From empty tombs to empty caskets

Patrick at CMR blogs about a certain Father McCartney that seems to have the courage to stand up to the secular world. In his page in the bulletin, he reminds his parishioners of the importance of practicing their faith. And how some children are denying their Catholic parents the right to a Catholic Funeral Mass. So he won't do a short sterilized "prayer service" at the funeral parlor. If they want a "prayer" for their beloved deceased, they will have to do it at the church.

Let the non-practicing family sit in God’s house, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and stare into the darkness of their own unbelief. If I am the one to throw some Catholic sand in the secular eye, I am only too happy to oblige.

Read the whole letter, it is well worth the time.

Funny how many used to rail against the Church because their deceased couldn't have a funeral Mass (for non-Catholics, suicides...). Now they exclude themselves. How sad.

Lift the ban

A quote to note here at Huckleberries Online

*Idaho reviews Election Day liquor ban/Betsy Russell, Spokesman-Review -- Good, it's getting harder to vote for some of these guys while you're sober.

Divine concierge

And what a job he does. Joel Osteen's God really wants you to dress well, stand up straight, and get a convenient parking space

it is, rather, a just-in-time economy's vision of salvation, an eerily collapsible spiritual narcissism that downgrades the divine image into the job description for a lifestyle concierge

Mr. Lehmann hit the nail on the head their. Contrast the health and wealth gospel of Joel Osteen, et all, with the birth of our savior as George Weigel aptly puts it in The God With an Infant's Face.

Because we certainly would have done it differently, wouldn't we? If any of us were God, I doubt we'd have chosen to be born in less-than-optimal obstetrical circumstances in a ramshackle village on the far edge of the civilized world. Indeed, were any of us God, would we have chosen to go through the normal human drill of growing up, with its seemingly endless frustrations and alarums? Why not just arrive on the scene full-grown, at the height of our divine/human powers?

Now that I put those two different views of God side by side, it reminds me of the two diverging views of Christmas. One is about getting stuff, the other about giving of oneself.

Not hard to know which reflects the truth when we remember we are to imitate the life of Jesus. After all, Jesus was driving a brand new Lexus on his 40 day "journey" through the desert.

hat tip to Mark Shea for both of those links.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Unless we are talking Nebraska here. Just loved this quote of noteJ by Tim Jones on JimmyAkin.org. Tim is discussing the ugly piece of "art" selected for the new Italian Lectionary. As far a beauty being in the eye of the beholder, Tim says that only goes so far.

This is why people drive as fast as they can through Nebraska to get to Yellowstone Park, and not the other way around. Sorry, Nebraska. I give thanks for you every time I open a bag of tortilla chips, but there is just not much to look at there.

From those who have been there

A quote worth noting. A reader of Mark Shea shares his thought on the evils of torture.

But there's even worse than that. Given the right sort of emergency accompanied by the right sort of hysteria *anyone* can find himself in that cellar. I know a country where it happened. Proven loyalty and patriotism saved no one, if it was their fate to end up in that cellar. Your barber or the guy next door could put you in that cellar. And you could put him there. They don't call it a Terror for nothing.

You have no idea what can happen. God bless the law.

All it takes is one regime change, one act of terror and suddenly anyone can be a suspected "terrorist". Just because you aren't doing anything wrong, don't take it for granted that someone wouldn't consider you an enemy of the state. There are many out there that think Christians are dangerous. Just as the martyrs back in Rome.

Look at me and my newfound intellectual prowess

Just wanted to highlight a comment by Matthew over at CMR. He does a lightweight fisking of a Rabbi who Says Cancel Christmas. I say lightweight not in reference to Matthew's writing skills, but because the Rabbi doesn't offer any thought provoking material.

The quote of note:

Doesn't this reek of a guy who just read a book and now wants to run around proving to everyone how smart he is. Advice for Rabbi David: Shhhh. You're not proving how smart you are.