Matthew McConaughey grew up in Uvalde Texas. He is a gun owner and supporter of the Second Amendment, just like me and a lot of other people. After the mass shooting at Robb Elementary, he went to Uvalde and spent what sounds like a lot of time with the families of the murdered children and teachers. He gave an impassioned speech today calling for what he named “responsible gun laws.” His speech gave voice to things that many of us are... Read more
All you have to fear is being shot anywhere you go. Internet meme. Today’s Republican Party is not the Republican Party of yesteryear. That Republican Party ended slavery, built the interstate highway system, organized the mass vaccination against polio, worked with Democrats to form a united front in the Cold War, backed the Equal Rights Amendment, funded the war on cancer and provided massive funding for family planning. The Republican Party once worked to build this country, cared about... Read more
I am an Okie. I grew up with guns. I have no problem with gun ownership. But the mass slaughters that keep repeating throughout our country have got to stop. The sense of personal immunity which fuels our national indifference to these appalling slaughters is based on an illusion. That illusion is the belief on the part of those who haven’t been touched by the violence yet, that they have have a special shield of invulnerability around them. You are... Read more
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. Friedrich Neitzsche I’ve seen a lot of memes that are dissing the frequent comments politicians often make proclaiming that the victims of violence are in their “thoughts and prayers.” The import of the memes is that “thoughts are prayers” are not enough. We need action. I agree.... Read more
“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit,... Read more
I’m a cardiac rehab retread. My doc decided to send me back through rehab in hopes it’ll mend all my torn and worn spots. They tell me that about 10% of the people who go through cardiac rehab need another round. To be honest, I feel blessed that it’s available to me. I’m also hopeful about the good it will do me. When I showed up for my assessment, the staff greeted me like a long lost buddy. Then we... Read more
“I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” St Thomas Thomas was one of Jesus’ handpicked Apostles. He reacted to stories of Jesus’ resurrection with sanity. He didn’t believe it. And he told the people he regarded as fantasists that he didn’t believe it as adamantly as he could. Thomas was a first century Jew living in a conquered Roman... Read more
Dorothy Day is a Catholic for our day and all days. Jesus said, “If you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to Me.” From The New Yorker: Day’s Catholic Worker Movement would serve the poor in more than two hundred communities. Under her guidance, it would also develop a curiously dichotomous political agenda, taking prophetic stands against racial segregation, nuclear warfare, the draft, and armed conflict around the world, while opposing abortion, birth... Read more
St Basil the Great, defender of the Church and martyr, From The Divine Liturgy of St Basil: “Free those who are held captive by unclean spirits; sail with those who sail; travel with those who travel; defend the widows; protect the orphans; liberate the captives; heal the sick. “Remember, Lord, those who are in mines, in exile, in harsh labor, and those in every kind of affliction, necessity, or distress; those who entreat your loving kindness; those who love us... Read more
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