Ramblings and Reviews

Words of Jesus, from John 14:15-21... "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day … [Read more...] about Spiritual Blackmail, or a Redefinition of Love?

offer accepted quietly dancing for joy moving in two months … [Read more...] about A Haiku I Wrote on the Way Home

So today I let my grade school students watch excerpts from Fantasia 2000.  Yes it made a light day for me, but hey, part of my job is to get these kids to appreciate music other than rap!  This week we've explored Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Saint Saens' Carnival of the Animals, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and finally Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. I have to admit, I have a real soft spot for Stravinsky's music in general, and the Firebird in particular.  Maybe … [Read more...] about Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Stravinsky

Originally posted on Blogger.com, January 10, 2006: I love Anne Rice's books. I haven't read many, but I've been captivated by the ones I have read. "The Witching Hour" was my first, and had been my favorite until now. Following a return to Catholicism, Anne Rice has begun a series (trilogy, I believe) of books centered around the childhood years of Jesus Christ. I just bought the first installment, "Christ The Lord: Out Of Egypt" and it is indescribable. The story is told first-person by Jesus … [Read more...] about Anne Rice Leaves Lestat for a Child

I had a flash of potential insight during Mass this morning.  Our second reading was taken from the Book of Revelation, one of the early chapters introducing the Lamb who was seated on a throne surrounded by the four living things and the twenty-four elders... Chapter 5: 11 I looked again and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless in number, 12 and they cried out in a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb that … [Read more...] about John and the Book of Revelation

There has been a lot of activity in the news over the past couple of days. Two stories, with more similarities than differences, have caught my attention. I've been seeing a lot of coverage about the shooter at Va. Tech--his thoughts, his actions, his motivations. Apparently we as a society can't get enough of this. We say we study his actions because we want to know how to prevent another tragedy, when I wonder if the truth is that we can't help but be captivated by it all somehow. As … [Read more...] about Potential