THE GOOD NEWS TODAY

From Of Course, I Could Be Wrong:

he Archdiocese of Boston commanded St. Cecilia’s Church in the city’s Back Bay neighborhood not to go forward with a mass for GLBT people of faith over Pride weekend. But the spirit could not be suppressed: Local gays, and the church’s pastor, spoke out with messages of love and community. The Rev. John Unni made it clear that in his church, worshipers of all stripes would be accepted into the fellowship.

"You are welcome here, gay or straight, rich or poor, young or old, black or white," declared the Catholic priest in the course of the next scheduled mass. "Here, you all can say, ’I can worship the God who made me as I am.’"

"We are not this renegade, crazy, liberal church," Unni told his parishioners. "We’re just Christians trying to live the gospel."

All right, Fr John!

The archdiocese spokesperson, Terrence C. Donilon, sought to cast the hierarchy’s response in terms of love.

"The teachings of the Catholic Church are set in stone, but that doesn’t stop us from loving people from different walks of life." he said.

Methinks the archdiocesan hierarchy sought but did not find. What I said in the comments at OCICBW:

Grandmère Mimi said...

"The teachings of the Catholic Church are set in stone...."

How does the Spirit move in stone? It doesn't. Fr John follows the Wind, the Breath of God. Thanks be to God for Fr John and others like him, who are not weighed down by the stone, but are rather swept aloft by the Wind.

Please do read MadPriest's brief commentary, which is - how shall I put it? - edgy, to say the least.

From Ann Fontaine at The Lead.

Bishop Larry Provenzano, of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, signed a statement by the Empire State Pride Agenda and its Pride in the Pulpit arm, which says in part:

It would be a blessing if New York were to allow loving, committed gay and lesbian couples to be married. We call on the Legislature to pass this legislation for the good of these couples and for the good of our great State.

Read the rest of the statement at The Lead or at the diocesan website.

Thank you, Bishop Provanzano. You and others like you make me proud to be an Episcopalian.

PLEASE PRAY FOR KIRSTIN AND ANDEE

Kirstin is experiencing a very bad and painful time of it right now. Please pray for her and for Andee who is caring for her.

Kirstin, may God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength. May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

We pray, O Lord, for those whom you have called to care for Kirstin. Strengthen them by your life-giving Spirit, that by their loving ministries Kirstin may be comforted and her suffering alleviated. Grant, O Lord, your peace that surpasses understanding to Kirstin and her caregivers, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

UPDATE: Ann asks for prayers for the best outcome for her friend who begins medication treatment today for her tumors.

STOP IT!

Tobias Haller says in his comments:

If we would stop trying to "institutionalize" the Spirit, we might get somewhere. Jesus already Incarnated the Body of Christ for us, and all we need to do is stop fighting with each other...

Amen to that!

THE 3 BEARS...NEW VERSION

A far more accurate account of the events of that fateful morning....


Baby bear goes downstairs, sits in his small chair at the table..
He looks into his small bowl. It is empty. 'Who's been eating my porridge?' he squeaks.


Daddy Bear arrives at the big table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl and it is also empty. 'Who's been eating my porridge?!?' he roars.

Mummy Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and yells, 'For God's sake, how many times do I have to go through this with you idiots? It was Mummy Bear who got up first. It was Mummy Bear who woke everyone in the house. It was Mummy Bear who made the coffee. It was Mummy Bear who unloaded the dishwasher from last night and put everything away. It was Mummy Bear who swept the floor in the kitchen. It was Mummy Bear who went out in the cold early morning air to fetch the newspaper and croissants. It was Mummy Bear who set the damn table.

'It was Mummy Bear who walked the bloody dog, cleaned the cat's litter tray, gave them their food, and refilled their water.

'And now that you've decided to drag your sorry bear-arses downstairs and grace Mummy Bear with your grumpy presence, listen carefully, because I'm only going to say this once....


'I HAVEN'T MADE THE PORRIDGE YET!'



Doug did it.

STILL WORKING IN YOUR 70s AND 80s?

From the Wall Street Journal:

We all think it’s a panacea. If you don’t have enough money saved for retirement, you’ve got a few ways to close the gap between what you have and what you need in your nest egg: Save more, invest more aggressively, and/or work longer.

Well, it turns out that working longer is indeed an option, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute latest study. The only problem is that the latest research shows that you’ll have to work much longer than you anticipated. In fact, many Americans will have to keep on working well into their 70s and 80s to afford retirement, according to the study, titled “The Impact of Deferring Retirement Age on Retirement Income Adequacy.”

What’s more, it’s even worse for low-income workers, according Jack VanDerhei, one of the co-authors of the study. Those who earned (on average over the course of their careers) less than $11,700 per year, the lowest income quartile, would need to defer retirement till age 84 before 90% of those households would have just a 50% chance of affording retirement.

We are blessed that Grandpère has a good pension, since I took 12 years off from the workplace while my children were young. Although I started working part-time at the age of 16, my wages were quite low. When I finished college and graduate school, I earned a small salary compared to today's wages. And even after I went back to work as my children grew older, I never made a great deal of money. Thus, my Social Security income computed from the average of my wages over the years is low enough that I'd be eligible for public assistance, if I were not married to Grandpère. My marriage saves me from poverty.

Some folks never want to quit working, and that's fine for them, but most of us get tired. What of the workers who do hard physical labor, whose bodies wear out, and they lose the ability to do the work?

All but the wealthy face a very different situation today. I most certainly would make different choices from staying out of the workforce for 12 years, and I'd have paid more attention to striving up the ladder of success in order to earn more money.

How brilliant of me to latch on to Grandpère and hang on to him for what will soon be 50 years. As I looked for a good YouTube version of Maurice Chevalier singing "I'm So Glad That I'm Not Young Anymore", I found the song below, which I like better, because it's all about me.




So I went from serious to silly in my post. So sue me.

WE CAN STILL DO SOMETHING

A FUTURE NOT OUR OWN

It helps, now and then, to step back
And take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is beyond our vision

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
The magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,
Which is another way of saying
That the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection…
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
Knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything
And there is a sense of liberation realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
And to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
An opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results…
We are prophets of a future not our own.

When we become discouraged...

When we wonder if our efforts accomplish any good at all...

When we perceive our words go into the void having no effect...

When our prayers seem not to be answered...

We can still do something.

In his efforts to build the Kingdom of God, Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador became an advocate for justice for the poor and downtrodden. He was assassinated in 1980.

Sent to a friend on her birthday. I already knew the poem, but the reminder was timely.

DAUGHTER-MOTHER EXCHANGE ON FACEBOOK

Click for the larger view.

Lovely, don't you think? The message caught me quite by surprise.

AM I LUCKY, OR WHAT?

FEDEX COURIER SERVICE,
EDO STATE,NIGERIA
WEST AFRICA.
12-06-2011

Dear Customer!
SHIPMENT CODE: CPEL/OWN/9856
PARCEL #: EG2272

You have a parcel contaning an ATM CARD worth Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars [$800,000.00USD] with us at the FedEx delivery company. Your delivery charges has been paid for. All you have to do is to re-confirm your information with the correct mailing address and make a payment of $210USD only [Two Hundred and Twenty Dollars Only] for the security keeping fee of the said parcel.

For your information, the delivery Charges, Insurance premium and Clearance Certificate Fee of the ATM CARD showing that it is not a Drug Money or meant to sponsor Terrorist attack in your Country have all been paid for. You have to contact the Dispatch Office now for the delivery of your Draft with this information below:

Contact Person: ----- -----
Email Address: Email: -------------@----.--
Telephone:+--- --- ---- ---

Please reconfirm your details:

FULL NAMES:
TELEPHONE:
POSTAL ADDRESS:
STATE:
COUNTRY:

Again, don't be deceived by anybody to pay any other money except $210US Dollars as stipulated by the company. They would have paid that but we said no because we don't know when you will contact us and in case of any demurrage.

Finally, make sure that you re-confirm your Postal address(s) and Direct telephone number to them again to avoid any mistake on the Delivery.

Yours Faithfully,

Ms. ---- --------,
Secretary.

What a bargain! $800,000.00 in exchange for only $210USD. Nevertheless, Grandpère said I should choose demurrage. What is he thinking?! Help! What should I do?

STORY OF THE DAY - SORROW

This is a box filled with the sorrow of all
the people who have been forgotten &
some day it will wash the world clean.

We can hope.

From StoryPeople.

UPDATE ON GÖRAN

Posted on Facebook:

A few minutes ago, me and our dear mum Rosemary Kestner Kauffman, we have talked with dad Göran Koch-Swahne, over the phone,he told us the surgery was successful, but he don't know the day he will get back home, until doctors confirm the right time, so for the time being he is having a rest, therefore later he will be under kind of rehab for the recovery process, and he said thanks for the kind wishes and prayers from all his facebook friends. Thanks too from me and may God bless us all. cheers!

Thanks be to God, the medical staff, and all who care for our friend. Please continue your prayers for Göran's full recovery.

Update on Göran posted on Facebook:

@all,thanks, a few minutes ago, i have talked with Goran, and i was glad for the positive improvement news, he told me doctors have re-asured him he will go home coming wednesday, so lets hope this time around he will get back to his house, thanks for your best wishes to him.

Ah yes! It's lovely to get more good news on our friend.