The Saturday Morning Post: The Four Horsemen of Advent

November 28, 2020

 

Good Morning, God and All! Steady your hearts, for the Lord is close at hand; and do not grumble, one against the other. (See James 5:7a, 10a)

 

By The Numbers:

It’s the 333^rd day of the year, with 33 days remaining.

Days ‘til BOBMAS/NICKMAS: 6/8

Days ‘til Hanyulfestimazaox: 12/23/25/27/28/28

Age at which Patrick Quinn, co-creator of the ALS "Ice Bucket Challenge" that has raised $220 million for research into the treatment of Lou Gehrig's Disease, died last Sunday: 37

Average cost of a Thanksgiving meal for 10 people, the lowest since 2010 according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, with a 16-pound turkey going for $19.39: $46.90 (in case you postponed your big dinner to the weekend and opted for pizza on Thursday because of the televisual feasting)

 

Start Your Day With A Song:

Patience, People (1977) John Foley, SJ

 

Saint Catherine Labouré, Pray For Us!

Catherine Labouré, D.C.. (May 2, 1806 – December 31, 1876) was a French nun who was a member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and is a Marian visionary. She is believed to have relayed the request from the Blessed Virgin Mary to create the famous Miraculous Medal of Our Lady of Graces worn by millions of people around the world. Labouré spent forty years caring for the aged and infirm. For this, she is called the patroness of seniors. Her cause for sainthood was declared upon discovering her body was incorrupt. She was beatified on May 28, 1933, by Pope Pius XI and canonized on July 27, 1947, by Pope Pius XII. (Wikipedia)

 

Patience, People (the Message):

What a year this has been! Aren’t you glad it’s over?

Okay, slow down…the liturgical (Church) year is over. With the beginning of Advent this weekend, the Church starts a new liturgical year. Happy New Year!

And with regard to the calendar year, it’s almost over. I’m sure there are more than a few of you who cannot wait for 2020 to end. It was eleven months ago that the virus known as COVID-19 broke loose in the Wuhan province of China. Many people said it would stay there. Others thought we’d have a handle on it before it got to the United States or any part of Western Civilization. But it didn’t go away. And it hasn’t left yet. It shows no sign of leaving, and it’s been leaving disaster in its path everywhere. I’m going to leave politics out of this - while dealing with this pandemic has certainly been politicized in America, all that has really done little but to highlight just how impatient people can be, justified or not.

American colonists in the 1770s had little patience over their British overlords’ penchant for taxing anything that didn’t move (and a few things that did). Americans in 2020 had little patience when it came to rights versus privilege. There has seemed no middle ground. It’s been a time to act, often without forethought or even (gasp!) prayer.

We do have models of patience. Abraham is one such model. God promised to make him the “father of nations” (Genesis 15). Job loses nearly everything, while his contemporaries attempt to sort out what great sin he might have committed. (The theology of the time indicated that illness or poverty was the result of some sin a person committed; it’s still prevalent in what some spiritual observers call the “health & wealth gospel.”)

The Old Testament prophets had their collective patience severely tried. By the grace of God, they managed to console the exile-dispersed Israelites with a message that a king, from the ancestral line of Israel’s great King David, would one day appear to liberate the people from the oppressive rule of empirical outsiders. And then their voices went more or less silent - for nearly five centuries. In that time, the Persian and Greek empires would come and go; the Roman empire would establish itself; and the Maccabeans would defend themselves. (Their story, however, is not considered biblical outside of Catholicism.) That brings us roughly to the year 165 BCE. From that point to the birth of Christ, there is no word, no indication of any kind, that God’s promise of a savior/redeemer/messiah is going to appear. When he finally does, Jesus is not what most in the know are expecting from their interpretation of the ancient writings. Neither is the manner of his birth and early life.

As we return to the present, we can say without hesitation that calendar year 2020’s expectations were constantly in a state of flux. But a ray of hope has been held out to us as late stage testing on three (as of this writing) vaccines have shown nearly miraculous results and will be given the green light to ramp up production so that the beastly virus can be tamed. This is not singly because those in research and development have worked tirelessly sifting through data over the tens of millions of cases and the millions of deaths worldwide. It’s also because of the prayers of all these people, and many, many more. It is because God has given us the virtue of patience. An anxious one, perhaps; but patience nonetheless.

We are not out of darkness - yet. Christmas celebrations are going to be muted much like everything we do and how we interact has been impacted in 2020. Will we stand in our doorways on Christmas Day, ringing bells and singing carols, proclaiming Joy to the world, the Lord has come? That’s what the next four weeks are really all about. It’s that, while we are subjected to all kinds of things we can or cannot do because we are asked to remain socially distant from each other, we are not now - nor have ever been - alone. We wait in joyful hope for God to reveal Himself once more. And that takes patience, people.

 

Memorable Moments:

1520 – An expedition under the command of Ferdinand Magellan passes through the Strait of Magellan.

1582 – In Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway pay a £40 bond for their marriage licence.

1785 – The first Treaty of Hopewell is signed, by which the United States acknowledges Cherokee lands in what is now East Tennessee.

1811 – Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, premieres at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.

1895 – The first American automobile race takes place over the 54 miles from Chicago's Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea wins in approximately 10 hours (probably due to a combination of poor weather and heavy traffic and construction on Lake Shore Drive -ed.).

1908 – A mine explosion in Marianna, Pennsylvania, kills 154 men, leaving only one survivor.

1925 – The Grand Ole Opry begins broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee, as the WSM Barn Dance.

1942 – In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub kills 492 people.

1964 – Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 4 probe toward Mars.

1990 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigns as leader of the Conservative Party and, therefore, as Prime Minister. She is succeeded in both positions by John Major.

 

Happy Birthday!!!

1475 – Anne Shelton, elder sister of Thomas Boleyn (d. 1555)

1489 – Margaret Tudor, Queen of James IV of Scotland, daughter of Henry VII of England (d. 1541)

1628 – John Bunyan, English preacher, theologian, and author (d. 1688)

1866 – Henry Bacon, American architect, designed the Lincoln Memorial (d. 1924)

1929 – Berry Gordy, Jr., American songwriter and producer, founded Motown Records

1943 – R. B. Greaves, Guyanese-American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)

1949 – Paul Shaffer, Canadian-American singer, keyboard player, and bandleader

1962 – Jon Stewart, American comedian, actor, and television host

1984 – Trey Songz, American R&B singer-songwriter and actor

 

We Remember:

741 – Pope Gregory III

1476 – James of the Marches, Franciscan friar

1794 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian-American general (b. 1730)

1859 – Washington Irving, American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian (b. 1783)

1901 – Moses Dickson, African-American abolitionist, soldier, minister, and founder of The Knights of Liberty (b. 1824)

1939 – James Naismith, Canadian-American physician and educator, created basketball (b. 1861)

1954 – Enrico Fermi, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)

1993 – Garry Moore, American comedian, television personality, and game show host (b. 1915)

1994 – Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (b. 1960)

2012 – Zig Ziglar, American soldier and author (b. 1926)

2015 – Marjorie Lord, American actress (b. 1918)

…ALL victims of the COVID-19 pandemic to date

…ALL victims of violence in any form

 

Parting Words:

On this holiday weekend, and this eve to the Advent season:
May the Lord bless you and keep you! May his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and bring you peace! (Numbers 6:22-26)

Until we meet again, may God be with you, keep you safe, and have mercy on us all…

 +the Phoenix 

The Saturday Morning Post: Vivat Christus, Rex Universi! Deo Gratias!

 November 21, 2020

 

Good Morning, God and All! Long live Christ, the King of the Universe! Thanks be to God!

 

By The Numbers:

It's the 326th day of the year, with 40 days remaining.

Days 'til the end of Atlantic hurricane season: 9

Percent of fresh fruit that's imported into the U.S. according to USDA: 52%

Current per-barrel price of oil: $41.52

Percent of Americans who have passed off a store-bought pie as homemade, according to Parade: 7%

Temperature the inner thigh of a turkey (and stuffing, if used) must reach to be deemed safe to eat, according to federal guidelines: 165 degrees

 

Start Your Day With A Song:

Thanks be to Thee Attributed to George Frideric Handel (1685-1759); performance by Daniel Rodriguez Tenor - Nederlands Zingt in Haalem

 

Saint Columbanus, Pray For Us!

Columbanus (Irish: Columbán, 543 – 21 November 615) was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in present-day Italy. He is remembered as a key figure in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, or Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe.

Columbanus taught a Celtic monastic rule and Celtic penitential practices for those repenting of sins, which emphasised private confession to a priest, followed by penances levied by the priest in reparation for the sins. Columbanus is one of the earliest identifiable Hiberno-Latin writers.

He is the patron saint of bikers (motorcyclists), according to Wikipedia.

 

Thankfully, I Have an Archive Somewhere (the Message):

(Publisher’s Note: With prospects for the winter holidays shrinking due to the surge in the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ve taken a look backward to a time when the overall mood was less frenzied. In fact, nearly all of this week’s Post is reposted from five years ago today; before politics went compleetely haywire and long before making sure there was enough toilet paper in the house; before face masks became a fashion and/or political statement. The parallels, even with current draconian restrictions, should not surprise us. If they do, we’re in a lot more trouble than we thought. Still, when we stop to personally reflect, most of us should find something for which to give thanks to God.)

We've reached the last week of the church year. Next week begins Advent, the season of preparation for the true Christmas. I'm not going to rant about that this week; there's still four weeks beyond today to say anything I might have missed or return to a point that needs more attention.

Having said that, you're not necessarily off the hook. This last week of the church year is dedicated to the role of Jesus Christ as King of the Universe. It may be coincidence, but more likely divine intervention that puts Thanksgiving Day in America in this same week.

Presidents Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt anchored the holiday in late November. They had political motivation, to be sure. Plus, there's the tale of that first festival in Massachusetts in which the harvest, the survival of the colony, and a wary but not openly hostile relationship with the native tribes were celebrated with a feast. The fact that such a feast even occurred says something I'm not sure could be said of us today.

The popular cause with regards to this holiday has become what immediately follows it. While I sympathize with the sentiment to allow people to have the day to spend with family and friends, and to keep holiday shopping off the agenda, there's a chunk of the picture we continue to forget. Public service officers and medical technicians must give up at least a portion of their holiday to work in their respective jobs. Then there are those who do not have family, or are hospitalized, or are homeless. How do they spend this day? There are those who will spend part of their holiday volunteering at soup kitchens and are thankful for the opportunity to serve.

But don't be fooled. Just because a retailer will not open its doors to the public on Thanksgiving Day doesn't mean its employees are guaranteed the day off. Many will work late into the night stocking shelves and setting up displays for the shopping safari that will take place the following morning. That's a result of the relationship between capitalism and consumerism; a relationship that might well have best been summarized by my dear departed wife Diane (may God grant her eternal rest), who generally referred to this phenomenon as the public "wanting cheese doodles at 3:00 AM."

Let's first try to consider being thankful - to God, and ourselves as well - for what we have, things that are not measured by what's in our checkbooks or knick-knack shelves. Recall the story of the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19). Ten were healed; only one went back to Jesus in thanksgiving; and he was a Samaritan (or a Muslim refugee by today's standards). Be thankful. Then, give out of that sense of thankfulness to others.

 

Memorable Moments:

164 BC – Judas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.

1620 – Plymouth Colony settlers sign the Mayflower Compact (November 11, O.S.).

1789 – North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state.

1877 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.

1902 – The Philadelphia Football Athletics defeated the Kanaweola Athletic Club of Elmira, New York, 39–0, in the first ever professional American football night game.

1905 – Albert Einstein's paper, "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", is published in the journal Annalen der Physik. This paper reveals the relationship between energy and mass. This leads to the mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc².

1922 – Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator.

1927 – Columbine Mine massacre: Striking coal miners are allegedly attacked with machine guns by a detachment of state police dressed in civilian clothes.

1942 – The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (however, the highway is not usable by general vehicles until 1943).

1945 – The United Auto Workers strike 92 General Motors plants in 50 cities to back up worker demands for a 30-percent raise.

1979 – The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, is attacked by a mob and set on fire, killing four.

1980 – A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada (now Bally's Las Vegas). Eighty-seven people are killed and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history.

1985 – United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard is arrested for spying after being caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations. He is subsequently sentenced to life in prison.

1986 – Iran–Contra affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary start to shred documents allegedly implicating them in the sale of weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

 

Happy Birthday!!!

1643 – René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, French-American explorer (d. 1687)

1694 – Voltaire, French historian, playwright, and philosopher (d. 1778)

1729 – Josiah Bartlett, American physician and politician, 6th Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1795)

1854 – Pope Benedict XV (d. 1922)

1937 – Marlo Thomas, American actress and producer

1940 – Dr. John, American singer-songwriter

1944 – Dick Durbin, American lawyer and politician

1944 – Harold Ramis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)

1945 – Goldie Hawn, American actress, singer, and producer

1962 – Steven Curtis Chapman, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor

1965 – Björk, Icelandic singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (The Sugarcubes)

1966 – Troy Aikman, American football player and sportscaster

1969 - Ken Griffey, Jr., American baseball player and actor

1971 - Michael Strahan, American football player, actor. and talk show/game show host and commentator

We Remember:

615 – Columbanus, Irish missionary and saint (b. 543)

1924 – Florence Harding, American publisher, 36th First Lady of the United States (b. 1860)

1993 – Bill Bixby, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1934)

2012 – Mr. Food, American chef and author (b. 1931)

2017 - David Cassidy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1950)

Parting Words:

In honor of the coming holiday, and with some thanks to David Letterman:

Top Ten Things I'm Thankful For On Thanksgiving Day In America

10. Apocalypse SNOW! (or, Stormageddon) - let's get it out of our system, winter's around for three months!

9. Football, Football, and FOOTBALL!!

8. Macy's Parade trying to stall off the arrival of the next holiday until the end when a certain Mr. S. Claus arrives.

7. John O'Hurley and the National Dog Show!

6. No Politicians!

5. Kids are occupied so there's nobody throwing dinner rolls across the living room.

4. Food! (Who isn't thankful? There are those who are thankful they don't have to cook, and those who are thankful that they're making or bringing something special.)

3. Friends!

2. Family!

1. God...it doesn't get better than that!

 

Thank you, God and All...and, until we meet again, whether in-person or virtually, “live” or recorded;

may God be with you - and may God have mercy on us all…

 

+the Phoenix

The Saturday Morning Post: Take My Hand, Precious Lord…Lead Me Downtown

 November 14, 2020

 Good Morning, God and All! Let us go, rejoicing, to the house of the Lord (Psalm 121:1)…and let us rejoice, for now, for the work that we must do to keep them open amid capacity restrictions, facial coverings, and social distancing…

 

By The Numbers:

It’s the 319^th day of the year, with 47 days remaining.

Days ‘til HanYulFestiMaZaa: 26/37/39/41/42

Days ‘til the Electoral College is supposed to meet to complete the presidential election: 24

 

Start Your Day With A Song:

Precious Lord, Take My Hand (1938) Thomas A. Dorsey; Performance: Elvis Presley (1957)

My Love (1965) Tony Hatch; Performance: Petula Clark

 

Saint Laurence O’Toole, Pray For Us!

St. Lorcán Ua Tuathail, known in English as Saint Laurence O'Toole and in French as St. Laurent d'Eu (1128 – 14 November 1180), was Archbishop of Dublin at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland. St. Lorcán played a prominent role in the Irish Church Reform Movement of the 12th century and mediated between the parties during and after the invasion. He was canonized in 1225 by Pope Honorius III. (Wikipedia)

 

Take Me Home, Country Roads, To the Place I Belong (the Message):

It’s been a long road indeed through 2020; longer still when you consider the election (which still isn’t officially decided) process began in the summer…of 2019, before there was a virus that led to the worst pandemic in at least a century. And the numbers are still growing. What we have here is the potential for a repeat of the exile that ‘canceled’ the celebrations of Easter and Pentecost; a ‘live’ version, if you will, of How (The Virus) Stole (the True Meaning of) Christmas. Will we gather ‘round the town squares in our corners of the world and sing Adeste Fideles with masks in place and ten feet apart? Who knows? Has anyone else made this connection, or am I blowing smoke or a gasket somewhere? Who knows.

In the winter of 2014, as my Diane became suddenly ill, and in the time before, as she began to have health issues, I would pray - sometimes aloud - that I would understand what she might be going through, that I could better help her and advise her on options related to her care. All these years later, it seems those prayers are being answered. I am starting to experience disorders which have similar symptoms; mobility issues and lack of stability that comes and goes. Gastrointestinal trouble. At one time Diane said something about an experience where she felt the room she was in was spinning; now I know what that feels like. It’s definitely NOT pleasant. For the last few days I’ve felt I’ve been walking in a fog; one that’s lifted a bit for now, or I would be begging off another reflection this week. As this is one of the things that has helped me stay in focus, I really don’t want to stop until God tells me I have to beyond any other means.

Why is it that places like Walmart, aisles jammed with holiday specials, is not considered a super-spreader, while family gatherings and religious observances are? Even though the Catholic parishes have a program in place that allows them to remain open at the reduced capacity levels that were agreed upon in June - July, it seems inevitable at the moment that we won’t be exempt from a general “stay at home” order if they’re issued. And the diocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, one of the few to end the dispensation from required attendance at Sunday Mass, has in the wake of rapidly growing positivity rates, has put the dispensation back in place.

Yet through the grace of God, though bruised (and never whole, as I reminded myself); I’m still here. I still believe God is in control, even as many reject that and claim that if there is a God, he’s sleeping at the switch. We’re the ones sleeping at the switch.

The memes have returned throughout social media in America, declaring No matter who is President, Jesus is King. That is important to bear in mind, for the political wringing of hands isn’t stopping any time soon. There is a great deal of stonewalling - on both sides - and Congress and the Senate have wafer thin margins, which likely means whoever actually sits in the Oval Office in late January, a great deal of nothing is likely to get done over the next four years, with citizens, working or not, footing the bill. Yes, thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57,  NRSV).

And, in the refrain of this week’s featured popular song:

My love is warmer than the warmest sunshine

Softer than a sigh

My love is deeper than the deepest ocean

Wider than the sky

My love is brighter than the brightest star

That shines every night above

And there is nothing in this world

That can ever change my love.

That’s why I must keep going, and neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor gloom of night or even pestilence will keep me from proclaiming the love of the Lord and that Jesus IS the Ultimate Answer. We must never give up on Him. Governments can - and have, and will - make demands of us that go against God’s commands. Even the human-operated institution of Christ’s holy Church will fail us. Christ’s promises will never fail unless we reject them.

Take my hand, precious Lord! Lead me home!! Lead me in Thy righteousness! Make Thy way plain before my face!

 

Memorable Moments:

1770 – James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile

1851 – Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville, is published in the USA.

1862 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln approves General Ambrose Burnside's plan to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, leading to the Battle of Fredericksburg.

1886 – Friedrich Soennecken first developed the hole puncher, a type of office tool capable of punching small holes in paper.

1889 – Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in 72 days.

1918 – Czechoslovakia becomes a republic.

1922 – The British Broadcasting Company begins radio service in the United Kingdom.

1960 – Ruby Bridges becomes the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana.

1969 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon.

1973 – In the United Kingdom, Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey.

1979 – Iran hostage crisis: US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States in response to the hostage crisis.

1982 – Lech Wałęsa, the leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, is released after eleven months of internment near the Soviet border.

1995 – A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forces the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums and to run most government offices with skeleton staffs.

 

Happy Birthday!!!

1601 – John Eudes, French priest and missionary (d. 1680)

1765 – Robert Fulton, American engineer, Early steamboat pioneer (d. 1815)

1840 – Claude Monet, French painter (d. 1926)

1900 – Aaron Copland, American composer, conductor, and educator (d. 1990)

1908 – Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 1957)

1921 – Brian Keith, American actor and director (d. 1997)

1922 – Veronica Lake, American actress and singer (d. 1973)

1927 – McLean Stevenson, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)

1929 – Jimmy Piersall, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2017)

1939 – Wendy Carlos, American keyboard player and composer

1948 – Charles, Prince of Wales

1949 – James Young, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1951 – Stephen Bishop, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

1954 – Condoleezza Rice, American political scientist, academic, and politician, 66th United States Secretary of State

1982 – Kyle Orton, American football player

 

We Remember:

1263 – Alexander Nevsky, Russian saint (b. 1220)

1832 – Charles Carroll of Carrollton, American farmer and politician (b. 1737)

1915 – Booker T. Washington, American educator, essayist and historian (b. 1856)

1997 – Eddie Arcaro, American jockey and sportscaster (b. 1916)

2014 – Glen A. Larson, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Battlestar Galactica (b. 1937)

 …ALL victims of the COVID-19 pandemic

…ALL victims of violence

…and television personality Alex Trebek (b. 1940) who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on Nov. 8

…and comedian Norm Crosby (b. 1927) who passed away on November 7, from heart failure.

Parting Words:

Pray, pray always, pray all ways - that we may approach these coming days with sense and sensibility; that we may, by God’s grace, overcome these dark days and approach him with humility, and confidence, and in joy.

 Until we meet again, may God be with you - and may God have mercy on us all…

+the Phoenix