« Shorter Sister | Main | Alabama: where nothin' says lovin' like marryin' yer cousin! »
April 20, 2005
Busy as a 1-legged man at a butt-kickin' contest!
Yeah, right, Jeff -- you been bloggin' your ass off over at Preemptive Karma, so don't give me that.
No, really, Blogger was comatose week before last or whenever, so the old blog had to wait, and... never mind. Job-related involvements. Family illnesses. And through it all I was successfully avoiding the Pope Death Watch, then the ensuing Smoke Watch.
Then today I heard Rick & Bubba (I religiously avoid commercial radio, usually) debating "why Benedict?" One of their staff, thankfully, brought up the fact that Benedict is only negative in American history. Benedict is the patron saint of Europe? Really? I recall St. George - England, etc. but that's all.
How Popes choose their names, FYI.
But then a Catholic caller said, "I saw on Fox News..." and I cringed, "...he chose Benedict 'cause (something to do with) an earlier Benedict and his homily about the 'dictatorship of relativism'..."
"With that name, he has symbolically linked himself to St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of Western monasticism, and Pope Benedict XV, considered by some to be one of the most underrated of modern popes.The name comes from Latin and means blessed.
St. Benedict, who lived during the sixth century, is the author of the Rule of St. Benedict, the code that guides monastic life to this day and helped keep scholarship and the flame of faith alive during the Dark Ages. St. Benedict also is the patron saint of Europe.
Pope Benedict XV, who served from 1914 to 1922, followed Pius X, whose vigorous fight against modernism - the attempt to reconcile Roman Catholic faith with modern rationality - left the church divided.
In his first encyclical, issued only months after his installation, Benedict XV called a halt to the war between traditionalists and progressives in the church.
He also sought to end what he called the "useless slaughter" of World War I that played out during his papacy."
I'm betting that last bit about peace-making in the church, and anti-war sentiments, gets little or no newstime on any major news report. Anyone got $10 to lose?
They then tried to dissect what that meant. After that I recall yelling at the radio. "Our entire lives as Americans is a giant mess of rationalization and relativism, y'all! Our grossly-comfortable lives are built on cheap goods from slave labor in China!"
Full disclosure: my pants today are Old Navy, most likely sweatshop-made. Hey, a family of 5 has to get by somehow today, right? Whoops, I'm relativism-ing again! off to hell I go!
Most Christians are good people, or are trying to be. If it works for them, good; and it makes the world a better safer place overall, even better. But saying "eliminate all doubt, because the Bible is the only absolute truth" -- that's a different kind of dictatorship.
But most American Christians ain't about to sell their SUVs, give up their 500 satellite channels, and sell or donate all their belongings, and follow Jesus to become fishers of men.
Hell, most of us didn't give one dime to tsunami aid.
Everyone commiserates, oh yeah, but how many people do you know -- how many are you 100% positive -- they sent money to Red Cross/Red Crescent or Doctors without Borders?
So, how will most Americans show they're gung-ho "in the Lord's Ar-Mee, yesSIR!"?
Probably by listening to more talk radio (I do like Rick & Bubba, they're real guys; it's the hate radio shows disguised as talk -- Limbaugh, Hannity, et al. who are beneath contempt). And in the voting booth. Just like before. Expect more of the same drum-beating political divisiveness, turned up past 11 to 12.
The sermon that works for me on a day like this is Marvin Gaye What's Goin' On, start to finish. "Only love can conquer hate", indeed.
Posted by Jeff at April 20, 2005 05:47 AM