G as in Good H as in Happy

The Reason for the Golden Rule

October 7, 2008

Sunday's homily.

Update: Why it matters [last paragraph].

Homily

August 31, 2008

for today.

"Forgiveness" Sunday, and Monday, and...

James Kuchiner, at Mere Comments, reports that in the tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Great Lent "begins with congregants asking forgiveness of each other during the Sunday evening vespers."

A New Start for the Poor

September 8, 2005

From someone with as good credentials as we have ever seen, and Austin roots.

Gerry Charlotte Phelps was teaching economics at the University of Houston when she was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Out of her layered experience of prison and programs come sane words for long-term assistance to those whose lives were disrupted by Katrina, and whose opportunity is to move out of poverty. The latest chapter is here.

These are not things that need to be done during the first part of this emergency.  Rather, this is for the time after that, when Katrina evacuees will be moving from getting immediate emergency assistance to trying to normalize their lives.  That is when good programs to help them "up and out" of their situation need to kick in.  The following is for that time.

Taking a Moment

August 30, 2005

It seems wrong, narrow, narcissistic, merely to be grateful to have been out of the swath of Katrina, ourselves.

So much misery.

The texture of life in the city, its history cannot be put back.

It's breaking my heart to see the filthy water submerging those little shotgun houses. Unless you've seen it with your own eyes, you cannot grasp just how utterly poor "the poor" of New Orleans are--100,000 of them at the very least. They have nothing left. What government or charitable agencies can feed, house, and support such numbers for long months to come?

So much contemptible human failure, turning the screws on each other.

Looting has also escalated and an atmosphere of lawlessness has developed.

How in the name of a mysterious and sublime Providence can this be eventually turned to good...? Too big for our contemplation, too sad for now to ponder other than to contribute what we can, and be prompted to cherish our fellow man nearby and far away. And, legitimately, be prepared to be cheered by the astonishing resilience of decent people.

We'll be quiet for awhile.

Louisiana and Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Under the Protection

August 28, 2005

Eye of the Storm, an FSU meteorology student, is dire. This may be an annular storm with force that does not fade quickly on landfall.

Shear. Shear. Shear.  Chill the currents. Let this thing be interrupted. Sustain life and civilization along its course. Let levees hold, pumps serve, and swells be quieted.

Confuse the wind force, turn it again to sea. Limit, dissolve, contain the fury.

De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum

Thanks for sharing, Mr. Zimbleman. We sincerely hope you find what you're looking for, and those of us who see it that way say a prayer for you. Sounds like some of us were remiss in geniality and waited far too long to demonstrate good will toward you.

Via Michelle Malkin and The Anchoress

There's Always a Back Story

Here's a long sympathetic chapter on President Bush's.

Includes a kind of gnomic measure of defined maturity: "Son, you've arrived. I can throw it to you as hard as I want to."

Via Relapsed Catholic

More on Small Things

A particularly modern psycho-heresy comes from our being pumped full of pseudo-knowledge about other lives, roles, and histories. Mundane and spiritual ambition* run amok in one's thinking. Well, it has to be something big, worthwhile, full of glory and importance. Or I won't do it. "If I can't be Hemingway, why blog?"

This post from Trevor Romain's blog, especially the sketch, is a good reminder. Trevor's work with children seems a true calling. See for instance, the beautiful young model for a day.

Via Dawn Eden.

*Spiritual ambition: the earnest desire for some spiritual achievement and distinction and the willingness to strive for it; a desire to be seen and counted among the mature.

If He Posted Every Day, Could It Be This Good?

Tony Woodlief is back on track, with a tale of fences, dogs, and small boys, one of whom, with Jack Benny timing, must ponder quite a while deciding whether he'd rather sacrifice a red ball, or Daddy, to a furry predator next door. Tony (his writing, we don't know him, but we think we do) is the purest example of Deep Real Feeling, funny without the tell-tale superior flourish.

His is not a cloistered virtue.

I read somewhere that most people are never more than eight feet from a spider. Spiders are ubiquitous and secretive. Suffering is like that, everywhere and hidden.

Sometimes we've been bitten, sometimes we're oblivious. It might be good, especially for Lent, to step carefully among the invisible spiders, offering gentle kindness to those who appear to be just fine.