On St. Matthew's Feast

God is great
God is great
God is great and merciful
God is great and merciful
God is great and merciful, and does not want to see His creation separated from Himself.

There is an ancient and beautiful prayer to accept this truth. It comes from the Gospels. It is not pretentious, nor self-important.

Lord have mercy on me a sinner
Lord have mercy on me a sinner
Lord have mercy on me a sinner

There have been numerous modifications on this most sublime prayer. One such modification I have received from St. Basil the great.

Lord have mercy on me the greatest of all sinners
Lord have mercy on me the greatest of all sinners
Lord have mercy on me the greatest os all sinners

Why do I bring this up now. Because I have a certain affinity to St. Basil. I know that the above is true not only for him, but for me and all of us. Further he said something just and wonderful in his prayer before receiving the Eucharist. and highly fitting for the feast of St. Matthew: it was,

Lord accept me into Thy bosom; even as Thou accepted the publican, the prostitute, the prodigal, and the thief.
Lord accept me into Thy bosom; even as Thou accepted the publican, the prostitute, the prodigal, and the thief.
Lord accept me into Thy bosom; even as Thou accepted the publican, the prostitute, the prodigal, and the thief.

The Political Animal

I Cannot help but think that I am trivializing the whole blog thing. Most people use their blogs to write about politics, religion, or people who are getting around the campaign finance reform law and giving millions to Kerry or Bush. In short blogs should be used by crazy people. People who have something to say and a computer. Granted no one wants to read about their ranting, and that is why they are not writing for The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. There are of course exceptions to this rule, but they don't really count. To back this up, check out Terry Teachout's blog (he is the Journal's drama critic, music critic for Commentary, and (for all of us right wing Catholics) Crisis Magazine's Movie Critic). I only went there once, but wow was it bad, and this is from a guy who just had Yale University Press publish a collection of his essays.

Do I have a point? Well no, but I do have an opinion. I don't think that blogs are going to change the world just make us worse writers, and maybe a little more self-important. However, if blogs do end up changing the world, then I want a piece of it. Kind like if the the Neo-cons stopped running the world and the Sierra Club took over I would up and join the club and start screaming about baby seals or whatever.

That might sound a little cynical, but I will start talking nothing but politics in my blog. Also read fast because if the winds of opinion chang, then I'll start writing about how Globalization is evil, and "Bush lied, people died".

Speaking of Bush, guess who I saw on Tuesday. Damn, you guessed. That's right I stood in a group of 18 thousand screaming republicans, and I screamed my voice horse. I has having so much fun I screamed for things I didn't even care about. Why do I care if every rural county has a medical clinic? But when George II told me about it I screamed like Sarah Michele Geller before she gets he head cut off in Scream Two.

Once again that sounds a little cynical. I do really care about politics, and I want every one to vote for Bush this year. If you do not agree, then write and I will lay down the five reasons (my five reasons, that is I came up with them) why you should vote for Bush. Just to tempt you the war in Iraq does not show up any where in these five reasons.

Mr. Douglas Adams' Insight

Recently I have started filling up my copious amounts of free time with re-reading the Hitchhinkers Guide trilogy. To let you know how much free time I have, I am now half done with Mostly Harmless and I started less then a week ago. I bring this up because I suggest that all of my readers who spent four years of their lives in southern California, as I did, should go back and read Chapter 30 of So Long, and Thanks, for All the Fish. Granted I was on the wrong side of four gin and tonics when I read this chapter, but still I thought it brilliantly captured the state of mind that southern California gives to the unsuspecting visitor. It's fake, and it's ugly, and it's ridiculous, but somehow you have a great time there, and in a sadistic way, you start to like it.

Daily Mass

I think that I have been to daily mass three times since mid-August. The thing is, all three times after the first thing I said to myself was "I am going to go to mass today". Now I don't say this to myself too often, in fact only about three times in the last month. I do often say I should go to mass, but not I am going to mass. I should probably get to the point now. Those three times where, in order of the dates, The Feast of the Holy Transfiguration, The Feast of the Holy Assumption, and the third (which is today, 9/8/04, ) is The Feast of the Birth of Mary. Coincidence? Maybe. I, however, am more inclined that some higher power (probably not God, but Mary or St. Joseph) is affecting my free will.

September

Without a doubt the best time to be alive and living in Denver is the four or five weeks between Labor Day and our first snow. However, God sometimes plays a cruel trick and our first snow comes ten days after Labor Day. I don't know how to describe it; its not Indian summer, although it is sometimes called that. Really I think that why the locals like it so much is because it is the only month in Colorado with good weather and no tourists. The other months with no tourists have the worst weather imaginable. So for thirty days we can go outside and we can enjoy the mountains and we don't have to hear from other hikers that the Cowboys rule, or New York is the only real city, or how every one really wants to live in California. If the tourists loved their receptive homes so much, then why don't they hike and sky in their mountains. I'll be honest, I hate Denver, I hate the weather (except the for-mentioned), I don't really enjoy the people (there just a bunch of gen-x hippies and yuppies who the only things they care about are women, Fat Tire, and the Avs (Avs being the name we give to our hockey team)). When I leave this place I cannot think of one reason why I should come back. Family? Well that is a different story.