Nineteen years ago I lost my Dad. I have spent these years slowly knowing how much he means, how much he loved me, how much I loved him. If you still have your Dad, appreciate him, love him, spend time with him, tell him how grateful you are. If you know someone who doesn't have their Dad, see how you may be a blessing to them.
Today I listened to this song by the inimitable Michael Kelly Blanchard and the tears came. As Michael has it, "I miss you, Pops." I miss my Dad. And things are never the same. Others I can look up to, and do -- but none can take his place, or should. Others give guidance and wisdom and example, but none like my Dad. Others give inspiration, but his life and memory give insight and help when I am at a loss.
"Springtime flowers", as the song says, will indeed bloom and renew, but there are times the heart aches and Spring is too far away. But as Dad would tell me and the song says so well, "You're gonna make it through." Yes, I will, but I still miss you, Dad. Thank you for all you gave to me, easily overlooked at the time, but deeply treasured today. There are no words, except, "I love you."
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
A Timeless Prayer from the late Alexander Solzhenitsyn
(A prayer of faith for days like these and all the rest as well! Solzhenitsyn,
Nobel laureate in literature in 1970 suffered imprisonment and other oppression
in his native Russia on the "path through hopelessness".)
When my mind is distraught
and my reason fails,
when the cleverest people do not see further
than this evening and do not know
what must be done tomorrow -
You grant me the clear confidence,
that You exist, and that You will take care
that not all the ways of goodness are stopped.
At the height of earthly fame I gaze
with wonder at that path
through hopelessness -
to this point, from which even I have been able to convey
to men some reflection of the light which comes from You.
And you will enable me to go on doing
as much as needs to be done.
And in so far as I do not manage it -
that means that You have allotted the task to others.
How easy it is for me to live with you, Lord!
How easy it is for me to believe in You!
How easy it is for me to believe in You!
When my mind is distraught
and my reason fails,
when the cleverest people do not see further
than this evening and do not know
what must be done tomorrow -
You grant me the clear confidence,
that You exist, and that You will take care
that not all the ways of goodness are stopped.
At the height of earthly fame I gaze
with wonder at that path
through hopelessness -
to this point, from which even I have been able to convey
to men some reflection of the light which comes from You.
And you will enable me to go on doing
as much as needs to be done.
And in so far as I do not manage it -
that means that You have allotted the task to others.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Contra-Human...
So in the absence of adequate time or catchy titles I am going to toss out a few thoughts on the recent fracas over the Georgetown University gal and her concern about insured contraceptive pills.
Of course this is not about access -- access is everywhere. And it is not about a solid philosophical discussion of the matter -- that is virtually impossible. Speaking of, I heard a 'debate' on Hannity in which the dissenting voice, an M.D., was startlingly shrill and irrational. Beyond the pale.
There are many elephants in this room. G. K. Chesterton reveals the elephant in his splendid essay, A Piece of Chalk, in which the grandest truths are the ones we are built upon. In his essay, that truth is the grandeur of sexual purity.
Far truer to call this the 'dinosaur' in the room, for it is neglected as if irrelevant, passe'. But it is the beautiful alternative to what Ms. Fluke protests. No access to contraception?! No options? What of chastity -- a beautiful, old-fashioned way of life in which one saves sexual activity for marriage and then exclusively for one's spouse?
Happily, I was chaste when married and know many who, by the grace of God, supportive family/peer groups, and a this-is-possible-and-to-be-expected attitude, did the same. When a relative told her Dr. that she was a virgin he was stunned. "How does that happen?" Premarital intercourse is assumed.
Chesterton puts it thus: "Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing.... Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc. In a word, God paints in many colors; but he never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when He paints in white."
The recent national discussion began by ignoring this vast possibility: that unmarried people would save the beauty of sex for marriage. Can we go there and talk about this as the most truly human alternative?
Marriage is the home for sex -- save it. Marriage is the home for children -- save it. Marriage is the home for families -- save it. Families are the foundation of society -- save them. The incredible allure of sex without boundaries will drag us down further and further until prophets like GKC and you and I insist that so-called 'free sex' is a misnomer that damns us. Virtue and sexual chastity are the grand choices that preserve beauty and truth and in the end, make wholesome families possible.
Of course this is not about access -- access is everywhere. And it is not about a solid philosophical discussion of the matter -- that is virtually impossible. Speaking of, I heard a 'debate' on Hannity in which the dissenting voice, an M.D., was startlingly shrill and irrational. Beyond the pale.
There are many elephants in this room. G. K. Chesterton reveals the elephant in his splendid essay, A Piece of Chalk, in which the grandest truths are the ones we are built upon. In his essay, that truth is the grandeur of sexual purity.
Far truer to call this the 'dinosaur' in the room, for it is neglected as if irrelevant, passe'. But it is the beautiful alternative to what Ms. Fluke protests. No access to contraception?! No options? What of chastity -- a beautiful, old-fashioned way of life in which one saves sexual activity for marriage and then exclusively for one's spouse?
Happily, I was chaste when married and know many who, by the grace of God, supportive family/peer groups, and a this-is-possible-and-to-be-expected attitude, did the same. When a relative told her Dr. that she was a virgin he was stunned. "How does that happen?" Premarital intercourse is assumed.
Chesterton puts it thus: "Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing.... Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc. In a word, God paints in many colors; but he never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when He paints in white."
The recent national discussion began by ignoring this vast possibility: that unmarried people would save the beauty of sex for marriage. Can we go there and talk about this as the most truly human alternative?
Marriage is the home for sex -- save it. Marriage is the home for children -- save it. Marriage is the home for families -- save it. Families are the foundation of society -- save them. The incredible allure of sex without boundaries will drag us down further and further until prophets like GKC and you and I insist that so-called 'free sex' is a misnomer that damns us. Virtue and sexual chastity are the grand choices that preserve beauty and truth and in the end, make wholesome families possible.
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