Best April Fool's Joke Ever!

Went to Mass this morning and was treated to the best April Fool's Joke ever...You'll never guess...one hint...it is Palm Sunday.  Ok, maybe two hints...It is Palm Sunday AND there was a procession.  Ok, maybe three hints...It is Palm Sunday AND there was a procession AND there were ladies in white flowing gowns waving and dancing large palm branches into the sanctuary, around the sanctuary, and out of the sanctuary.

Looking at it again, though, except for the April and the fool(s) part, it really isn't a joke...it is the sad state of affairs of my particular parish in this particular Pacific NW diocese.  Can anyone justify dancing (or as the politically correct, liturgically uniformed, wanna be free, squishy Jesus catholic crowd would have it, "liturgical movement") at Mass unless your parish is one of a handful of ethnic parishes (read: not of the American culture, like the Basques or Native American Indians) in the US and around the world who have been granted permission to perform their sacred dances because it is intrinsic to their worship?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?

No, I didn't think so.  This dancing silliness has gone on long enough.  Please, Pope Benedict XVI, shut this liturgical abuse down before the gates of hell pervade against us.

Finding it difficult to do penance this Lenten season

I don't know why...well I have an inkling, but I'm finding it difficult to keep up with what I promised would be my Lenten penance.  I had resolved to go on a modified daily fast of no more than 1400 calories, give up desserts, sweets, candy, soda, going out to eat, donuts on Sunday after Mass and shopping (other than grocery).  The only two I've been able to keep up are not eating donuts and shopping...those are relatively easy.  The others...well, I've broken them all and it was as if I had no resolve at all.  At first I couldn't figure out what the difference was between this year and last.  I thought that maybe it was the amount of stress I'm under, especially with the temporary accounting job I'm working right now.  But, that just rang hollow.  I believe now it's because I'm not getting any real encouragement or challenge from my parish to make a true penance that will lead me to fuller conversion to Christ.  From the banners I see at Church and on the marquee at another local parish, I'm being cajoled into "fasting from intolerance and feasting on love"...but there is really no teeth in that.  Where's the mortification?  Where's the suffering that I can unite with Christ's suffering?  I haven't gone to Confession in a while merely because the last two times, the priest didn't even give me a penance...nada...nothing...not even an easy one, like "recite a Hail Mary before the Blessed Sacrament." I feel as though I've wasted Lent this year, though I'm really going to try to do more during this Passiontide.

I miss my old parish and its pastor.  It was too hard to ignore Lent there.

Too much time on the computer

Lately, I have been frittering away too much time on the computer:  resolving issues, facebooking, changing email providers, shopping, researching questions, updating blogs.  I believe it is definitely time to go into a season of online abstinence, leaving the hustle of the online world and re-entering the figurative offline desert, a life of non-electronic simplicity.  I will be reassessing my screen time to see if it indeed detracts from my life (which is my suspicion) and if my time would be better spent in other avenues where my top priorities of faith, family and friends are concerned.  

So, for now, I will bid you a fair "adieu" for I do not know how long this sabbatical will be.

Of course, I am not intending on becoming a hermit so if there is any one out there in the ether who actually reads this blog, I will be reachable by email, phone and regular ol' snail-mail.

God bless you!

This will be a pain!

Well, I just learned today that Starbucks is actively supporting gay-"marriage" legislation in the state of Washington.  While I've pretty much kicked my drive-thru coffee habit thanks to a New Year's resolution, a tightening budget and the recent demise of caffeine-withdrawal headaches, it will be relatively easy to not support Starbucks (I will redeem my free coffee coupon though...the money spent on giving me that free drink will be less money they can spend on causes I fundamentally don't agree with).

The other thing I learned is that Google has jumped on the bandwagon with Starbucks.  Sheesh!  I have two blogs on Google's blogger.com, a gmail account, Google+ (sort of), the Chrome browser, my pictures are on picasa and my home page is set to google.com.  It's going to be a royal pain in the (fill in the blank) to extract myself from the snares of Google.  I do not want to support a company who does not understand the very nature of marriage and seeks to destroy the meaning of this most sacred institution through its corporate buoying of harmful legislation.

Call me short-sighted.  Call me ignorant.  Call me bigoted.  Call me closed-minded.

The one thing you won't be able call me is a bad Catholic.