my mind drifted off from the subject, or rather the hymn at hand to think that "a wildness in God's mercy" would not be far from the truth.

God dispenses his mercy in a munificent and bounteous manner that could be called wild, tossing it here, there, and everywhere in the manner of the revelers riding on Mardi Gras parade floats tossing out beads and trinkets to the crowds.

"There's a wildness in God's mercy." I think there's the kernel of a hymn there.

The Day After

Dennis, in the comments, says that I can't have only the pious Lorica of St. Patrick for the celebration of his feast day, that I need a drinking song. The day is gone, but here's the offering for the day after. Grab your favorite hangover remedy and sing along:

The Old Dun Cow, words and music traditional.

Some friends and I in a public house
Was playing a game of chance one night
When into the pub a fireman ran
His face all a chalky white.
"What's up", says Brown, "Have you seen a ghost,
Or have you seen your Aunt Mariah?"
"Me Aunt Mariah be buggered!", says he,
"The bleedin' pub's on fire!"

And there was Brown upside down
Lappin'' up the whiskey on the floor.
"Booze, booze!" The firemen cried
As they came knockin' on the door (clap clap)
Oh don't let 'em in till it's all drunk up
And somebody shouted MacIntyre! MACINTYRE!
And we all got blue-blind paralytic drunk
When the Old Dun Cow caught fire.

"Oh well," says Brown, "What a bit of luck.
Everybody follow me.
And it's down to the cellar
If the fire's not there
Then we'll have a grand old spree."
So we went on down after good old Brown
The booze we could not miss
And we hadn't been there ten minutes or more
Till we were quite pissed.

Then, Smith walked over to the port wine tub
And gave it just a few hard knocks (clap clap)
Started takin' off his pantaloons
Likewise his shoes and socks.
"Hold on, " says Brown, "that ain't allowed
Ya cannot do that thing here.
Don't go washin' trousers in the port wine tub
When we got Guinness beer."

Then there came from the old back door
The Vicar of the local church.
And when he saw our drunken ways,
He began to scream and curse.
"Ah, you drunken sods! You heathen clods!
You've taken to a drunken spree!
You drank up all the Benedictine wine
And you didn't save a drop for me!"

And then there came a mighty crash
Half the bloody roof caved in.
We were almost drowned in the firemen's hose
But still we were gonna stay.
So we got some tacks and some old wet sacks
And we nailed ourselves inside
And we sat drinking the finest Rum
Till we were bleary-eyed.

Later that night, when the fire was out
We came up from the cellar below.
Our pub was burned. Our booze was drunk.
Our heads was hanging low.
"Oh look", says Brown with a look quite queer.
Seems something raised his ire.
"Now we gotta get down to Murphy's Pub,
It closes on the hour!"

UPDATE: Dennis has his own blog called "Psychology, Dogs, Politics, and Wine". He posts seriously good music videos and learned wine posts that are far beyond my ken and my low wine tastes, but for knowledgeable wine lovers, he has the skinny.

Happy Feast Day of St. Patrick

THE LORICA, OR, ST PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE

I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever,
by power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
his baptism in the Jordan river;
his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb;
his riding up the heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet "Well done" in judgement hour;
the service of the seraphim;
confessors' faith, apostles' word,
the patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord,
and purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.

[Against the demon snares of sin,
the vice that gives temptation force,
the natural lusts that war within,
the hostile men that mar my course;
of few or many, far or nigh,
in every place, and in all hours
against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
against false words of heresy,
against the knowledge that defiles
against the heart's idolatry,
against the wizard's evil craft,
against the death-wound and the burning
the choking wave and poisoned shaft,
protect me, Christ, till thy returning.]

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.

According to James Kiefer:

The Lorica is a truly magnificent hymn, found today in many hymnals (usually abridged by the omission of the two stanzas bracketed....)

Death Is Nothing At All

For Dennis and for all those who have lost loved ones and still miss them:

Death is nothing at all - I have only slipped away into the next room. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Laugh as we always laughed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effort. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was; there is absolutely unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of your mind because I am out of your sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near just around the corner. All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before - only better, infinitely happier and forever - we will all be one together with Christ.

Carmelite Monastery, Tallow, County Waterford, Ireland

UPDATE: These words are by Henry Scott-Holland.

Alpha - Part 3

Our third Alpha lecture was titled "Why Did Jesus Die?" I'm still puzzling over exactly to whom this series is directed. I asked and the response was folks at different levels of knowledge of Christianity. Not at my level, that's for sure. Look, I'm not setting myself up above anyone, but I have a vague sense of just not liking Alpha, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Not much of a lively discussion followed.

After Nicky's lecture about Jesus taking all our sins and shame upon himself and dying on the cross so that our sins are forgiven, my question was, "Did Jesus have to die for God to forgive our sins?" No true answer came. Then I made my statement that I did not think God willed Jesus's death, nor did Jesus will his own death. He became incarnate to do the Father's will, which was to teach us by word and deed how to live our lives here on earth. In doing so he angered the authorities and was eventually put to death in a cruel and shameful way. In the days preceeding his death, he gave us an example of how we are to approach our own deaths. After he died, God raised him from the dead, and he lives today in the hearts and minds of those who choose to follow him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The others seemed to accept that.

Oh, and we were lead in the "Come into my heart, Jesus" prayer again. Honestly, I don't know what to make of it.

A Day In The Life Of a Mimi

What a day! First off this old bird had to get up and get presentable to the world - no longer a simple task. Then off to pick up my granddaughter at school to go for a counselling session, then to MacDonald's to pick up lunch, because she'll miss the school lunch. She eats her lunch in the car and in the counsellor's office. While Mimi waits for her, she reads "People Magazine". Who are these people? I see right away that I'm woefully out of touch. I suppose I should subscribe, just to keep up.

One picture story featured the two English princelings, Will and Harry, and revealed to the world where the boys hang out to get drunk. MadPriest, are you reading this? In lieu of stealing the magazine, I hand-copied the names of the night spots in the event that you travel down to London town and want to hit the cool spots. See the trouble I take for you. I was going to post this in your comments, but I thought, why give all the good stuff to you? Here's the list:

The Pig's Ear
The Cuckoo Club
Archipelago
Boujis
Mahiki's Lanai Lounge

Back to school with my granddaughter. Come home, eat lunch, answer a few emails and post these details of my life which will, I'm sure, captivate all of you. Then at 3:15, I'm off to pick up my son's two children to take them to the dentist. Oh, joy. A six-year-old with ADHD at the dentist. I have my son on stand-by if he gives trouble. You may ask why I am doing all this. My son had to take off a lot of time from work for the custody fight in court, so I'm trying to help. Mimi gotta hold this shit together, don't she? Or she thinks she does.

My Father

Ha! I'll bet you thought I was out of the autobiography business. Not quite yet.

My father was a gifted and highly intelligent man, but, sadly, he threw away his life and his talents, and he made life miserable for us, his family. He was an artist, a witty raconteur, and a brilliant ironist. Having left school at 17, he was self-taught, and he could converse knowledgeably on nearly any subject. He loved books, music, and art, and all of those were present in our home, even as my mother was sometimes left to seek help from her family for the necessities of life, like food and clothing.

Once my father was fired from his first job, because of too many hangover absences, he only held one other decent job in his life. Even during the years when he was not drinking, any direction or criticism angered him, and when it came from his superiors at work, he'd quit. Rather late in his life he worked for the Job Corps for a couple of years, teaching art, but Richard Nixon defunded that program, and he was laid off.

He worked briefly for a movie rental company, and that summer we saw a different movie every night. The neighbors came over, and we'd set up chairs, or sometimes he'd show the movies in the back yard.

While my mother worked at low-paid clerical jobs, my father finally settled on a "home business" doing commercial art work that brought in very little money. My mother scrimped and scrounged and managed to hold us together with the help of her family. If we had not been renting our house from my grandparents, would we have been out on the street? I suspect that the rent went unpaid fairly often.

We owned a Victrola wind-up record player on which we played the old 78 rpm records - those that broke when you dropped them. Some nights, when my father had been on a bender, and came home in a mellow mood, rather than a sour mood, he'd play "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" all night into the morning. We'd fall asleep to the song and wake up to it. I've thought about the words of the song and wondered whom he was mooning about. I know that he and my mother were not well-suited to each other.

Even in the periods when he did not drink - once for eight years - he was mean. He had major psychological problems that he would not deal with, and he took his frustrations out on us. My two sisters and I were terrified of him. With his sharp wit and irony, he browbeat us and ridiculed us. If we seemed to be enjoying ourselves for a few minutes, he'd find a chore for us to do. With him around, there was little peace or rest to be had, and, since he "worked" out of our home, he was always around, except when he delivered his occasional work. The three of us breathed a heavy sigh of relief when we heard the door close behind him, because we'd enjoy an hour or two of respite.

One day, when I'd had enough from him, I told him that he acted like Hitler. He took off after me, but I was faster than he was, and I was out the door. I figured whatever he planned to do if he caught me, I was going to be outside, and he might have to do it in front of someone. He backed off, once I was outside. I never did that again. I think I touched a nerve. I'd like to say that I pricked his conscience with those words, and that our lives improved afterwards, but no, nothing changed.

He was merciless about table manners. No elbows out from the side while eating. Hold the knife and fork just so. No food in the mouth in sight. No noise while chewing. My middle sister had a habit of clinking the fork against her teeth, on occasion, and that was not to be. He was on her case constantly about that. We all grew up with impeccable table manners, but they came at a great cost.

Looking back, my sisters and I were grateful for the art, the music, the books, and the magazines which added a richness to our lives that mitigated, to a degree, the otherwise unfortunate situation we were in. That my father did not make the necessities of life a priority, drove my mother wild. It was a hell of a life, but thank God for the books and the music and the art.

So. There you have it. Alcoholism, family life in tatters, no money, depending on the kindness of family (not strangers), but music, art, books, magazines and impeccable table manners all in place. How Tennessee Williams is that?

Patron For Inclusive Church

This post is virtually lifted from Of Course I Could Be Wrong. It's too good to pass up, and MadPriest has said we could take what we want from his blog. I suspect that most of my readers already read MadPriest, but just in case, I offer it here.

From Ekklesia:

The Anglican Archbishop of Mexico, the Most Rev Carlos Touche-Porter, is to be a Patron of the movement Inclusive Church, which works for an open Christian community. The announcement was made in a press statement today.

The Anglican Church of Mexico was born as a part of the struggle for human rights in Mexico.

The Archbishop said “As an Anglican committed to promote inclusiveness and diversity in our Church, I rejoice, celebrate and support the ministry of Inclusive Church. May the Anglican Communion continue to be a house of prayer for all people, where everyone is welcome, valued and respected”.

....

Archbishop Carlos preached at a service hosted by Affirming Catholicism in Westminster Abbey on Monday 26th February. His sermon can be found at [this site].

Please. Go read his beautiful sermon.

The List Is Long

As some of you know, I spent 60 years of my life in the Roman Catholic Church. Since I left and became a member of the Episcopal Church, I have tried to keep my criticism of the RCC to a minimum. Many of my family members and friends are RC, and I generally don't make negative comments about the church, unless others bring up the subject first. Then, I might agree or disagree. I admire those who remain with the church and try to bring about change from within, but I reached the point where I could not do that.

Then, too, I hesitate because the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion are far from perfect, as we are seeing, and there would be an element of pot-kettle in the criticism.

As I debated with myself whether to post what I'm going to say here, I read MadPriest's post on the interference of the RC hierarchy in the political process in Scotland, and I remembered the interference in our own most recent presidential election by the pope and certain of the American bishops having to do with John Kerry's views on abortion, interference which may have thrown the election to Bush, since the vote count was quite close, and I decided go ahead.

When the present pope was, as yet, Cardinal Ratzinger, he was the Prefect of the Office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the Roman Catholic Church, one of the congregations of the Roman Curia. His was the responsibility to guard the teachings of the church throughout the world from doctrinal error.

He visited the US periodically to exercise his authority as Prefect, and he was known as "The Enforcer". Certain of the bishops, priests and, especially, the administrators and faculty of the Catholic seminaries and universities dreaded the visits, because those who strayed from orthodoxy - according to the Vatican - were disiplined in various ways.

I attended a Jesuit university in the 1950s, and even with the censorship that was in place in those days, the good fathers did manage to convey the idea that thinking is a good thing. I never recovered from that. Of course, I had been doing a good bit of thinking on my own, but the Jesuits reinforced the idea that it was OK to think.

That being said, I receiived a grade of "C" in my course on Christian marriage, because I persisted in annoying my professor with comments about this passage from Matthew 5:32-35:

But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

My thought was that this passage indicated one reason for permitting divorce and remarriage. He said no, and tried to explain why it did not, but not entirely to my satisfaction. I continued the disussion after he had given me his definitive anwer, and it is my belief that my grade was the result of my persistance in questioning him about the passage. Of course, I could be wrong. It was not a difficult class, and that grade was the only "C" to besmirch my academic record at the university.

But, I digress. This article by John L. Allen Jr. from The National Catholic Reporter from 1999, before the cardinal became pope, is quite enlightening. It is long, therefore, I will give you a few quotes in the event you are disinclined to read the whole piece. Of course, I do recommend that you read the whole thing.

Some say his 18 years as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church’s guardian of orthodoxy, have been the intellectual salvation of Roman Catholicism in a time of confusion and compromise.

Others believe Ratzinger will be remembered as the architect of John Paul’s internal Kulturkampf, intimidating and punishing thinkers in order to restore a model of church -- clerical, dogmatic and rule-bound -- many hoped had been swept away by the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 assembly of bishops that sought to renew Catholicism and open it to the world. Ratzinger’s campaign bears comparison to the anti-modernist drive in the early part of the century or Pius XII’s crackdown in the 1950s, critics say, but is even more disheartening because it followed a moment of such optimism and new life.

His record includes:

* Theologians disciplined, such as Fr. Charles Curran, an American moral theologian who advocates a right to public dissent from official church teaching; Fr. Matthew Fox, an American known for his work on creation spirituality; Sr. Ivone Gebara, a Brazilian whose thinking blends liberation theology with environmental concerns; and Fr. Tissa Balasuriya, a Sri Lankan interested in how Christianity can be expressed through Eastern concepts;
* Movements blocked, such as liberation theology and, more recently, religious pluralism (the drive to affirm other religions on their own terms);
* Progressive bishops hobbled, including Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle, reproached by Rome for his tolerance of ministry to homosexuals and his involvement in progressive political causes, and Bishop Dom Pedro Casaldáliga of Sao Félix, Brazil, criticized for his political engagement beyond the borders of his own diocese;
* Episcopal conferences brought to heel on issues such as inclusive language and their own teaching authority;
* The borders of infallibility expanded, to include such disparate points as the ban on women’s ordination and the invalidity of ordinations in the Anglican church.


From 1999, opinions on whether Cardinal Ratzinger could be elected pope:

There is still the possibility, of course, that Ratzinger will not end his career as the hierarchy’s No. 2 man. At some point there will be another conclave, and Ratzinger, if he’s still around, will be in the running for the top job. Could he become pope?

Fessio thinks it could happen. “If the present pope died suddenly, they might want an older person for interim continuity,” he said. “Ratzinger has many abilities the rest of the cardinals are aware of -- his command of languages, his knowledge of cultures, his knowledge of the faith.”

Reese, however, thinks it unlikely. For one thing, Ratzinger would be almost 75, and he doesn’t think the cardinals will elect someone so close to the official retirement age. Anyway, Ratzinger’s “become too controversial. They will look for someone who can heal divisions rather than exacerbate them,” Reese said. He added, “I could be wrong.”

Allen goes on to say:

Assuming Ratzinger’s tenure in the Vatican ends with his present job, what is one to make of it? Perhaps Waldstein is right that the battle lines are too hardened in the present for any definitive judgment. Maybe it will take the perspective that comes only with time to allow observers to get past the polemics and appreciate his real impact on the church.

Jacques Maritain once said, “The important thing is not to be a success. The important thing is to be in history bearing the witness.” In that light, perhaps Ratzinger will come to be judged positively. He has borne a consistent witness, stood fast for his own vision -- which he would argue is the vision of Christ. It is with such considerations in view that Fessio boldly predicts Ratzinger will be remembered as “one of the great saints of our time.”

Yet the stark divisions, the ruptures in the church Ratzinger has helped to create these past 18 years must also be part of his legacy. Many Catholics can’t help thinking it could all have been different. The same truths could have been presented, the same errors exposed, in more pastoral fashion. The wounds could have been less frequent, less deep, quicker to heal.

From the lengthy quotes, do you get the idea that I really want you to read the whole article?

A longer list of those he disciplined, in one form or another, is found, once again, in The National Catholic Reporter. The names include some of the finest thinkers in the church.

This is the man who is the present Pope Benedict. And, as far as I know, he still has not decided whether Roman Catholic married couples will be permitted to use condoms if one of the parties is infected with HIV.