Video: Rebuttal of naked students supporting Obamacare

If video fails, go to http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2010/10/rebuttal-of-naked-students-pose-to.html



Obama's people take off their clothes when they're losing ground.  Someone needs to forward to them the parliamentary procedure.  I almost feel sorry for the poor suckers.  Pardon the pun, but here's a rebuttal of their covering argument.

Fixing a maintainable laptop. (a parable)

If video fails, go to http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2010/10/pick-maintainable-laptop-and-parable.html

Laptops break - particularly the hard drive. When they do, you can either take it to Best Buy and pay $100+ for labor to have it replaced or do it yourself.  I was successful with my HP Pavilion but not with my wife's Sony Vaio. 

The Vaio is not designed to have the hard drive replaced because, just like a Japanese car the parts are so crammed in and jumpacked that there is little room to move;  it is perfectly assembled i.e. if it will not need to be taken apart.  Also, it uses this very fine wires on paper-like connectors that require nerves of steel to be surgically reset on their original locations.  So, I have shelved that project for months now. 

The parable:

The Vaio was not built to have defects;  it did not have room for changes.  People have a tendency to be that way, to think that they're right and to resist changes.  And unless one makes it easy for God to replace defective drives and tendencies, then one remains broken.  Unlike the laptop, people can dispose themselves to be open to God's maintenance work by a humbly admitting one's failures and defects.  That's the first step in any addiction recovery program i.e. to admit the problem.  Only then can one be receptive to correction and be willing to try a new pattern of behavior.   That is the meaning of the story of the Pharisee and Publican who went to pray and why the Publican who said, "Forgive me a sinner (and meant it too), went home 'fixed' or justified.  The Pharisee who enumerated his virtues and religious practices went home the same.  He thought he did not need improvement, so he stayed exactly as he was - without improvement.

Video: Christian spirituality is joyous not dour, sullen, melanchonic, grumpy, depressed

This is the reason why I like certain blogs like the Crescat.  She does not take herself too seriously and even blogs openly about her foibles and dating disasters.  While other women would be mortified, she shares these without any regard for human respect.  Humility is truth as St. Theresa of Avila defines it.  And the Lord God looks upon the lowliness of His servant - as our Lady proclaims in her Magnificat.  Because of this, I think she is much closer to the Lord than any perfect lady. 

If video fails, go to http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2010/10/video-christian-spirituality-is-joyous.html



by Fr. James Martin, SJ

The video features:
the barber who gave free haircuts to a  Franciscan, Trappist & Jesuit,
how the Lord used a laugh-out funny technique to teach,
Card. O'Connor's memory aids for a shocking fact,
St. Theresa Avila's admission that, "she's more afraid of one unhappy nun than a crowd of evil spirits."
a humorous situation from the late Pope John XXIII who at a dinner had a guest whose dress exposed a great deal of cleavage.

Oct. updates re: the most ethical Congress ever

When Pelosi said ethical, did she relate the word to moral behavior or was she thinking of a new nuance?

by Dana Summers

Was she referring to work ethic or something else?

by Glenn McCoy

Video: (T - 26 days) Last chance to save America

If video fails, go to http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2010/10/video-t-26-days-last-chance-to-save.html



Among others, listen to Obama's admission, "That's gonna increase our costs. We knew that. We didn't think we were gonna cover 30 million people for free."


H/T to Pundette

Think of this and you'll live fully.

Saint Jerome by Van Cleve ( H/T Crescat)

(The ribbons are grandpa's.)

I can't get a skull from the unclaimed bodies at the morgue so,  I bought myself an urn.  I look at it every morning to remind myself that the cold box cannot hug my children.  It cannot say to them, "How proud you made me feel."  The box cannot put clothes in the washer to give my wife a hand or give her a little slap at the fanny to let her know how sexy she is to me.  The box cannot wash the poop from my toddler and tell her to use the potty nor can it protect the kids while they build a leaf pile at the front yard.  That box cannot push my seven year old girl at the swing or talk about the greatness of serving God in the priesthood or religious life.  That box cannot have a drink with a friend whose wife is divorcing him nor can it blog about the deceptions in Obamacare.  That box cannot go to a 7 am Mass and thank God for all His graces nor can it fast for past sins.  At death, life continues for it is changed and not ended.  But for me, I shall still grieve because I can no longer love the way I can while I had a body.

Oh yes, the title.  The saints used to say, "Think of death and you will never sin."  I say, "Think of death and you will live fully."

The parable of the stuck CD drive and infected computer

There are 2 problems.  First, the system got corrupted that it needs to boot using the backup disks and to have a file recopied from there.  Second, the CD drive is stuck. 

Some CD drives have a hole where you can stick a paper clip tip to push the drive open.  You can go to Youtube and see videos about that approach.  I had one that did not have a hole.  So after a short prayer,  I attached an external CD drive, booted (started)  and recovered from there.  (You won't find that at YouTube;  I got that with a little prayer and insight.  So, you saw it first here.)

Moral:

Since this is a religious blog, let me use this to talk about Christian life.  The corrupted files are our human frailties that have been overrun and controlled by sin.  It can manifest itself in destructive behaviors e.g. addictions or habitual sins.  The backup disk with the original files is God's grace that contains our chance to be made fixed i.e. freed from addictions and bad habits.  The locked CD ROM drive can be our attitudes e.g. It's too late for me.  I can never be forgiven.  It won't work.  I'll fall back into sin.  It can be denial i.e. "Problem?  I don't have a problem." or false pride.  So, it comes down to one's choice to wallow in sin or to rise up and walk.  Just like the joke, how many priests does it take to change a light bulb.  One but, the light bulb must really want to change.

The external drive are others who help us through their prayers and counsel.  Somehow, some people wake up one day and say, "I tired of this life;  I'm going to change."  That did not come out of the blue but from some grandmother praying the Rosary every night or some nun behind the cloister wall - just like St. Therese of the Child Jesus who prayed for the murderer who was about to be executed.  The man repented at the last minute - just in time to receive God's forgiveness before he died.