rodeo

I guess I've not mentioned one of the biggest events in this big city. It's the livestock show and rodeo. Trail riders still trek hundreds of miles on their horses and wagons to this city for this event. The rodeo parade was Saturday morning: horses, riders in jeans and cowboy hats, horse- pony- or mule-drawn wagons, floats and bands. All these marching bands know about coming up after the horses and having to trod over the horse puckey. This city also has a mounted police force. We also have bicycling and motorcycle police force, but it was the horse-mounted force that was in the parade.

Kinda interesting...there are groups of "white" cowboys, and then groups of "Mexican" cowboys, then groups of "black" cowboys. I say cowboys but there are also cowgirls. And please forgive the lingo...I am grossly simplifying.

It just about always rain on this parade, and this morning was no different. Our newscaster joked that the humidity was high, so high in fact that the humidity is coming down on them. Nonetheless the folks turn out to line the streets.

This livestock show and rodeo lasts for roughly a month. Aside from the usual cowboy and livestock fare, there are also concerts and festival rides. The show also raises money for scholarships and gives a chance for the kids to show off their livestock. The high school by our house has a livestock barn just down the street; I bet they have entries. I don't usually go to the rodeo, but I was there once. I am most entertained by the rodeo announcers' commentaries; they exemplify "color commentary."

Yeah, it's another one of the big events that I don't go see. There are lots of big events, but I think the livestock show and rodeo is the biggest.

Lent

Wishing all a most blessed Lenten season. Hopefully you had a great kick-off on Ash Wednesday.

just checking in

Huh? What? February is almost over? And Lent is starting in a day or so? I guess I won't be doing much planning as to what to do for Lenten penance.

I don't remember much of last week. So that recaps that.

This past Sunday I was able to sit down and chat with one of the Dominicans. Poor Sister, she didn't see it coming. It was impromptu. I guess I failed to emphasize that it was no emergency and that I was just in the neighborhood and needed to while away a little time. Being the giving person that she is, she agreed to meet with me on the fly.

I also learned that my volunteer duties were a bit more extensive for this upcoming weekend. That was a surprise. I have a Dominican dinner date for the upcoming Sunday. If all goes well, the volunteer event won't run into the Dominican dinner.

I went to an organ concert. This was in support of a friend who went in support of a friend. Organ is not my favorite instrument. On top of that, this particular organist's music taste does not gel with mine. I've heard wonderful organ solos, but these didn't make sense to me--it was just a bunch of sounds. I can't remember any of it. If they were to be played again, I'd have no chance of recognizing them.

Oh, yeah, Chinese New Year was a surprise too. Happy New Year to all. And belated Happy Presidents' Day.

BTW, it looks like Sr. Steph has returned to blogging.

fire extinguisher

I stopped by a restaurant on the way home to get dinner. I placed my "to go" order then left to run a quick errand. When I returned, the order was still not ready. The counter person greeted me then left to enter the kitchen. Some yelling in the kitchen ensued. Maybe the yelling is just how they communicated. I stood there and watied. With nothing to do, my eyes wandered. Behold: in the corner, on the floor, tucked behind a large planter is their fire extinguisher. The plant itself is not leafy and the fire extinguisher is easily accessible in between the four trunks of the plant.

When she came back with my order, I tried to tell her in a low voice that it's not good to have the fire extinguisher where it was, that it needed to be on the wall near the kitchen entrance, and that they might get ticketed if inspected. She didn't understand (they were of foreign descent). So we went the pointing route ... not that, not that, not the plant ... yes, the thing in the corner! Yeah, it should be here on the wall.

Ok, so maybe the issue is not that they might get ticketed; rather, it's that the fire extinguisher should be readily accessible. They're usually mounted on the wall both so that they can be seen and also so that things on the floor won't block their access.

Here is the actual NFPA wording:

The employer shall provide portable fire extinguishers and shall mount, locate
and identify them so that they are readily accessible to employees without
subjecting the employees to possible injury.

And here is the OSHA recommendation:

To prevent fire extinguishers from being moved or damaged, they should be
mounted on brackets or in wall cabinets with the carrying handle placed 3-1/2 to
5 feet above the floor. Larger fire extinguishers need to be mounted at lower
heights with the carrying handle about 3 feet from the floor.

reference:
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/evacuation/portable_placement.html

women, unite

Women, unite! Or at least network.
85 Broads is a network for women. Check them out.

“85 Broads connects women across geographies, generations, academic institutions, and cultures. We are more than a community of 16,000 women. We are the women who will lead companies, win the Nobel peace prize, dance on the Broadway stage, find the cure for cancer, and invent new technologies. We will accomplish everything we ever wanted to accomplish in life by sharing the best of what we have with each other.” Janet Hanson, Founder, 85 Broads

I heard about them on CBS News.

bumper sticker

Seen on a black and white bumper sticker some days ago:

"What would Buddha do?"

ha ha

better

I did take sick leave today. Slept almost until noon. Got up, ate lunch and popped some pills then slept again (sitting up this time) until 4:30. So I slept the whole day just about. I do feel better. The headache is largely gone, though I feel as if it's still on the fringes with the possibility of coming back. I don't feel a hundred percent; that my just be due to all the sleeping. But I do feel capable of functioning now.

Thanks, T.O., for the well wishes!

ugh

I don't feel so good. I took two Tylenols and a Mucinex Friday night. Then again Saturday morning. Then again Saturday afternoon. I refrained from taking another dose on Saturday night. Sunday morning I peeled myself out of bed, went to mass, did my volunteer thing, then ran some errands, came home to eat lunch then was back out again. I filled up the car and picked up dinner then I'm home for the day. I took an hour and a half nap. My head was really bothering me and I didn't want to get up. But I managed crawl out of bed, took two Tylenols and two Mucinex this time, then hopped in the shower, then I ate dinner then washed the dishes. I've more stuff to do but I'll just get up super early in the morning to take care of it. I sure want to call in sick tomorrow, but I doubt that it'd happen. If I feel this crappy tomorrow, then I'll reconsider.

tidbits

This past Saturday I was at an ordination ceremony for 32 permanent deacons. Cool. The mass was 4 hours long.
--------------

Announced on Sunday at all masses: the order which runs our parish will be pulling out of the region. Starting next Summer, we will have new leadership for the parish. It was a difficult announcement to make; I'm sure our pastor would've preferred to just have to make it once, but he did it at every mass.

I'll post further thoughts on the matter only if there is any expressed interest.
--------------

Revelation: training wheels on a bicycle do nothing to help the rider learn to ride a bike.
--------------

Lisa Nowak. It's a sad story. But it's good that no one got maimed. I pray for the well being of all involved. Our astronauts are people who are "cream of the crop," "pick of the litter." They have credentials and accomplishments that would make anybody's head spin. Much is asked of our astronauts. They are among our national heros (heroines). Let us not be disrespectful.

DU

Natty has raised my awareness of depleted uranium, or DU for short. If this is true, it is a catastrophy of horrendous proportions.

nothing new under the sun

While the battle still hung in the balance, the crusades, introducing a new method and color of thought from the East, and the general diffusion of the teaching of Aristotle, injected a new element into the struggle, and one that was hostile to the spirit of feudalism. The new spirit triumphed; schools multiplied, scholars abounded, universities sprang up and numbered their students by the thousands. The whole age was marked by rapid and radical changes, great ideas and mighty movements, many of which have endured with undiminished influence to the present day. It was altogether a forceful, impetuous and chivalrous age, possessed of a giant's strength and a child's discretion. Indeed, the thirteenth century's tireless quest of truth has often been likened to the persistent inquisitiveness of a precocious child.

But this intellectual revival was not without its disquieting element. Human reason, fostered and developed under the guidance of the Church in the middle years of the twelfth century, dazzled by the consciousness of its own power, began to take on an overweening arrogance towards faith and authority. From this time on it asserted its absolute and undivided supremacy in the realm of knowledge, human and divine. It undertook to measure all truth by the capacity of its own understanding. Faith was impugned, dogma challenged, and even the mystery of the Trinity was held to be not beyond the reach of scholastic analysis. It placed its own judgments above God Himself, and demanded that they be accepted as the infallible criteria of truth. St. Bernard thus describes how generally this spirit had permeated the times: "Along the streets and in the squares people dispute about the Catholic Faith, about the child-bearing of the Virgin, about the Sacrament of the altar, and about the incomparable mystery of the Trinity." Of course, this license in human thought could have but one effect, and that a disastrous one, on the souls of men and the cause of truth alike.

hmm... sounds like today, actually

Saint Dominic and the Order of Preachers
VERY REV. J. B. O'CONNOR, O.P., P. G.

communications?

I don't spend that much time thinking about homosexual issues. I've read only a very few things on it. Today I ran across this article, titled The Homosexual Condition. Maybe it's just me, but I keep expecting to see a conclusion but not seeing it. Reading these things leave me feeling like I've only been given half a breath and I'm still waiting for the other half. Again, maybe it's just me, I was required to take remedial reading classes after all.

I mean, I get it that I don't condemn or else disrespect anyone just because they're "gay." But how do I manage to communicate acceptance and at the same time say "you need fixing, something is broken." Hey, I'd be the first to admit that I need fixing ... I sure ain't perfect. But I don't have the general population singling me out for some fixing. How can I communicate that it's not that I'm better than you, it's not that I pity you; how can I communicate without seeming self-righteous or holier-than-thou? I can say, "Dude, you have a knife in your side. You might want to see about getting it removed" and there probably won't be too much repercussion. But if I say, "Man, you are gay. You might want to look at options for not living the gay lifestyle," I'd probably not survive to tell of it.

Speaking of trauma ... I remember when I had a joint that needed surgery. That surgery didn't come until weeks later. If I understand correctly, the doctor is not fixing the joint until the body has gotten over its trauma. (Ah, then surgery is another whopper of a trauma.) So if our gay friends continue to be traumatized by society, it's going to be mighty difficult to heal.

Maybe these commentaries don't have a conclusion because the conclusion has to be individualized. Sometimes we just need a hug, a laugh, not a prod, not instruction. Sometimes those things just can't be talked about until we can understand each other at a level deeper than words. Then when we talk about things that hurt, we won't have to wrestle with motives; we can move past suspicion and can focus instead on the ideas.
--------------------
And lest I be misunderstood: I do stand by the Church and I agree that sexual acts outside of marriage is immoral and that marriage is between one man and one woman and therefore by logic, all homosexual intercourse is immoral.

anecdote

I remember a story which illustrates how the time of praise may interact with the time of the clock, the time of modernity. When one of my brethren was a child at school, a dentist came to give lessons in dental hygiene to the children. He asked the class when they must clean their teeth. There was absolute silence. He said, `Come on, you know when you must clean your teeth. In the morning and in the evening ... ' This touched a button in the minds of these good Catholic children who knew their catechism. And they all carried on `before and after meals'. `Excellent,' said the dentist. `In times of temptation and in the hour of our death'. Well, if we always cleaned our teeth in the hours of temptation, we might avoid many sins!

The Bear and the Nun : What is the Sense of Religious Life Today!
An address to the Major Religious Superiors of France, October, 1998
Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP

utilitarian

I had attended one of Fr. Cedric Pisegna's talk some time ago. I remember his analogy of the Dead Sea: that unless we give to others, we have no life. The Dead Sea does not feed another body of water. OK.

But this relative of ours, with the mental illness which robs the memory, laments in moments of lucidness, "I am useless to anyone." This is utilitarian. This is the logic of "If I am unproductive and useless, then I am worthless." So I ask you, where will your head be if you find yourself unable to contribute to society? Do you define yourself by what you can do?

I, myself, think that I exist so that I may be of help to someone--I know not who, but it is my special task to help at least this one specific person. That sort of thinking leads me to conclude that I would become useless as soon as I am unable to be of help to others. So then the question is: "Is it ever possible to be of no help to others?" I concluded, "No."

Couldn't I somehow, should I cease to be able to care and think for myself, be of inspiration for others? Couldn't God speak to others through my state of senselessness? In caring for me, couldn't my caregivers turn hearts and minds to God, to grow in love and service and gratitude for what IS in contrast to what isn't?

We do have the responsibility to help ourselves and others as we are able. But if we are unable, that doesn't make us worthless.

Will what is made say to its maker, "Why have you created me so?" Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one? (Rm 9:20-21)

May our very existence glorify God.

community

But if community is what draws the young to religious life, it is the difficulty of community life that makes so many give up. We aspire to communion and yet it is so painful to live. When I meet young Dominicans in formation, I often ask what they find best and worst about religious life, and they usually give the same answer to both questions: living in community. That is because we are all the children of this age, moulded by its perception of the modern self. We are not wolves in sheep's clothing. We are bears in nuns' habits!

Perhaps one could say that in religious life we live the mirror image of the crisis of the modern self. The modern self aspires to an autonomy, a freedom, a detachment that is impossible to sustain, because no one can be human alone. We need to belong to communities to be human at all, whatever we may think. But we religious live the mirror image of this drama. We enter religious life aspiring for community, longing to be truly brothers and sisters of each other, and yet we are products of modernity, marked by its individualism, its fear of commitment, its hunger for independence. Most of us are born into families with 1.5 children and it is hard to live with the crowd. And so the modern self and the religious life are alternative aspects of the same tension. The modern selfdreams of an impossible autonomy, and we religious aspire to a community which is hard to sustain.

The Bear and the Nun : What is the Sense of Religious Life Today!
An address to the Major Religious Superiors of France, October, 1998
Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP

purpose

I may disagree with Sr. JC at times, but I do admit that she communicates stuff that is of considerable value to us all.

Excerpts taken (without permission) from THE FIRE IN THESE ASHES,
by Joan Chittister, OSB

On the other hand, Mother Sylvester, my first prioress, made two trips to our novitiate yearly. In both of them, she came to ask us only one question. Patience was her hallmark; she tutored us with measured steps. In fact, she viewed with great benignity the fact that most novices failed the test rather routinely at the time of her first visit. At the same time, she was anything but complacent if we failed it at the time of her second one. "Why have you come to religious life?" she asked each of us in turn, arms folded under her scapular, head tilted down to scrutinize us over her glasses as she scanned us around the table. At first blush, we made up wonderful answers: "To give our lives to the church," the pious said; "To save our souls," the cautious said; "To convert the world," the zealots said. But no, no, no, she signaled with a shake of the head. Not that. Not that. Not that. "You come to religious life, dear sisters," she said sadly, "only to seek God."

Only to seek God. The answer stuns in its simplicity. In its ubiquitousness. In its universality. In its demands. The awful truth of the answer changes everything. For the person who cannot find God here, staying here is a mistake. For the person who does not seek God here, leaving here is an imperative. For the person who can find God better someplace else, leaving here is a grace.

and unfortunately no, I don't own the book and have not read the book ... God bless the Sisters who sent me this (it's a longer excerp than this) for reflection

candle

I've been to a few discernment events. My personal experience is that you never leave those events empty-handed. You might get literature, pens, rosaries, prayer cards, magnets, cookies, or such. I got a candle from the Benedictines. I also got a candle from the Dominicans (and a wall cross, Dominican magnet, generic notepad, generic pen, generic pencil, Domican notecards, Dominican postcards, and a Dominican bookmark made by one of my favorite Dominicans).

The Dominican weekend discernment retreat started today, so I lit my Dominican candle tonight. And I will do so tomorrow night as well. This is the candle from the very same retreat that I attended last year. We each lit our candle on the first night and they stayed on until we blew them out and took them home with us on Sunday. I have the candle in my room so that I don't forget to put it out before going to bed, I won't be leaving it on unattended. But what was cool was that I brought my lit candle into the room without turning on the light. I was amazed at how much light the candle gave, how much darkness was dispelled. It kinda cheered me up.

Then I turned on the lights because it makes the computer glare less glaring.

Discernment Invite (top posted)

You are warmly invited

to spend a discernment weekend

with the Dominican Sisters,
January 26-28, 2007
in San Antonio, Texas

begins at 6p.m. on Friday with dinner
ends on Sunday after morning prayer and sending forth

contacts:
Sr. Geri Kline, OP
210-349-7084
San Antonio

Sr. Pat Casey, OP
713-747-3310
Houston

Sr. Helen Marie Raycraft, OP
512-385-1719
Austin

Open to women ages 18-40
$35 is requested to defer meal costs

Come, join us! You'll be glad you did.

Hey, they're expecting about 9 discerners already! It's not too late, won't you come too?

colors

I met with my spiritual director today. We did something a little different. We tried tapping into my subconscious; a little art approach. I never said what my profession is, but you can safely rule out "artist." I did my best to cooperate, following directions to draw lines and colors in association with various emotion words. I was left alone to tackle these tasks, first the lines, then the colors. I, who live in my head almost all the time, who spend minimal time discussing my emotions, and who have never had any affinity for abstract art, was at a loss but did put something down on paper. Each time my SD left the room then returned, I was finished with the task at hand. No point in prolonging; I'm not going to have any better insight in 40 minutes than in 2 minutes. I don't know if anything came out of it, but I agreed to try to "think outside the box" for a while. I'll make an effort to think colors each day, something like "I feel bengal-tiger-striped black and orange today" or "bannana yellow and almost white" or "overdue bill pink" ... you get the idea

Christina Aguilera

Wow.
Gumby wanted the Christina Aguilera Back to Basics CD. So I got last week. Gumby has been raving over it. Well last night I heard CD2 of the set and am absolutely blown away by:

Hurt
Have Mercy on Me
Save Me from Myself
The Right Man

I could listen to those over and over. Just ... Wow.