Going Wild Inside

“Wouldn’t it be dreadful if some day in our own world, at home, men started going wild inside, like the animals here, and still looked like men, so that you’d never know which were which.”

"We've got enough to bother about here and now in Narnia," said the practical Susan "Without imagining things like that."

I was reading ‘Prince Caspian’, the C.S. Lewis novel, today, and read the above section. It gave me pause, as if someone described a dream to you that you had the night before. I mulled that statement for a few minutes, and then heard this news item on the radio (NPR):

Milwaukee Mob Sets Upon Driver

From the story:

"He was driving alone at about 10:30 p.m. Monday when he honked at a group of about 15 people to move so he could continue driving. "Instead of moving, they surrounded the vehicle," police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said. Police said he was pulled from the car, and witnesses said they saw some attackers climb on cars and jump on the victim's head. Britney King said she and her two sisters saw the attackers doing flips and cartwheels from cars onto the man."


Going wild inside, and then the wild turns outward. Prophecy? Insight into the inhuman condition? I am aghast, yet it is happening more and more.

I will continue reading 'The Chronicles of Narnia", as I have been this week, in a world that seems so much different than when I first read them 23 years ago.

The Invincible Poor

How is it we cannot eliminate Poverty? We hurl gold at it, and it is still ragged. We throw our table scraps at it, yet it still hungers. We try to kill it, and yet it lives on. There are few topics that devour more time in earnest discussion, yet it is still a mystery. Why poverty? Because God wills it.

No amount of money can quench it.
No airlifts of food will fill it.
No condoms or abortions can prevent or kill it.

Every burden is a blessing by God, for those burdens come with graces to bear them. And conversely, blessings come with burdens: the responsibility of sharing the gifts we have been given. Does it start to make sense, now, why poverty will slog on despite our best efforts? God will give us myriad opportunities to be closer to Him both though trial and in reward.

For the Poor, God gives graces to live simply and under His protection, and the Poor are much more grateful, with God’s grace, for the simple things in life than are the Wealthy. The Poor are dependent on God, and can unite their sufferings to Christ on His Cross. They also are much less likely to be completely besotted with material concerns than the Wealthy.

For the Wealthy, the poor are an opportunity to separate themselves from their wealth and show love of neighbor. Resources have been given to them that can make a real difference in the lives of many poor people, and also the graces to direct those resources. Out of gratitude, the Wealthy return blessings to God by giving their wealth to the poor.

The Poor are what separate the Sheep from the Goats, according to Matthew 25 (v.31 on), and thus are necessary to God’s plan. The Sheep should be grateful for the Poor, as the Poor are integral in expressing their faith. Conversely, one can tell how much the Goats resent the mere existence of the Poor, by the efforts to eradicate them.

Jesus said that the poor will always be with us, and He with them. Embrace them both.

Merry Christmas,

Jimbob

Podcasts and other Blogs I dig

I frequent any number of news and opinion sources almost daily, here's the list:

Catholic World News ( www.cwnews.com )- Definitely FOR for Commonweal or NCR fans, as an antidote to the poisonous slurry of sentiment and apathy toward the Magisterium found in those publications.

Titus 1:9 ( titusonenine.classicalanglican.net )- Ringside seats for the coming crash in the Episcopal Church USA, and it's impending affects on the entire Anglican Communion. Good luck, boys. "Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred."

Amy Welborn ( amywelborn.typepad.com/openbook/ )and Curt Jester (www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/ )with lively blogs as well.

The Catholic Insider ( www.catholicinsider.com ) is a podcast by a priest in the Netherlands, and is entertaining in both content and how Fr. Roderick's enthusiasm is like a child's with his first tape recorder. Great podcasts from Rome during JPII's final days and BXVI's election. Habeus Papem, and he's a doozy!

I've only listened to one podcast from Doxapod, but I like what I've heard so far. Sometimes it's tiresome to hear people gush about certain spiritual aspects, but one cannot gush enough (without being sappy) about the Eucharist.

EWTN's podcasts ( www.ewtn.com/podcast/index.asp ) are taking off, though I've only gotten my toes wet by taking Fr. Benedict Groeschel's Sunday night call-in show. I like his voice, I am challenged by what he says, and so it seems to be a good thing to tune in. I first saw Fr. Benedict, by accident, on cable TV after the abuse scandals broke wide in Boston, and he struck me as lucid and firmly rooted in the Truth.

Welcome, and please wipe your feet..

I won't promise a lively feed, as this is more a personal forum to collect thoughts on current events going on the Christendom as a whole. I'll most likely do most of my posting at night, after the kids are all tucked in.