Thursday, December 30, 2010

ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS

My father was a jack of all trades, master of none. Well, almost none. But home improvements were not one of the ones he mastered. That caused my mother do develop the habit of saying, “If anywhere following the declaration ‘it’s fixed’ the words, ‘all you gotta do is . . .’ are said, it’s not fixed.” The dryer was “fixed.” All you had to do was hit the start button, manually start the tumbler and then slam the door shut. It was not working as it should.

If this sounds odd it oughtn’t. It is certainly a mentality very prevalent in our society today. There is less emphasis on living life the way we were designed to live it and more on helping people live the life they want to live supported by medications, surgical procedures, and devices that will either allow a person to do as they will or erase the consequences of their actions. Do you want lose weight but you don’t want to give up the foods you love or exorcise? Then ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS take this pill and everything will be just fine. Want to have multiple partners, use this device so that the natural consequences of our actions are frustrated allowing you to live as you wish.

As Catholics we have a call to try to live as naturally as possible within some amount of reason. Chances are that unless something is wrong with you, living the Catholic life fully would render half of the economy, not the part trying to get you hooked into some kind of behavior but the part that is either helping your body cope, rid or recover from it, dead. The focus is not with what is wrong with you but what is right, and how can we neuter or rid ourselves of that so that I can live I wish.

Is that any way to live? Can true happiness really be found living in a fashion directly opposed to one’s nature? If you are a banana and you keep trying to be a plum, the only thing you’ll end up being is a second rate banana.

ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY’S QUIZ

1. INRI - IESVS•NAZARENVS•REX•IVDÆORVM or Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews
2. JMJ - Jesus Mary and Joseph (a blessing.)
3. AU – Alpha and Omega – I am the alpha and the omega
4. IC XC NIKA – Jesus Christ Conquers
5. AMDG - Ad majorem Dei gloriam or for the greater glory of God
6. BVM – Blessed Virgin Mary
7. DNJC - Dominus Noster Jesus Christus ("Our Lord Jesus Christ
8. IC - Jesus (first and third letters of His name in Greek
9. HIS – Darn spell check! This should have been IHS or the first three letters of JESUS in Greek
10. RIP - Requiescat In Pace ("May he rest in peace")
11. VRSNSMV – SMQLIVB – from the Benedictine medal Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas! (Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!)

2 comments:

lgreen515 said...

OW! That struck home.

Anonymous said...

Quiz--I thought the "HIS" was probably meant to be "IHS" but I thought maybe there was another one that I didn't know. Thanks!