PAIN AT THE PUMP

From the Washington Times:

Feeling pain at the pump? Gas prices have doubled since Mr. Obama took office. According to the GasBuddy gasoline price tracking web site, the price of a gallon of regular gas was around $1.79 when Mr. Obama took office. Today the national average is $3.58. The lowest average price in the continental United States is $3.31 in Tulsa Oklahoma, the highest is $4.14 in Santa Barbara, CA. Four-dollar-a-gallon gas has arrived on average throughout California, and a number of other states are headed in that direction.

And it's all Obama's doing.

Wait! This is the Washington Times. Cook that red herring and eat it, but remember that it might not have anything to do with the price of gas.

DOG HIGHCHAIR OR HUNDSTOL

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

DISCOVERY OF 1ST CENTURY CHRISTIAN BOOKS?

From the Daily Mail:

For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price.

This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity.

Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.

On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.
....

But the mysteries between their ancient pages are not the books’ only riddle. Today, their whereabouts are also something of a mystery. After their discovery by a Jordanian Bedouin, the hoard was subsequently acquired by an Israeli Bedouin, who is said to have illegally smuggled them across the border into Israel, where they remain.

However, the Jordanian Government is now working at the highest levels to repatriate and safeguard the collection. Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University, said there was powerful evidence that the books have a Christian origin in plates cast into a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem.

No, the picture and story above are not an April Fool's joke, and, yes, the story is from the Daily Mail because the newspaper had the best pictures.

However, the story from the BBC website is similar and includes additional information and further commentary from scholars.

A group of 70 or so "books", each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007.

A flash flood had exposed two niches inside the cave, one of them marked with a menorah or candlestick, the ancient Jewish religious symbol.

A Jordanian Bedouin opened these plugs, and what he found inside might constitute extremely rare relics of early Christianity.
....

Margaret Barker, an authority on New Testament history, points to the location of the reported discovery as evidence of Christian, rather than purely Jewish, origin.

"We do know that on two occasions groups of refugees from the troubles in Jerusalem fled east, they crossed the Jordan near Jericho and then they fled east to very approximately where these books were said to have been found," she says.

"[Another] one of the things that is most likely pointing towards a Christian provenance, is that these are not scrolls but books. The Christians were particularly associated with writing in a book form rather than scroll form, and sealed books in particular as part of the secret tradition of early Christianity."

The Book of Revelation refers to such sealed texts.

We shall see what further information is forthcoming on the tiny leaden books, but if the first century date is authenticated, they will be of great interest to scholars and a good many of the rest of us.

Thanks to Lapin and Ann V. for the links.

UPDATE: The photo has disappeared twice. Perhaps the Mail won't allow me to post. I'll keep watch and switch to the BBC's picture if the photo disappears again.

UPDATE 2: Rogue Classicism, who's been following the story says, "I think we can pretty much stick a fork in this one …"

Without the information from the BBC, I would never have bothered to post on the story.

NOT AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE

From David@Montreal:

M'Dears:
a call last evening from my sister Joanne with the incredible news that the tumor on Jacques' pancreas has shrunken to less than half its earlier size.

Jacques and Marion returned to the Gaspe about a month ago when the Montreal hospital was able make arrangements to continue his treatment locally, and incredibly he's actually returned to working on renovations on a friend's house (part-time).

he's got a couple more treatments in the current round, and then Marion will be taking him to Toronto to be checked out by the leading specialists in Canada are incredulous

those of you who have been so faithfully upholding Jacques and Marion in prayer will remember late last year Jacques spent almost two months in emergency & intensive care and had been given less than a month to live.apparently the specialists are all confounded by this, however we unspecialized folks are literally singing praise to the Source of All Life Healing

love always-always Love

David

Very good news, David. Thanks be to God and all who cared for and prayed for Jacques.

BOSCO WRITES WHILE WARY

Says Bosco Peters at Liturgy:

I have tended to be wary about devoting much energy to the Anglican “Covenant” here. I do not see much value in debates that generate more heat than light. We can so easily get distracted – making majors out of minors…

But then Bosco goes on to devote a little energy to the Anglican Covenant, not a lot, just a little. And I, who have blathered on and on about the covenant, have said nothing even one tenth as excellent, clear, to the point, and which covers as many bases as Bosco does in his post. It seems there is much to be said for writing while wary. I'll have to try it some time. Please read Bosco's post.

"TINY CHURCH FINDS ORIGINAL KING JAMES BIBLE"

From CNN Belief Blog:

Hilmarton, England (CNN) - A little English village church has just made a remarkable discovery.

The ornate old Bible that had been sitting in plain view on a table near the last row of pews for longer than anyone could remember is an original King James Bible - one of perhaps 200 surviving 400-year-old original editions of arguably the most important book ever printed in English.

In fact, the Bible at St. Laurence Church in Hilmarton, England, was sitting right under a hand-lettered sign saying it was an original.

The sign said it had been found in "the parish chest" in 1857, that the cover had been added, and that it was the second of the two impressions published in 1611 - the year of first publication.
....

The people of St. Laurence Church are now trying to raise money to build a special case so they can keep their Bible in use and on regular display.

That would make the church more or less unique so far as Goff knows, although she speculated that there just might be a few village churches still using their 400-year-old Bibles.

"It's possible there are one or two churches that have gone on doing it and they just haven't thought to say," she said.

"People are now beginning to realize the value of this particular edition. This is the 400th anniversary and there is a lot more emphasis on it," she said.

"They value it. They want to keep it and they want to use it."

I love stories like this one from St Lawrence, of treasures hidden in plain sight in very ordinary places.

Thanks to Ann V. for the link.

SUITABLY AMBIGUOUS

Today she decided to be suitably
ambiguous, so you can think whatever
you'd like about her.

From StoryPeople.

A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND

From NOLA.com:

The Rev. Roy Bourgeois, the Lutcher native and peace activist excommunicated three years ago for publicly supporting the ordination of women as Catholic priests, now faces expulsion from his religious order and from the priesthood as well, his superiors have told him.

Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. It's surely the loss of the Roman Catholic Church and the Maryknoll Fathers. I've long had Fr Roy's quote on my sidebar: "Silence is the voice of complicity.".

Bourgeois and Mike Virgintino, a spokesman for the Maryknolls, a missionary order of priests, confirmed that “with much sadness” the order earlier this month served Bourgeois written notice that he must publicly recant his support for women’s ordination by Saturday.

Without his compliance, a second warning will be issued, followed by the Maryknoll’s request to Rome that Bourgeois be dismissed from the order and “laicized,” or defrocked after 38 years as priest, Virgintino said.

Bourgeois said in an interview from his home in Columbus, Ga., he cannot, as a matter of conscience, recant his belief that women are called to the Catholic priesthood.

“They’re asking me to tell a lie,” he said. “To exclude women from the priesthood is a grave injustice to women, to the church, and to God.”

The authorities in the Roman Catholic Church, indeed, do a grave injustice to women to deny their call to serve as priests. Perhaps, we can persuade Fr Roy to serve in the Episcopal Church.

He worked as a Maryknoll missionary in Latin America. Living among impoverished peasants in Bolivia -- where he was kicked out -- and later in Guatemala and El Salvador, he came to feel that American foreign policy’s support for their governments was deeply anti-Christian. His anger coalesced around the School of the Americas, an Army institution at Ft. Benning that Bourgeois and other activists said taught Latin American military officers techniques, including torture, for suppressing the poor.

Defenders of the school, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, said the school taught military officers the values of democracy.

Bourgeois founded an organization called SOA and for years traveled the country speaking out against the school and building support to have Congress to close it. He has been arrested at least three times and served nearly four years in jail for trespassing on the base during protests. He described his support for women’s ordination as a justice issue, of a piece to the rest of his life’s work, rather than a theological issue. (My emphasis)

Amen! I view my support for equality in the policies on ordaining women and LGTB persons as a matter of justice.

From "About us" at SOA Watch:

SOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work.

On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their co-worker and her teenage daughter were massacred in El Salvador. A U.S. Congressional Task Force reported that those responsible were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Recently, I noted the feast day of Óscar Romero and the martyrs of El Salvador.

Fr Roy's home town, Lutcher, Louisiana, is across the Mississippi River, not far from Thibodaux, and he has family there, including his 97 year old father. He is a homeboy whom I have long admired.

AND THIS IN MY INBOX MARKED "URGENT!"

This is the second time we are notifying you about your fund worth of $2.7 Million Via Atm Visa Card,Re-Comfirm your name,Address/tel is needed.
Dr.Paul Edward

Dr Paul, I wouldn't mind the $2.7 Million, but I won't be sending my information. Sorry.

MAYBE LATER

Well! Thus far today, I've had little time to blog. After a morning routine doctor visit, Grandpère and I will head out in a half hour or so to the book fair at our grandson's school. GP wanted to go out to lunch, but I said, "No." I need down time between events.

At least today's doctor visit did not put me out of commission for the rest of the day, as did my Tuesday visit to the dentist. Seriously, I believe the novocaine went to my brain, because I slept 4 hours Tuesday afternoon, I slept all night, and I was still sleepy yesterday. Today I'm feeling more like my usual low-energy self.