vacation and other random thoughts

•  Rocky, my mother and I went on vacation last week and it was great. For Mass we went to a pleasant parish. The priest and deacon were lovely. The people were friendly. I was struck by one thing  while sitting in the pew. The Novus Ordo is a different experience at every parish or even Mass time. At this parish they did some  that I've never seen before. They weren't particularly offensive, certainly nothing as bad as I've seen in my own diocese but the bizarreness of objecting to the TLM seemed even weirder to me. If every parish does it's own thing why not let traditional Catholics have the traditional Mass? If we have the Mariachi Mass, the 1970s Mass, the Autistic friendly Mass or the Gospel music Mass why not a TLM? If the priest can do a joke monologue or warble a depressing Leonard Cohen song they why can't we have a sequence in Latin? It just seems like obvious mindless malice on the part of the bishops. 
   
  
  
  
  
  
• We killed a bunch of Spotted Lantern flies on vacation. They're so interesting looking it's a pity they are a such a pest. Their legs are ridiculously long and thick by insect standards and their heads are so tiny you can't see them if you're looking at them from the side. Their flight is not graceful, they are almost as unconcerned about their personal safety as cicadas and the gravid females are easy to step on. They do have very pretty wings. Sometimes they appear gray and red and sometimes more of a salmon pink and gray. 
  
  
  
  
  
• In the 1920s Sr. Lucia of Fatima was quoted as saying with sadness that another world war was coming, millions of people would die and that most of them were going to Hell. While it's true the 20s were a very wicked time, can you imagine how much worse common people are now? It's an incredibly sobering thought. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• While we were on vacation I avoided the news and stayed off of Twitter. I did check Instagram when we got back to the cottage each night. My cousin's granddaughter (!) is on Instagram. I won't say her name of course but you're going to see her at the Olympics one day. She's in the running for Youth Athlete of the Year. After looking at her photos and video I sometimes read comments and it's pretty clear to me that the future is not bright for the world. So many people seem to be disintegrating  into idiocy. They can't read, they can't think and they can't express themselves in any beyond elementary school level. 
  
  
  
  
• This is going to piss off a lot of people but I'm saying it anyway. I don't think most Americans have any idea of Japan's geography. If Hiroshima and Nagasaki hadn't happened US soldiers would have had to go to each and every Japanese island and kill men, women and children. It would have been a blood bath and would not have been over quickly. The bombs allowed Japan to surrender with their honor intact. They could say to themselves that they didn't lack fight or courage. They were simply up against something inhuman and listening to their emperor when he said stand down was the only option. The bombs also got Japan off the eternal hook. Hollywood churns out a WWII movie every year and the evil German is a classic trope. When was the last time you saw an movie about what the Japanese did to their POWs? When was the last time outside of Korea that anybody brought up Japanese atrocities- and there were plenty, during WWII? I'll bet you on Pearl Harbor day Japanese social media isn't full of comments like, "Y'know what was a really bad idea? Pearl Harbor? That turned out to be a disaster!" Eternal rest to all the lost in Nagasaki and Hiroshima and may all the Catholic martyrs pray for us. 
  
  
  
  
  
• A lot of people are shocked that the Cynthia Erivo was hired to play Our Lord in the blasphemous musical, Jesus Christ Superstar. Her casting was intended to shock and offend but the musical itself is something Christians should flee in disgust from, no matter who is in the cast. 
  
  
  
  
• Years ago I thought that canonizing Cardinal Newman was a bad idea.   I have a feeling that it was a weapon and a trap and would lead to some messy stuff. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Sorry Santa Fe. Your bishop knows that you know and doesn't care and Pope Leo probably isn't going to do anything about it.