Ahhh, opening day!

(OK – two teams started yesterday and two more, including mine, wait ‘til tomorrow, but we have to observe it some time, so why not today?) Thus a good time to put my foot perilously near my mouth and predict how I guess the season will shake out complete with snarky comments. Your mileage may vary.

NL West

San Francisco – The best in the league got better over the winter.
Arizona – If they can stay off medicare for six more months.
Colorado – With a real catcher for the first time in 7 years!
Los Angeles – For the first time ever, in the shadows of their former tenants.
San Diego – Proud sponsors of the DL all-star team!

NL Central

St. Louis – Too much talent to ignore.
Chicago – Bound to be better with Dusty, but Eric Karros?
Houston – Three questions: Jeff Kent? Jeff Kent? Jeff Kent?
Pittsburgh – Getting better, but have a long way to go.
Cincinnati – I just don’t see any pitching on this team. Sorry, Mr. O’Rama.
Milwaukee – At least the ballpark is supposed to be nice. They might need dollar beer night to fill ‘er up, though.

NL East

Atlanta – One last hurrah?
Philadelphia *wildcard* - Close out the Vet in style.
Montreal – The barnstormers have talent, but will they keep any of it?
Florida – Could fall if the fire sale continues.
New York –Mo Vaughn leaves the Angels and they promptly win it all. He joins the Mets and they finish last. It’s no coincidence.

AL West

Seattle – They’re baseball’s energizer bunny.
Anaheim *wildcard* - Just enough talent – like David Eckstein.
Oakland – If they already know Tejada’s gone, why not trade at the deadline? Look what the Johnson trade did for Seattle.
Texas – If they had pitching, they could be really good. Then again, if I had a million bucks, I’d be rich.

AL Central

Minnesota – But will they sell any tickets?
Chicago – The ghosts of Comiskey will have their revenge.
Cleveland – Not really worthy of a third-place finish, but look at the competition.
Detroit– Not really worthy of a fourth-place finish, but look at the competition.
Kansas City – They’re lucky there are only five teams in this division.

AL East

New York – Not their best team in recent years, but good enough to win the division.
Boston – Wouldn’t surprise me too much if they got the wildcard. More than that would surprise me.
Toronto – Does J. P. Ricciardi really have a plan?
Tampa – Lou Piniella will not have fun this year.
Baltimore –How soon until Cal Ripken pulls a George Brett?

NL Postseason

San Francisco defeats Philadelphia
St. Louis defeats Atlanta
San Francisco defeats St. Louis

AL Postseason

Seattle defeats Minnesota
New York defeats Anaheim
Seattle defeats New York

World Series

San Francisco defeats Seattle

There you have it. Of course I'd be beyond delighted were it to be the Rox wininng it all, but I'm not delusional.

Deo gratias!

Dylan is back. Were it not a Friday in Lent, I’d call for the fatted calf to be slaughtered in celebration. So for today it’ll have to be the fatted salmon.

Darn tootin’:

find your inner PIE @ stvlive.com

Going, slowly, through Psalm 51, we come to the part I quote most often:

Cor mundum crea in me, Deus,
et spiritum firmum innova in visceribus meis.
Ne proicias me a facie tua
et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me.
Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui
et spiritu promptissimo confirma me.

The above and Summe Gloriose Deus are the most sublime of prayers this side of our Lord’s own prayer.

Lent is the season of renewal and restoration. This is the time when we should seek the restoration of the joy of God's salvation. Prayer expresses gratitude directly to Him. Almsgiving expresses gratitutde concretely, if not directly. Fasting can help us to let go of the nonessentials. (I have a hard time with this.)

The best blog post I’ve seen in a long time is here. The blogger now known as Athanasius gives insight into an ecclesiastical problem that pervades the Church in the English-speaking world, but is actually remediable. If you want to know more, hie thee thither!

On a lighter note . . .

Sat down for dinner last night and my dear wife wanted to have the TV on with the Celine Dion special. Ok, fair enough. But what business does Celine have singing Stevie Wonder’s line “Thinking back on when I was a little nappy-headed boy”?

Were Miss Dion ever “a little nappy-headed boy”, that would be nearly as big a transformation as that of Michael Jackson!

BTW, outside of that number, she did put on a nice show.

There’s been some discussion lately (especially here) about Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker folks and pacifism.

There are several admirable things about Miss Day and Catholic Worker, but pacifism is not among them. Just as one can admire St. Jerome’s scholarship, if not his interpersonal skills, one can admire Miss Day’s devotion to the works of mercy without adhering to her pollyannaish pacifism.

That being said, it will likely be a long time before I make further mention of Miss Day or Catholic Worker.

Denver’s been in a drought for at least five years. Last week’s large drop of heavy wet snow brought moisture we desperately needed. While rather little of the snow remains on the ground, the recent blizzard here has had some rather impressive lasting effects on the landscape of my hometown.

The streets are strewn with tree limbs – many of which are as stout as me. While on the way to work this morning, I noticed an old pine tree. The top half of it (about 20 feet) was missing. That tree was probably at least 80 years old. A short distance away a massive elm bough lay – shattered. Its core was rotten. A few neighborhood trees were completely uprooted as the soil surrounding them became saturated.

As the seasons progress, most of the neighbors will have be less shade, fewer flowers, less leaves to rake, and less water gulped up by big thirsty trees. The snow did quite a pruning job. Not necessarily the pruning choices that the householders would make, of course. If the householder doesn’t trim the trees, then nature does. (Our yard was relatively unscathed since we had a crew come out to trim most of our trees a couple of years ago.)

The snow is a good metaphor for Lent. We encounter the Living Water in the coldness and aridity of our lives and, consequently, some things change for us. The changes aren’t necessarily those we would choose, but they’re made necessary by the past choices we’ve made and the inscrutable actions of that which is beyond our understanding.

The problem is that what’s gone above is, relatively speaking, the easy part.

Psalm 51 reminds: “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow”. I’ve been so washed (repeatedly). Still, every time I end up like the piles of snow at the side of the road covered in grime. That’s where the real frustration comes – the dogged persistence of sin in my life. So far the pruning hasn’t gone nearly so far as I need it.

Thanks to the inimitable Mr. Riddle for the link to this quiz:


You know the power of prayer!


What Bible verse is your life's theme song?
brought to you by Quizilla

Friday was the first day of spring . . .

and, as such, the vernal equinox.

This year our neighborhood pagans did not stage an outdoor ceremony, though they had for both solstices and, IIRC, the autumnal equinox. The NPs have an old house with a superabundance of overgrown trees and shrubs. Their foliage didn’t weather last week’s storms well at all, so their yard is now much less private than it had long been. The outdoor altar is now quite visible to casual passersby. (I had only seen it in the past because of the dog chasing squirrels into the overgrowth.) Maybe the NPs will bug out to another neighborhood to better facilitate their rituals.

Another thought on Ps 51

7 Ecce enim in iniquitate generatus sum,
et in peccato concepit me mater mea.

Only four people ever have been exempt from “in peccato concepit me mater mea” – Adam, Eve, Our Lady and Our Lord. Since the saints were given grace to overcome sin – there’s hope that I may too.

May the military operations currently underway be brought to a quick and successful end, to alleviate the plight of the people of the Middle East and to reduce the dangers posed by terrorists and their patrons.

There’s been some comment hither and yon about the reduced throughput of bloggage in St. Blog’s lately.

As for me, there have been several reasons. The most recent is that I’m tired and sore from digging out from the blizzard. I’m glad to be done digging.

I should be praying more.

In Denver, at least, St. Joseph's Day is being observed by the closure of nearly every business and school. OK, the closures are actually due to the snow. We've got about 27 inches with drifts up to about 3 feet. Heavy, wet snow unlike the powdery stuff for which Colorado's rightly famous. This is good for snowmen, if you're so inclined. Have had six 4x4s get stuck in front of the house so far. I'm inclined to thinking that tomorrow should be a home day too.

Other than digging out, today's main occupation is prayer for the speedy recovery of Dylan of Tenebrae et Lux -- oops, the site's now More Last Than Star, at least officially.

As you may know, Denver is one of the drier parts of the country. That’s just geography. Right now we’re into our sixth year of a major drought. We’re not far short of a normal winter this year, but the previous five years left things so dry that we’d need a couple of exceptionally damp years just to get close to normal.

We’ve had a slow soaking rain since about 3 am. Over the next day-and-a-half, we’re to get a goodly amount of moisture from above – rain turning to heavy snow. While I’m grateful for the moisture, all this cloud cover reminds me how grateful I am to live where (at least most days) “the skies are not cloudy all day”.

Saturday and Sunday were delightful – sunny and mild enough to wear shorts and take the dog for two four-mile walks each day. I write in the midst of our biggest rain in years -- potentially hours short of an historic blizzard. Yet even with all that, the natural world is nearly immutable in comparison with the fickleness of the human heart. How evanescent we are! To think that the Eternal would lower Himself to experience the frenzy of minutiae that is human conciousness!

more thoughts on Psalm 51

3 Miserere mei, Deus, secundum misericordiam tuam;
et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum
dele iniquitatem meam.
4 Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea
et a peccato meo munda me.
5 Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco,
et peccatum meum contra me est semper.
6 Tibi, tibi soli peccavi et malum coram te feci,
ut iustus inveniaris in sententia tua et aequus in iudicio tuo.

My sin is ever before me. Unfortunately, too often that’s because I look back on some sins fondly. Or just spend too much time and effort on sin rather than on worthwhile pursuits.

Even though my Latin is no great shakes, looking at this Psalm in Latin helped me to overcome a longstanding misunderstanding. I long took the second portion of verse six to mean “I have done things that, in your sight, are evil”. Looking at the Latin, it’s much clearer that “I have done things, while face to face with you, that are evil”. Some might find it a subtle difference, but I find the more accurate understanding to be a very compelling statement.

What's new

I’ve bumped across several new products lately.

1. Raging Cow – this is Dr Pepper’s new “milk with attitude”. The shoeshine guy said he tried two flavors and liked them. He had coupons. I declined. IIRC, the flavors were Berry, Caramel Chocolate, Chocolate and Pina Colada. At least it wasn’t milk flavored like Dr Pepper! (Why, after the Mad Cow scare would anyone give a product a name so close to Mad Cow? Eh?)

2. Coca-Cola’s answer to Red Bull – Coke in silly little odd-sized (8.4 oz) cans with a not-quite-right paint job. Got two free samples yesterday. Drank one as I was thirsty. The other’s in the office fridge.

3. New Frito-Lay “Natural” Series – I’ve seen Ruffles, Lays, Tostitos and, weirdly, Cheetos in the new “Natural” line. The chip bags have a distinctive look (lots of brown and some antique typefaces). They’re all reduced fat with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. I tried some of the Ruffles with lunch. They’re a good chip. But what is with “natural” Cheetos? Potato chips at least have a recognizable link to potatoes. On what planet would Cheetos resemble anything natural? Also, from the picture, “natural” Cheetos are kind of off-white in color. Will Cheeto fans accept an albino Cheeto?

Art and Architecture note

The church near my office (finished in 1941 with only minimal subsequent modifications) has devotional art on nearly every possible surface. The doors to the priests’ confessional chambers each bear a different image (the penitents' doors are plain). For instance one has the keys and one has a scourge. The one that always struck me as harsh was the one that (I thought) depicted either an electric chair or some other chair with an ominous looking cap. Today I realized it was just a side view of a Prie Dieu. Whew!

The poem continues . . .

Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper-tree
In the cool of the day, having fed to sateity
On my legs my heart my liver and that which had been contained
In the hollow round of my skull. And God said
Shall these bones live? shall these
Bones live? And that which had been contained
In the bones (which were already dry) said chirping:
Because of the goodness of this Lady
And because of her loveliness, and because
She honours the Virgin in meditation,
We shine with brightness. And I who am here dissembled
Proffer my deeds to oblivion, and my love
To the posterity of the desert and the fruit of the gourd.
It is this which recovers
My guts the strings of my eyes and the indigestible portions
Which the leopards reject. The Lady is withdrawn
In a white gown, to contemplation, in a white gown.

Today's poetry excerpt

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Comment: "to care and not to care" cuts to the heart of Lent. We are to care more for our neighbors and our spiritual well-being, and not to care about the debris of earthly existence.

O happy day!

Yesterday I received in the mail my very own copy of “Robot Love” by mister victor lams. I haven’t had the chance to listen to all of it yet, but I can assure you that some of the tracks that aren’t available for download are just as good as those that are. That being said, my favorite tracks so far are “Shelly” and “Party For My Head”.

Don’t be a schmuck like me, get yer own darn copy promptly. After all, Vic may get so busy with his new job that he won’t have time for sending out CDs.

Extra special bonus happy news: turns out that the sweet young girl who sits in an adjacent cubicle at work was a college classmate of Victor’s. So is a robot version of “This Realm of Existence Is Relatively Diminuitive” to be forthcoming?

Poetry continues . . .

And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain
Because I do not hope to turn again
Let these words answer
For what is done, not to be done again
May the judgement not be too heavy upon us

(Aside: "matters that with myself I too much discuss" is one of the most fitting I've ever seen.)

St. Joseph's Day is coming soon (March 19). There's a very nice novena at EWTN. Today is a good day to start it.

mister victor lams asks "Has it become the case that (with apologies to Pope Pius XI) one cannot at the same time be a sincere Catholic and write for the National Review?"

While NR is (a) a publication that occasionally addresses religion from a more or less political standpoint rather than a religious publication and (b) pretty far off to the left politically*, it's still a much better place for a Catholic to work in good conscience than (1) most hospitals in the US, (2) many OB/GYN practices, (3) a large number of medical supply companies, (4) film and television production companies that promote immoral "lifestyles", (5) businesses that surreptitiously profit from pornography while attempting to publicly distance themselves from it (a la AOL or GM), (6) most public schools, et cetera.

The world today is much like that of the apostles in that society is not amenable to the Christian message. Just as St. Paul had to admonish the nascent Church regarding food offered to idols, today we have to examine what our occupation says about us and how seriously we take our faith. At least NR recognizes that there are people in this society who take the Christian religion seriously and those people aren't nut cases. Compared to most of contemporary media, that's a major step in the right direction. Assailing NR for not being sufficiently deferential to the prudential judgments of the Holy Father seems to be holding NR to an inappropriate standard and the equivalent of throwing the book at a jaywalker while ignoring the nearby street gang.

It should also be remembered that Mr. Dreher has spoken with numerous families that have experienced clergy sexual abuse. He's also spoken with numerous ecclesiastics who seemed more concerned with avoiding bad publicity than with either helping the victims of abuse or preventing future abuse. If I were in his shoes, I couldn't be dispassionate. Also remember that this isn't exactly news. There was a similar, albeit smaller, outbreak of information about clergy sexual abuse in the mid 1980s. Simply put, those in authority have failed to adequately address a problem of incredible magnitude. That's a breeding ground for righteous anger. That's not to say I agree with everything Mr. Dreher has said regarding the pope's handling of the situation, but it does give context that makes it comprehensible.

As to the war, it is the Church's responsibility to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves in this regard. As I've mentioned before, it seems to me that the Church is viewing the coming war with many preconceptions that are no longer accurate, particularly regarding the likelihood of civilian casualties brought about by this war as opposed to the certainty of civilian casualties that would result from the continuance of the Baathist regime. Still, it would be unseemly for the Church to advocate war against Iraq given the context of the past fifty years. If war against Iraq is justified, than is not war against Fatah, Hamas and Hezbollah?

*Yes, I meant that NR is quite politically liberal. I speak regarding social issues (for instance NR gives the promotion of homosexuality little more than a wink and a nod) and taking the longer view on other issues (such as the implicit approval of income taxes, subsidies to businesses and the like).

I've been remiss . . .

in responding to the kind request:

Hey Everybody,
I want to tell you about the launch of a new web site for the movie THERESE,
produced by Luke Films and scheduled for theatrical release October 2003. Please
visit the site and support this beautiful family film on the life of St. Therese
of Lisieux. There are all kinds of things to do and see on the site. You can
learn about the people who made the film, learn more about St. Therese and join
the discussion group, plus there's a contest where you can win a free trip to
the movie premiere. The more of you who visit the site the greater the impact
the film will have and it'll show the theater owners and the distributors what
kind of films you want to see. Make sure you post a message on the discussion
board to show your support. Here's your chance to make a difference in the
entertainment industry.
Check it out, www.theresemovie.com.

According to this post, the head honcho fo the newest player in the contraception industry is named Gene Detroyer. I'm wondering if they left an "s" out of the surname.

A new feature!

Over the next several Fridays, I hope to post some thoughts on Psalm 51(50), the pre-eminent penitential Psalm.

1 Magistro chori. PSALMUS. David,
2 cum venit ad eum Nathan propheta,
postquam cum Bethsabee peccavit.

David wrote this Psalm after speaking with Nathan regarding the Bathsheba incident in which David was unfaithful to his wives with another man’s wife, had the other man (and an untold number of other men) killed in battle. This was a most sordid affair. David didn’t repent until after Nathan explained the situation to him in a parable. After all that, David addressed this to the master of the chorus – admitting his sin openly.

Most of us would recoil in horror at someone who had done what David had done. David did too and he repented. Do I recoil in horror at my sin? Do I have the courage to repent?

More poetry . . .

Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessed face
And renounce the voice
Because I cannot hope to turn again
Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
Upon which to rejoice

It was heartening to see how many people came to Mass and imposition of ashes yesterday afternoon. Standing room only.

There was even one other person at school who had ashes.

More Poetry

Because I do not hope to know again
The infirm glory of the positive hour
Because I do not think
Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power
Because I cannot drink
There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is nothing again

Poetry

One of the finer poems of the 20th century is T. S. Eliot’s Ash Wednesday. Starting today, I hope to post excerpts of the poem. It offers many good topics to consider during Lent.

Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the aged eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?

One of the best things about growing up as a Lutheran in the mid 20th century in the US was this offertory (usually sung once a month). It’s especially fitting during Lent.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence
And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation
And uphold me with Thy free spirit.

(From Psalm 51/50, but you knew that already.)

Mr. Esguerra has moved his blog (Confessions of an Accidental Choir Director) here. Hie thee thither!

And so it comes to this . . .

Mr. Shea has joined Miss Welborn in stepping back from blogging. His work will be missed as hers has been.

Theirs weren’t just the busiest blogs (in readers and posts), but also the most prolific and news-filled. Less news and its surrounding noise is a good thing for Lent.