Easter!

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. –Matthew 28:6

Easter is the most joyous of holidays, for it is celebrated in commemoration of our salvation through the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

May you be blessed on this day, and evermore in His salvation.

Sincerely,

Bob and vanilla

Good Friday

String Too Short to Tie

 

 Yes, when He was on the cross, we were on His mind. Think of that!

 "And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." -Mark 15:38

By the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we may enter into God's Holiness.



BBBH does this song.  It is my favorite number in her repertoire.  I think we have it on tape, but it has not been digitized.

Fishy? I Think Not

I wish to express my appreciation to Bob Warr for allowing  me to  use his blog as a platform for my posts for an undetermined length of time.  Thanks, Bob.

Sincerely,

vanilla

STRING TOO SHORT TO TIE 

Disclaimer: This article is for entertainment purposes only. It is not a theological treatise, nor is its intent to make fun of anyone’s practice of faith.

Fish on Friday

We protestants who lived north of the Arkansas River chided (read: made fun of) our Catholic friends who would drive south of the river on Fridays to partake of their evening meal, for there they felt free of conscience to eat red meat. It was widely believed that Catholics were to abstain from meat on Fridays as an integral part of the practice of their faith. Failure to do so made the offender a sinner in the eyes of fellow Catholics and a hypocrite in the eyes of the protestants.

The trip across the river had its roots in some medieval history. Because of their service in the Crusades, Pope Urban II granted a dispensation to Spanish counts allowing them relief from the meatless Friday rule. In 1571, Pope Pius V extended the dispensation to all lands under Spanish rule. Hence, Spain’s colonies in the New World were excepted.¹ Even though Spain had long since lost her rule in the New World, and even through domination by various peoples, and right on into the twentieth century American world in which I lived, the observation continued in those geographical areas originally dominated by Spain. In the West, the northern boundary of Mexico was the Arkansas River, and hence the Catholics of Texas, New Mexico, and a portion of southern Colorado considered themselves under the dispensation of Pope Pius V.

In 1951, the faithful in the area were advised that indeed they should follow the practice of abstinence from meat on Fridays, along with the rest of the Catholic world. Much confusion exists to this day, and Catholics generally believe that to eat meat on Friday is not sinful, but that Friday should be a day of penance as clarified by the Holy See in 1966.²

¹Michael P. Foley, Fish on Friday: The One that Got Away, Musings of a Pertinacious Papist, December 30, 2010.

²ibid.

Believe the News, But Verify

Heard a snippet on a news channel about "college students who are protesting failure of health insurance to provide contraceptives."

My thoughtless thought, before investigation, was, "Yeah, I favor the insurance company buying their contraceptives-- to the exact same extent that insurance bought mine when I was young."

Truth: Fordham University has a policy (about which an enrollee should be familiar before registering) based on official Catholic doctrine (it is a Catholic school) against providing or paying for contraception. (I have truncated this, but that is the nub.)

What? You are enrolling at Fordham and you don't know it is a Catholic school. Give me a break.

Same people who take their news from TV without question.

Investment Portfolio

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.
Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal." --Jesus

Be of Good Courage

From Psalm 27

1: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
14: Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Fishing

In Luke 5 we find a very tired Peter who had been working all night with no results. Nevertheless, though skeptical, he is obedient to the call of the Master to "launch out into the deep" and lower the nets.

Then when the miraculous haul is brought in, Peter bows before Jesus and says, Go hang out somewhere else, for we are not on the same wavelength. You are holy and I am a rapscallion.

Jesus then tells Peter that he will make him a "catcher of people" rather than a fish catcher.

Then, Peter leaves all, forsakes everything he has ever known and follows Christ.

What must we forsake in order to be Christ followers?

Everything.

Thought for Sunday

Dog getting so old, instead of jumping up on the couch and snuggling under my arm, he sits on the floor, staring up at me. Lays his ears back, starts barking. What's that all about? Ask him what he wants, he barks more.

I sometimes wonder if barking is what God hears when we address Him. Not that He cannot understand us, but that we don't know how to address Him.

The directions are in the Book. Fortunately, unlike the dog, we can read the directions.