Pinocchio!!!

Have I told you about my afternoon at Pinocchio? I don't believe that I have. What an afternoon! Music, noise, games, kids, pizza, celebrities, all you could ever want from life. Well, that was all my grandson wanted from life for his eighth birthday party last Saturday. That and the chintzy prizes that break and lose tiny parts soon after the package is opened. Oh, but they loved it! And I did too. Really. I do believe that we had music coming from two different directions - and not even the same songs, but a cacophonous mixture.

Above is a close-up of celebrity SpongeBob Squarepants. He was adorable and full of personality, as you can see. Below is the other celebrity, Spiderman. Poor Spiderman seemed to be missing something. He did not have the bulk to fill out his suit. In fact, I do believe that Spiderman was a girl. I could see curves that looked more like breasts than muscles. Of course, I could be wrong.

I tried to get a better picture of Spiderman, er, Spidergirl, whatever, during her dance, but she had the moves, if she did not have the muscles, and I could catch her only from the rear.



The boys were so caught up in the games that they would not come to blow out the candles and sing "Happy Birthday", so we adults went ahead and cut the cake and served ourselves. It was a turtle cake, you see, and we just could not wait any longer. The boys never even ate any cake while we were there.

A good time was had by all, and it will very likely be another whole year before I enjoy the pleasures at Pinocchio again. Poor me.

Church Of Julian Of Norwich

Mother Julian's Shrine

"The Cell now a chapel the place where Mother Julian wrote down her Revelations of Divine Love"

We should desire to regard our Lord
with wondering reverence
rather than fear,
loving God gently and trusting
with all we are capable of.
For when we regard God with awe
and love God gently
our trust is never in vain.
The more we trust,
and the more powerful this trust,
the more we please and praise
our Lord whom we trust in.
Without this,
we cannot please God.

On the main page of the website is a video of a Benediction service. It's short and includes lovely singing by the choir. It brings back memories from my childhood in the Roman Catholic Church, when the Benediction service sometimes followed the celebration of the Mass.


St. Julian, Bishop of Le Mans

Mother Julian probably took her name from St. Julian of Le Mans.

The site is wonderful for exploring. It includes a biography of Mother Julian with the little information that is known about her life and also a brief history of the period in which she lived.

From the Church of Julian of Norwich.

Julian's words are from Meditations With Julian of Norwich by Brendan Doyle.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

UPDATE: Kishnevi has found the original words of Julian in my quote. Doyle seems to have abridged the original somewhat.

And thus we shall in love be homley and nere to God, and we shall in drede
be gentil and curtes to God, and both alike evyn. Desir we of our Lord God to
dredin Him reverently and to love Him mekely and to trosten in Him mytyly.
For whan we drede Him reverently and loven Him mekely our troste is never in
vaine; for the more that we trosten, and the mytylier, the more we plesyn and
worshippe our Lord that we trosten in. And if us feile this reverent drede and
meke love (as God forbode we should), our trost shall sone be misrulid for the
tyme. And therefore us nedith mekil for to prayen our Lord of grace that we may
have this reverent drede and meke love, of his gift, in herte and in werke, for
withouten this no man may plesyn God.

Kishnevi has also published the original and his own translation into modern English at his website.

"Obama's Mama"

From a column by Ellen Goodman, published on May 9, 2008, in the Boston Globe:

From time to time during this primary, I've wondered about Obama's mama. In a race that was so much about biography, about beliefs rooted in her son's "DNA," she's made only cameo appearances.
more stories like this

She was the "mother from Kansas" balanced alliteratively with the "father from Kenya." Or she was the white parent whose genes combined with the black parent. Or she was the woman dying of cancer "more worried about paying her medical bills than getting well." And on Tuesday night when her son all but sewed up the nomination, she appeared again as the "single parent who had to go on food stamps at one point."
....

The rest of the story is known: a divorce, a marriage to an Indonesian, a second divorce. She was a mother who kept her children focused as well as fed. But what's less known is the woman in her own right, the one who became an anthropologist, the woman who spent years as the respected head of research for Women's World Banking, bringing micro-financing to poor people in Indonesia.

Nancy Barry, who was the head of Women's World Banking and knew Ann well, has been bewildered by the way she's been reduced to a stick figure. "She was stubborn, hard core, decisive, convincing, deep-thinking, rigorous in her analysis," says Barry. "When I hear Barack talking about how we are not red states, blue states, but the United States, I think he gets that from his mother. The other core capability he gets from her is the desire for healing."

I, too, wonder why Obama has not talked more about the mother who was a presence in his life, rather than the father who was mostly absent. He wrote a book called "Dreams From My Father", but as Goodman says, Obama's mother has made only "cameo appearances" in his campaign. Ann, pulled herself up from depending on food stamps, got an education, and worked as an anthropologist and a head researcher for the World Bank, therefore, she must have been a strong and determined woman. How did she influence and contribute to forming Obama's character? He was brought up by two strong women, his mother and his grandmother. Perhaps, there's a story there that just might be worth telling, not simply to further the purposes of his campaign, but because it's a compelling story on its own.

Danger! Gay Bride!

From Old American Century, via David at The Knowledge Box.

Those folks have terrific posters. I'm sure that I'll be borrowing again in the future.

"This I Believe" - Richard Rohr

Fr. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan friar and the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In an interview for a series on "Morning Edition" on National Public Radio called "This I Believe", Rohr said:

"People who have really met the Holy are always humble. It's the people who don't know who usually pretend that they do. People who've had any genuine spiritual experience always know they don't know. They are utterly humbled before mystery. They are in awe before the abyss of it all, in wonder at eternity and depth, and a Love, which is incomprehensible to the mind. It is a litmus test for authentic God experience, and is -- quite sadly -- absent from much of our religious conversation today. My belief and comfort is in the depths of Mystery, which should be the very task of religion."

And they all said, "Amen!"

"Shh!" Suicides Among Veterans

Flags on the graves at Chalmette National Cemetery in New Orleans.

From the Hartford Courant:

By EMANUEL MARGOLIS

Dr. Ira Katz, chief of mental health services for the Department of Veterans Affairs, sent an e-mail to a VA colleague this past February that read:

"Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before somebody stumbles on it?"

Unfortunately for the government, somebody did "stumble" on it. Dr. Katz lied about the numbers before the House of Representatives Veterans' Affairs Committee, grossly understating the number of such suicide attempts. He testified that the number for all of 2007 was 790. He also neglected the Army's own "Suicide Event Report," which disclosed that 2006 saw the highest rate of military suicides in 26 years!
....

The Veterans for Common Sense lawsuit has already demonstrated that the VA intentionally misled Congress and the public about the epidemic of veterans' suicides. Here are the facts squeezed out of the government to date:

• 120 veterans commit suicide every week.

• 1,000 veterans attempt suicide while in VA care every month.

• Nearly one in five service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan (approximately 300,000) have post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms or major depression.

• 19 percent of post-Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been diagnosed with possible traumatic brain injury, according to a Rand Corp. Study in April.
....

These are the real costs of President Bush's misbegotten and mismanaged wars. These are the costs that the administration seeks to hide while it attempts to make the test of patriotism the wearing of flag pins in our lapels!

It's what is underneath those flag pins that really matters. It is called compassion. It is real patriotism as opposed to the fraud of "Mission Accomplished" and promises of victory.

It's just not possible to reach the end of outrage with the Bush maladministration and its minions. You think that you have, and then word of some new outrage comes forth and leaves you gasping for breath. Look at the numbers! Surely casualties of the Iraq War along with those killed and maimed in battle.

And during the "debate" between Clinton and Obama, the lady asked Obama where was his flag pin, and ABC gave her air time.

Photo from the Times-Picayune.

H/T to Juan Cole and Paul, the BB.

Feast Day Of Agustine Of Canterbury

Augustine in Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin in 1882, from Wiki.

The Christian Church was established in the British Isles well before 300. Some scholars believe that it was introduced by missionaries from the Eastern or Greek-speaking half of the Mediterranean world. Celtic Christianity had its own distinctive culture, and Greek scholarship flourished in Ireland for several centuries after it had died elsewhere in Western Europe.

However, in the fifth century Britain was invaded by non-Christian Germanic tribes: the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. They conquered the native Celtic Christians (despite resistance by, among others, a leader whose story has come down to us, doubtless with some exaggeration, as that of King Arthur), or drove them north and west into Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. From these regions Celtic Christian missionaries returned to England to preach the Gospel to the heathen invaders. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Rome, Gregory the Great, decided to send missionaries from Rome, a group of monks led by their prior, Augustine (not to be confused with the more famous Augustine of Hippo).

They arrived in Kent (the southeast corner of England) in 597, and the king, whose wife was a Christian, allowed them to settle and preach. Their preaching was outstandingly successful, the people were hungry for the Good News of salvation, and they made thousands of converts in a short time. In 601 the king himself was converted and baptised. Augustine was consecrated bishop and established his headquarters at Canterbury. From his day to the present, there has been an unbroken succession of archbishops of Canterbury.

In 603, he held a conference with the leaders of the already existing Christian congregations in Britain, but failed to reach an accomodation with them, largely due to his own tactlessness, and his insistence (contrary, it may be noted, to Gregory's explicit advice) on imposing Roman customs on a church long accustomed to its own traditions of worship. It is said that the English bishops, before going to meet Augustine, consulted a hermit with a reputation for wisdom and holiness, asking him, "Shall we accept this man as our leader, or not?" The hermit replied, "If, at your meeting, he rises to greet you, then accept him, but if he remains seated, then he is arrogant and unfit to lead, and you ought to reject him." Augustine, alas, remained seated. It took another sixty years before the breach was healed.

By James Kiefer at the Lectionary.

Readings:

Psalm 66:1-8 or 103:1-4,13-18
2 Corinthians 5:17-20a
Luke 5:1-11

PRAYER

O Lord our God, who by your Son Jesus Christ called your apostles and sent them forth to preach the Gospel to the nations: We bless your holy name for your servant Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, whose labors in propagating your Church among the English people we commemorate today; and we pray that all whom you call and send may do your will, and bide your time, and see your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

"Milk Of Human Kindness"

From the Straits Times:

A CHINESE policewoman is contributing to the country's massive earthquake relief effort in a very personal way - by breast-feeding eight babies.

A newspaper in Chengdu, the capital of quake-hit Sichuan province, yesterday devoted a special page to 29-year-old Jiang Xiaojuan, calling her a 'hero' while Web users hailed her as 'the most beautiful mother' in the world.
....

Ms Jiang brushed off a reporter's questions about her deed by saying: 'All mothers love children. Nursing a few babies is no big deal.'

Read the story. It's a lovely thing she's doing. What a woman!

H/T to Doug. He's not simply a barrel of laughs.

Memorial Day - Remembering The Fallen

Picture from The Memory Hole.

Note: Reposted from Memorial Day last year with only the numbers of dead in the war changed and the numbers killed in Afghanistan included. 627 more troops were killed in Iraq since last year.

The US Department of Defense does not want you to see pictures like this. Photographs and videos are not permitted at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the bodies come in. The coffins are still coming, 103 16 killed just this month, for a total of 3454 4081 for the Iraq War. The total of troops killed in Afghanistan stands at 506. When will it end? When will the bodies stop coming?

From CBS News on April 23, 2004:

Under a policy adopted in 1991, the Pentagon bars news organizations from photographing caskets being returned to the United States, saying publication of such photos would be insensitive to bereaved families.

This policy still stands, for whatever reason, and serves to insulate the American public from the consequences of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance of those who gave everything in the service of their country. We honor them for their courage and dedication to duty. We extend our sympathy to their families and friends, whether the loss is recent or from long times past. We stand with you. We mourn with you.

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid;
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. Micah 4:1-4

Lord God, Almighty and Everlasting Father, we pray for all those who have died in wars. We pray the they may rest in peace in the perpetual light of your love. We pray for your blessing upon the families and friends of all those who have died in service to their country. Console them for their aching loss. Bring them healing of body, mind, and spirit. Give them strength and courage to go forward, and Lord God, above all else, give them your peace that passes understanding to keep their minds and hearts.

Pray For The Episcopal Diocese Of Albany

From the Times-Union in Albany:

ALBANY -- The Episcopal Diocese of Albany is weighing changes to local church law that will likely touch off fresh controversy around homosexuality and marriage issues when they come up for a vote next month.

One resolution mandates that only a person who is in a heterosexual marriage or "celibate and abstinent" can be eligible for ordination as a priest or consecration as a bishop. Another holds that only heterosexual marriages can be celebrated or blessed in the diocese -- and marriage between a man and a woman is the only kind of union permitted on diocesan or parish property.

Clergy and lay delegates will vote on the proposals during the 19-county Albany Episcopal Diocese's annual convention June 6-8 in Speculator. The debate comes at a time of renewed national attention to gay marriage in the wake of a California Supreme Court decision allowing it.
....

"The national church has gone off the rails," said Torre Bissell, a lay person who runs a diocesan intercessory ministry and has asked on a blog that people pray for passage of both measures.

The Schenectady computer consultant added, "I don't know that there's ever been any place in Scripture where marriage was not between a man and a woman. It's always been between a man and a woman, and the current culture is trying to change that."

Some liberal upstate Episcopalians are marshaling opposition to Albany's new marriage and clergy proposals. They see the latter as an attempt to bar gay clergy and argue that it conflicts with national church policy against discrimination. They also say the abstinence requirement is unenforceable and would encourage dishonesty.

I wonder about the phrase "celibate and abstinent". Why are both words necessary?

I can't envision a loving God, the God that I know and love, demanding that two people of the same sex, who love each other faithfully, never express that love physically. I can't see it. I know of all the citations in the Old Testament that seem to indicate same-sexuality is always wrong. I have read them and pondered them. The Old Testament calls for the punishment of stoning for non-virgins, for virgins who commit adultery, and for disobedient sons. Do we follow those laws today?

I am also aware of the passages in the New Testament. I know that certain Scripture scholars interpret them as not being specifically about same-sexuality, but about other matters, such as prostitution. I say again that I don't need those citations repeated to me in comments, because I have read them already, and I have prayed and thought about them. In addition, Jesus never mentioned same-sexuality. The Gospels are my touchstone, my guide, my light along the way, and there is nothing in them about same-sexuality.

My conclusion is that same-sexuality is, in itself, neither good nor evil. It is neutral. What's important is the nature of the relationship between the two people. Is the relationship loving and faithful? In that context, I simply do not believe that same-sexuality is wrong.

Of course, many disagree with me, which they are certainly free to do. But is this a matter of such importance as to divide the church? I don't think so. I am willing to live in a church with those of you who disagree with me. Why not the other way around? Why aren't you willing to live with me?

Please join me in praying for the convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany and for Bishop William Love.

UPDATE: H/T to Fran at FranIAm. Sorry I didn't give you credit first time around, Fran.