Sadness

"Hey, you! I'm just now leavin'
Can I come around sometime this evening?"

It's such a sad song, because he keep texting his (ex-)gf, and she keep not texting back.

"I know it's not the truth when you say
'I'm fine.'

So, go ahead and break my heart again,
And leaving me wondering why the hell I ever let you in!"

Yes, I keep listening to FINNEAS' songs, over and over and over again. Ugh. But no, there is no limit to sadness, because there is no limit, right? Whenever you discover: 'It can't get any worse than this!' it gets worse, and then it gets much worse.

A neighbor of Dad's, their son OD'd, and that it. That's the limit. He was here, and brought his parents joy, and now he's not anymore.

So ... be thankful? Be thankful you're sad? Because, one day, you won't be, and that'll be it. You had this time, to be sad, yes, but that's it. That's the limit.

Time to go out and get KAKĒ, because it's the eighteenth birthday of my daughter, Elena Marie, and ... "... it feels good ... eating alone." ~ FINNEAS

Laundry

Today I did my laundry, tweeps.

Here's what I do with every day I'm given. I pick one thing, say I'm going to do it, then do it. Two+ years ago, July 12th, I was dead, save one nurse who wouldn't let me just give up, and by God's grace. I know every day is a gift from God.

What am I going to do with this gift?

That way, I know, if I were to die today, I can die having done just this one thing today.

How many people can say that?

Now, I know you housewives are reading this and saying: "Oh! Good boy! He did laundry. Wow. Pat on the head and everything." Okay, so you do laundry every day.

Good.

God bless you. Thank you and thank God for doing the laundry today, and every day.

But, so then 'doing the laundry' isn't you're one thing, because you're not grateful for that gift of work from God.

Pick something else. Pick something that stretches you. Say a Rosary. Make sandwiches for the homeless shelter. Go to Mass today. Something

Pick something; do it

St. Josemarie Escriva saw it, the Work: "Ora et Labora" in your work, pray. In your prayer, work. Work; pray. Pray; word. That way God is in all things that you do today, and all things that you do today are in God.

Sanctify the 'drudgery' with thanks to God for it.

Then the 'drudgery' of (e.g.) doing the laundry: it isn't a chore, anymore. It isn't a thankless chore, because YOU are thanking God for being given the gift of doing it, and having this quiet time to pray to Him, and say: "God, help! I can't make it today!" or "Thank You, God!"

CAST your burdens upon the LORD

http://www.usccb.org/bible/1peter/5:7 …

If you have to cry, Cry to Him who loves you with an all-encompassing Love. God wants to hug you so hard, and be with you through your difficulties.

And you you do something, and you say "Daddy, daddy! I made this clay ashtray for you!" God is so, so proud of you, His little one whom He loves, that His Sacred Heart is fit to burst.

God made you and me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven. He cannot be happier when you turn to Him with your trouble and your triumphs. God is with you through and in it all.

Sanctifying Grace.

God is right here.

God: "I'm right here."

The blessings He pours down upon us, stirred up, shaken down and overflowing are here for you in superabundance.

Pick one thing, today.

And thank God for the grace that you can do just this one thing.

Amen.

Today, by the grace of God, I did my laundry, tweeps.

One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

Question from a dear reader: Tell me how a Maronite differs from Roman?

Answer:

So, we're all One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We express our faith and worship to God in different Rites (mostly along cultural lines, but there are Rites for how the mass is celebrated, even within the same culture). The Eritrean Catholic Church is a Rite in its own right, but based upon the Coptic Rite, I am told, but the Eritrean Mass is in no way celebrated like the Coptic Mass is. The Byzantine Rites (I learned from VassalOfChrist that the Byzantine tradition has several Rites associated with it) has a very Eastern (European/Russian/Slavic/German) way of celebrating the Divine Liturgy (what those Rites call the Mass). The Latin Rites ('Roman') have several Rites associated with that tradition, did you know that? Each with their distinctive way of celebrating the Mass. The Maronite Rite is a very different Rite than all the other Rites, being 1,000 years in isolation, surrounded by Islam on all sides, but it has hints to it of both the Latin Rites (after the reunification with Rome in only very recent history) and the Eastern Rites.

Each of these Rites have their distinct form of worship, but each is unified in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith, so we all share some traditions with Rome and all have parts of the Mass/Divine Liturgy that you could recognize if you stumbled into a different Rite accidentally on purpose.

Others can talk about the beauty of their own Rites, let me talk a little bit about the Maronite Rite.

What strikes me in a Maronite Mass, like in a Byzantine Divine Liturgy, is the absolute awe and certainty of God's Divine Majesty. In both Rites during our Mass/Divine Liturgy, we keep calling out to God and praising Him. This is the Trisagion in the Maronite Rite:

ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬ ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ
ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬ ܚܰܝܠܬܳܢܳܐ
ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬܠܳܐ ܡܳܝܽܘܬܳܐ
ܐܶܬܪܰܚܰܡ ܥܰܠܝܢ

(Here is the youtube link to Quadishat Aloho/Holy God if video does not play.)

Note that we sing this in Syriac, which is close to Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. And that you notice right away: parts of the Mass are in the vernacular (English in the USA), Arabic, and then the high, holy parts (the Consecration and the Trisagion) are in Syriac.

Also, a lot goes into preparation both for the priest and the people. There are chants for vesting and incensing, even before the Mass begins (so don't be late, or you'll miss out!), the priest is asked for blessings before the readings, and the people are asked to pay attention to the word of God. The Gospel is read in the vernacular, then in Arabic. After Mass, at Our Lady of Lebanon in Washington, D.C., we have a holy hour of adoration. There are no kneelers in the church, because we remember when families had to run or be killed in the church by the monotheists (both Islamic and Arian) both in history and even today, with the our brother Coptic martyrs of the Church in the Middle East.

What I think, when I think of the Splendor of the Truth of the Catholic Church, is this: what a superabundant grace God has given us! He speaks to us each in his own language and tradition, but He speaks to us in one voice: Jesus, the Christ, our Lord and Savior, and we bow down and we worship the Lord in this various and diverse Rites in one voice in response, glorifying and praising God.

But not only that, but each Rite has something to give to its own, but to other Rites. You want the proof of the Universality of the Church on Earth? Look no further than the length and the strength of the reach of the Latin Rites! You want absolute fall-on-your-face adoration of God-Most-Holy, spoken in Jesus' native tongue? Look no further than the Maronite Rite! You want to know with certainty that Mary – Mary, ever pure, ever virgin, is the Θεοτόκος/Theotokos, the Mother of God? Look no further than a Byzantine Divine Liturgy! I have found, attending other Rites' sacrifices of the Mass – Maronite, Roman (both Novus Ordo and Extraordinary Form), Eritrean, and Byzantine – that my Catholic Faith is not only strengthened, but deepened. What does the 'Holy, holy, holy' mean, viscerally? Is Mary really the Mother of God? What does 'Universal Church' mean, physically? Certain Rites show you things about your Faith that you take for granted in your own Rite.

One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church: the Catholic Church has it all, because we have Jesus, the Christ, and Christ has us.