Maundy Thursday

 

Spy Wednesday

Palm Sunday

 

random thoughts on a hot Friday afternoon

• Most Catholics have no idea how common Freemasonry is. In Europe it was an openly aggressive, violent force but was forced to be subtle and only show a benign face in public in Colonial America. Several of the  Founding Fathers were Masons. George Washington was a Master Mason. It's part of the American fabric. 
  
  Most American Masons have no idea that the brotherhood is anything but a civic, fraternal organization that will allow them to contribute to the community, get a job and provide for their families if anything should happen to them. I've read and heard that the guys don't get the full story unless they reach a high rank. 
  
  The Mason next door did not join after meeting a tall, dark figure at a crossroads one midnight. He probably walked into the lodge with his dad, his uncles or his boss. My grandfather and Rocky's grandfather's were Masons. Both were kind, gentle men who were active in their Baptist churches and among the first to step up if a community member needed help. When Masons' take their vows, probably most have no idea of what they are saying.  
  
  I read that Masonic vows curse the mason and his descendants to the fourth generation but I never thought much about it until I dug deeper into my genealogy hobby.  My uncle joined the Masons when he was 19 but in his twenties, something he's never discussed  caused him to stop attending meetings or take any active part. He told my mother that once a man joins he can't really leave and she didn't press him for more detail.
  
  My uncle's first born son was born with a serious defect and the poor baby did not live the whole day. My uncle and his wife tried again and my cousin was born and is fine. That cousin's first born was born without a brain and died quickly. His second child is fine. My mother's first born died immediately. Two years later she had me. I've never had a successful pregnancy. Looking at that I wondered if some sort of genetic defect runs in my maternal line. 
  
  The good news is that if you are a Catholic Mason or Eastern Star you can go to confession, repent and be done with it. If you are a Masonic descendant and have noticed that a particular tragedy keeps cropping up in your family tree, know this: your grandpa  may have messed up but you and your family don't have to live with it. See a good priest and ask his advice. 
  
  
  
  
• Lately I've been feeling not exactly nervous but aware that something really unpleasant is going on in my area. I live a small city that is older than the nation. We used to have one or two murders a year, car accidents, drunks and mostly white collar crimes. Now suddenly young men are roaming apartment parking lots stealing air bags or the whole car. We've had two car-jackings this year and several cars stolen at gas stations. Last week there was a robbery and abduction. This week a victim was robbed by four men while walking on the public street. What happened to my quiet, placid town? I think it has to do with the number of breadwinners who have lost their jobs as a result of the lockdowns. They or their sons are going slowly crazy. 
  
  
  
  
• Fr. Harrison Egwuenu, a kidnapped priest of the Catholic diocese of Warri in Nigeria has been released!

Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner. 

• Yesterday was the Feast of the Annunciation. On two different sites I saw someone in the comment section chime in to remind us all that March 25th was the day Frodo took the Ring to Mt. Doom. Both individuals reminded us that Lord of the Rings is an important Catholic book and you'll see the Gospel if you read it right. I just shook my head and thought, "Will you guys give it a rest?" People were talking about the Angel Gabriel coming to address the Virgin Mary and a fanboy harps about a work of fiction that most of us picked up once when we were kids and forgot about until the movies came out. Come on! 

You Cannot Have it All

 Years ago I read about a woman in her 30s who decided concentrate on her career and put off marrying and having children by using IVF.  At 45,  a suitable man hadn't come along and she decided to defrost her eggs and use a sperm donor. 

Out of the 11 eggs she had frozen only one survived the defrosting process and was not abnormal in some way. That egg was fertilized and implanted in her womb. The child didn't thrive and she lost the baby. So what does this woman have to show for her $19,000 and moment of fame? Nothing. If she isn't doing it now in a few years she will be standing in her kitchen at midnight and asking her herself, "Where is my man? Where are my children? What the Hell did I do?"

Your career will not last, no matter how fantastic you are. Smart men already know this. About five years ago I watched an attorney start to physically decline. He'd fall asleep in his office from exhaustion and he just couldn't keep up with the rest of his team. He was forced out. It was humiliating for him. I observed another lawyer who was a big money maker for years. He put the R in rainmaker. He won multiple awards and accolades. He was quoted in local journals. He was a powerful person in the firm. And then he got sick. His sickness was progressive and he was in so much pain that he just wasn't able to work like he had for 40 years. Guess what? He was forced out. In previous years he would have been allowed the grace of semi retirement for a year or two and then he would have gotten a fabulous party and a farewell. In the years of the great plague firm's can't afford that and have to be lean and mean. 

In the end, you will be given a gold watch, a retirement bonus and a party if you're lucky and people will wave goodbye. If you aren't lucky you'll get a cold meeting and an embarrassed friend telling you that look, you just aren't able to pull the load anymore and you have to go. 

The Passion was ever before Our Lord's eyes

 The 17th century LeNain brothers of Paris, Antoine, Louis and Mathieu were all celebrated painters and worked together so closely that art historians aren't sure if one brother did this painting of the Child Jesus or if all the brothers had a part in it. The painting shows Our Lord at as a boy, just past His babyhood, contemplating the instruments of the Passion which are a long way off but always on His mind. The hidden years in Egypt and Nazareth were a countdown until He could begin His rescue mission.  

The Engel Report and some random thoughts on a Monday night

• I'm sorry. I am not ready to jump on the Milo bandwagon yet. Does this make me the Prodigal Son's older brother or one of the townsfolk who couldn't believe that St. Margaret of Cortona really was giving up her old life? I hope not. It's just that Milo  Yiannopoulos  is one of those people who really, really needs attention. It's flesh after fasting and water in drought lands to him.
  
   He gets a kick out of saying and doing things to stun and offend people. I don't think he even cares if he's loved or hated as long as he made you look.  I've read his last book and never mind his politics, that young man has some very dark  and moldy places in his soul's attic. I found parts of the book to be so gross that I had to get  rid of it. I didn't want it on my Kindle, in my house or in my search history. If I could've gotten my money back I would have done that. 
  
   Maybe this whole thing  is a miracle like St. Paul or Ratisbone and if so, time will tell. Maybe I'm gun shy. I think I've just seen too many big splashy converts disappoint  and too many Catholic celebrities turn out to be hot air. I am afraid that a year from now he'll give an interview or write a mocking  book about  Lifesite and his hilarious sojourn among the wacky, tacky, dumb as dirt Catholics. Pray for him. Be kind but don't give him any money. Wait and see, okay? 
  
  
  
  
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  St. Margaret, pray for us

  
  
•  The McCarrick Report was distasteful and depressing but it also skipped over or sugar coated some nasty details. Randy Engel points them out here. http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/engel/210310

• Whenever someone says "my truth," you can be certain that the next words you hear will be lies. 

Why does the retired Cardinal Wuerl need 2 million to live on and other random thoughts

•  I think the Wuerl money is highly suspect. How many of you gave him this money via the Bishop's Lenten Appeal? Restore DC Catholicism asks  very good questions.   
  
  
  
  
  
• The always vinegary Mundabor, opines that Pope Benedict was never the man that we thought he was and thinks that the off kilter comments purported to come from him probably really what he thinks. I agree that Benedict's image was largely wishful thinking and PR. He was one of the bright boys at Vatican II but I believe that he was appalled by the bad taste, the malice and heretical things that came out of it over the years.  He was a conservative and conservatives are largely useless in a  fight but he never would have led us to the Pachamama or the Peacock angel. Remember that.
  
  
  
  
• The windmills of God grind slow but they grind exceedingly fine. I'm still leaning toward expecting Andrew Cuomo getting off scott free in this life but the mill stone is moving. Women have said for years that he was....not a gentleman but they were ignored. If anyone were to speak to his wife or his former concubine, neither woman would say he was a prince among men. However, maybe, just maybe Cuomo's decisions concerning the nursing homes in New York led to the death of the wrong person's parent and maybe that person had enough gravitas to pull the timid, the craven and the pragmatic in the New York press and legislature into a coalition that for their own individual reasons can strike at the king of New York. If they can't get rid of him perhaps they can at least end his political ascent. 
  
  
  
  
• I just watched an incredible interview on You Tube. It was a meaty discussion on one of my favorite subjects: Catholic history. 
  
  
  
  

• Ted McCarrick's old pals and protégés are in charge. 

Don't fall in the post under your own name or you're opinion is unworthy trap

 A smug  Catholic "influencer" and  writer frequently attacks people who use Twitter anonymously as mentally or morally defective cowards. Don't fall for that. Many people who Tweet under their own names are promoting their product; be it an apostolate in service to the Church, a decent Catholic business or  in some cases, their own grift.  They're in a position where they need to use their own names to stand by the soundness of the product. However, YOU, regular person with a job, kids and a spouse, don't have a product. You may not make a dime from Tweeting,  or posting on your blog, Facebook, etc... but you have a lot of dimes to lose.  Let's be honest. This aint your Dad's America, heck this isn't even your older Boomer aged sibling's America. You, regular person, can lose your job for simply saying something that certain groups don't like. Your spouse can lose his or her job. Your kids can be harassed at school or in public because of your opinion. 

Protecting your seed corn and your people is not cowardice. It's prudence. If your eight year old comes home crying because her teacher told her and the whole class that you said X and therefore are an evil person then you blew it. Shield your family and if someone who Tweets under their own name mocks you remember that this person probably is running a business and doesn't have a job at the plant, the office or the shop to lose. Don't fall into these people's trap. They are using you. They just fling the "coward" insult around to wrap themselves in a veneer of faux toughness and to create "buzz" that will drive more viewers to them.