Is it too late?

St. Francis, my friend, I am too late? Please for pray us!

The Ironic Catholic revealed

I like your pic Susan. It is a good one!

This tribute to a friend and professor is the 900th post on Καθολικός διάκονος.

Political rant II, plus Peggy Noonan on the election

A few laughs, courtesy of Deacon Greg's boss, who does a great job in these interviews. Seriously, Katie Couric is not engaging in gotcha journalism. She is asking questions that need to be asked. Sarah Palin is not being persecuted, she is being vetted, having her measure taken. This is important if you want a high position in a democracy and it is the news media's job, as the fourth estate in a democratic republic of 300+ million people, to do this. Obama, being a new comer and relative unknown last year and earlier this year, certainly went through a similar process. Who remembers Rev. Wright and charges that Michelle Obama is not patriotic because she had the audacity to suggest that black people feel a bit disenfranchised in our country? I think the Straight Talk Express ran off the road somewhere in the vicinity of Wasilla, Alaska where it took a dangerous swerve to the right.

Also, before I get any overreactions, I, too, believe abortion should not be legal in cases of rape and incest. I realize that this sounds horrible, but it ties into something Jon Stewart says when talking to Peggy Noonan, who certainly shares that POV with Gov. Palin and I. The tie-in is about saying what you are for and why. Give your answer the seriousness it deserves. Let's remember that to have compassion for another means to suffer with that person. In many cases, abortion only adds weight to what is already an unimaginably heavy burden. Let's explore why as if we were asked that question:

1) Life begins at conception for all human beings, not just some
2) The in utereo child is innocent, as is the child's mother, who, in cases of rape and incest, is a victim
3) So, what rationale do you use to take the child's life, especially given that, whether the woman gives birth or not, she is still the victim of rape and in certain cases also of incest, a trauma that even having an abortion cannot undo and may well add to?
4) I believe in reserving punishment to perpetrators of crimes

Editorialist Roger Cohen points out in Nixon, Palin, Bush: "John McCain rolled the dice on Sarah Palin. I’m grateful to Bob Rice of Tangent Capital for pointing out that the actuarial risk, based on mortality tables, of Palin becoming president if the Republican ticket wins the election is about 1 in 6 or 7". This gives us something to think about while striving to arrive at a prudential judgment.

I don't care what your political leanings are, Peggy Noonan is a great lady. She is a Republican, why didn't Sen. McCain choose her? Anyway, here's a little hope for me n' Marie:

My political rant- delivered mostly by Jon Stewart

We have a bailout plan. BOOOOO!!! Despite their very different reasons for doing so, I am happy that Utah representatives Jim Matheson and Rob Bishop (my high school debate coach and mentor as very young man, as well as my representative in Congress), a Democrat and Republican respectively, voted against it. I even give kudos to those House Republicans who stuck to their principles, along with many House Democrats who took a risk by bucking leadership in their opposition. Giving $700 billion to the Wall Street banks that created this mess, plus the $150 billion sweetner (see Jon Stewart below) to bribe House members into voting for it- can you say earmark, or earmark-like thing- is like giving a guy in AA a fifth of Jack for being sober for a week. Add to that McCain's bi-polar take on the matter . . . The end result of this will be that people with sub-prime mortages past the sub-prime phase will get little or no relief, but those at the top will get will get to keep the house in the Hamptons. The U.S. taxpayer will get a lot of worthless paper- all the worthless paper that caused the banks to fail.

On a more reasoned note, I like very much Mark Stricherz's post on America magazine's In All Things blog entitled Bad Regulation Caused the Financial Panic (Or What Catholic Social Thought Can Teach Our Parties). In the end, he turns to number 2425 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which reads:

"The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with 'communism' or 'socialism.' She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of 'capitalism,' individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor. Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails social justice, for 'there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market.' Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended."

"Red angels wait to pick remains"

I have always loved this song, at least since it was recorded. Peter Murphy, formerly of the Bauhaus now lives in Ankara, Turkey where his wife, who is Turkish, is director of a national dance company. Raised Catholic, Murphy is now a Muslim. Of course, Bauhaus was one of the first goth groups. Indigo Eyes is our traditio. A great interview with Peter Murphy is From Goth to God.

Guardian angels

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
To whom God's love
commits me here,
Ever this day,
be at my side,
To light and guard,
Rule and guide.
Amen.

The belief that everyone has a guardian angel is not in any strict sense a doctrine, but the fact that we have a day on the liturgical calendar celebrating guardian angels says a lot. After all, lex orandi, lex credendi- the law of prayer is the law of belief, or, stated more pastorally, what we believe is derived from how we pray. At the very least we know that such a belief, while not obligatory, is consonant with our faith as we profess it. So, it is what might be characterized as a gratuitous belief, which makes it all the better in my opinion. If nothing else, this feast, building on our quote yesterday from that great Doctor of the Church, the Little Flower, reminds us of the great care, borne of love, that God has for each one of us individually. I like what I read elsewhere, looking at it from the side of the angels: "What a bore and a burden to them some of us are. May we one day be a cause of rejoicing for them also." Precisely because it is kitsch, I like the painting of the Guardian Angel in all its variants. I just hope mine, too, looks like Bernadette Peters.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

St. Thérèse, Little Flower, pray for us as you promised; for us and for the whole world, that we may be drawn deeper into God, who is Love. I offer this quote for Rebecca, to show, using words I could never compose, why it is better to be wanted by God, desired by God, than to be needed:

"Just as the sun shines simultaneously on the tall cedars and on each little flower as though it were alone on the earth, so Our Lord is occupied particularly with each soul as though there were no others like it. And just as in nature all the seasons are arranged in such a way as to make the humblest daisy bloom on a set day, in the same way, everything works out for the good of each soul."

This truth is hard to see at times, but we know such insight in the life of Thérèse Martin was more than off-set by doubts, by darkness, by fear. In the end, the light shines through darkness, as the Little Flower, who now dwells in perpetual light and intercedes for us knows. I just love that she is a Doctor of the Church. She was proclaimed such by Pope John Paul II on 19 October 1997. In the proclamation JPII wrote: "Therese of Lisieux is a saint who remains young, despite the years that pass, and she is an eminent model for Christians of our day along the road to the third millennium." Her little way is a true path of Christian discipleship for the third millennium and always, to the end of the world.